5 Indie Games To Check Out if Fallout 76 Didn't Scratch That Itch for You
When Fallout 76 was announced back in 2018 the Fallout fan community was immediately divided. While the game promised to render the Fallout world's version of West Virginia and explore Vault-dwellers emerging only a few years after The Great War of 2077, it also took a single-player series and attempted to create a multiplayer RPG experience that many found underwhelming.
Fallout 76 left many fans of the franchise disappointed, a lukewarm reception even acknowledged by Todd Howard, who said that the game "let a lot of people down." However, many of Fallout 76's core concepts from its style of setting to its enemies, survival mechanics, and post-apocalyptic storyline can be found across an array of fantastic indie games that fans can enjoy while waiting for Bethesda's next RPG.
At first 2016's Inside might not resemble a Fallout game, but fans who were drawn to Fallout by an enjoyment of dystopian fiction are sure to find something to love in Playdead's excellent Limbo follow-up. In this side-scrolling puzzle platformer players explore a dark world inspired by the haunting police states in famous works of fiction like 1984, a book also referenced in Fallout 3's Vault 101 and many of the secret Vault experiments across the Fallout series. In fact, one of the most interesting moments in Fallout 76's story comes when the player finds out that their own Vault Overseer has grim ulterior motives in mind.
Avoiding attack dogs, mind-controlling creatures, and experiments so disturbing they'd put any Vault-Tec Overseer to shame, Inside's protagonist explores a world that moves between dystopia and pure horror. The game's shocking ending will have players scratching their heads for days, with Inside's artistic ambition stretching well beyond its excellent visuals.
2008's Braid is another puzzle-platformer, this time following a boy named Tim as he attempts to do what all good platformer protagonists do: save a princess. This turns out to be far more complicated than Tim or most players ever anticipated. Not only does every level come with different time mechanic for Tim to manipulate, but as the game goes on players are encouraged to question their role as the hero entirely.
Braid's shocking twist ending has been interpreted by many fans as being about the creation of the nuclear bomb, though that is far from the only theory. Read that way, however, Braid's reflection on mankind's potential for mass destruction ends up being far deeper than most Fallout game's, despite never explicitly addressing the issue. Fallout's Great War of 2077 may be a recent memory in Fallout 76, but Braid asks questions that may lead many players to wonder what might lead to nuclear annihilation to begin with.
When Fallout 76 announced its Appalachian setting many fans were hopeful that some of the region's famous cryptids and creepy forests would be making an appearance. While Fallout 76 certainly has its fair share of horrifying monsters from the Mothman to Sheepsquatches, fans hoping for a truly terrifying trek through mutant-infested forests need look no further than The Forest from Endnight games.
In The Forest players take on the role of Eric LeBlanc. After a plane-crash and the intervention of a mysterious man separates Eric from his son Timmy, the player has to fight their way through a forest of mutant cannibals to rescue their son. These enemies will remind any Fallout fan of the Ghouls, raiders, and Fiends found throughout the series.
Inspired by movies like Cannibal Holocaust and The Descent, the game also has an upcoming sequel titled Sons of the Forest originally slated for release later this year. Fallout fans spooked by the average Ghoul should steer clear, but adventurous types who want to dive head-first into a terrifying survival horror will find The Forest right up their street.
World of Horror is a roguelite horror retro RPG which sees players investigate the strange goings on in a town which turns out to be packed full of more cosmic horror than a Lovecraft novel. While the game is still in early access it's already an impressive feat. Forgoing shock value for quiet existential dread, World of Horror is bursting with weird mysteries and an impressively detailed black-and-white artstyle that draws on the works of manga artist Jinji Ito.
Fans who felt that Fallout 76 left the series' RPG roots too far behind in its multiplayer experience will struggle to find a game that strips the RPG experience down to its bare essentials more than World of Horror. In many ways the game is reminiscent of the early isometric Fallout games, especially when talking to some of the town's truly terrifying inhabitants. As with The Forest, World of Horror is not for the faint of heart, but may scratch the itch of many Fallout fans.
A common criticism of Fallout 76 is that it simply bit off more than it could chew. Between new monsters, the story of Vault 76, multiplayer, and the return of Fallout 4's settlement-building mechanics many fans felt that the last Fallout lacked the focus of earlier games. There is, however, a game that seamlessly combines open-world first-person shooter mechanics with survival, role-playing, and even tower defense.
7 Days to Die is set in a post-apocalyptic open world developed by a small group of developers known as The Fun Pimps. After the Third World War leaves the planet ravaged, the player must emerge into the county of Navezgane, Arizona and hunt for food, water, and shelter while avoiding the zombies suggested to be a result of the nuclear radiation and reminiscent of Fallout's Ghouls.
7 Days to Die is voxel-based, allowing players to build and destroy parts of the environment. It also has a day and night cycle which affects how dangerous the nuclear zombies are. When night falls, they become far faster, and as time goes on new variants begin to appear. The title refers to the seventh in-game day, where the zombies and animals of the region form a horde and attack the player.
Fallout 76 is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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