Fallout 76 isn’t the mess it was at launch anymore. Over the years, Bethesda has managed to turn it into an actual worthwhile game to play. With its latest “Ghoul Within” update, Fallout 76 has taken a big leap and has finally brought playable Ghoul characters.
It’s really a big moment for the Fallout franchise. Gamers had been demanding to play as Ghouls for decades. However, you’ll be shocked to know that one particular entry in the post-apocalyptic franchise 15 years ago wanted to bring playable Ghouls. However, Todd Howard and his team didn’t appreciate the idea.
Fallout: New Vegas nearly brought playable Ghouls
What’s really special about Fallout: New Vegas that isn’t wasn’t developed by Bethesda Game Studios. That’s right, the IP changed hands to Obsidian Entertainment, and that led to a game that left its mark on the franchise. The developers took a unique approach to the game, and players absolutely loved it.
In an interview with Eurogamer, Obsidian’s CEO Feargus Urquhart opened up about the early development ideas for New Vegas. He revealed that the studio initially wanted three playable races in the game – humans, ghouls, and super mutants. However, Bethesda wasn’t really keen on the idea.
It really had to do with how all the weapons and armour worked. Trying to have them all work with ghouls and super mutants was just going to be – [Bethesda] felt like it was going to be a nightmare. It wasn’t like they said no but it was a very strongly worded, ‘We would really suggest that you not try to do that.
Why did Howard and his team reject this incredible idea? Well, it was felt that making all three playable races work with weapons and armor was going to be a challenge. Bethesda strongly advised against playable Ghouls, so Obsidian decided to remove them from the final build.
We can really just imagine how New Vegas would’ve played out if Ghouls were given the spotlight. We could have seen unique perks, quests, and interactions. Bethesda decided to take all that away just because it was afraid of gameplay integrations.
It’s fair to say that if Prime Video’s Fallout TV series wasn’t a smash-hit, Bethesda would’ve thought twice before bringing Ghouls to Fallout 76 as well.
Fallout 76 might bring a highly requested feature
It’s great to see that Bethesda has answered players’ requests and brought Ghouls as a playable race in Fallout 76. However, that doesn’t mean that the game is a complete package now. There are still tons of things that should be added to the game, and one of these is crossplay.
While chatting with WCCTech, Fallout 76‘s creative director, Jon Rush, opened up about the recent success of the game and Bethesda’s plans for the future. When asked about the possibility of crossplay coming to the game, here’s what Rush had to say.
We’ve had discussions about crossplay in the past. There’s a lot of technical limitations with that. I wouldn’t rule it out, but I wouldn’t be waiting around for it, either.
According to Rush, there are a lot of technical limitations that could come with crossplay being introduced into the game. The development team has had internal discussions on the subject but hasn’t reached a conclusion yet.
We could see crossplay in Fallout 76 in the future. However, players really shouldn’t keep high expectations of playing the game on PC with their friends on Xbox. It could be years before the idea materializes if it ever manages to escape the development hell.
With that said, are you enjoying playable Ghouls in Fallout 76? Let us know in the comments below.
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