I won't lie and say that I've always loved Fallout 76. At launch, I jumped on the frankly well-argued bandwagon and hated Fallout 76 despite never playing it. Later, after many updates, I finally tried it - purely out of a lack of other co-op games to play with my sibling - and enjoyed my time a lot until a bug caused me to lose all of my progress and, more importantly, saved images of our journey together. I then came back once more in 2020 when Bethesda finally added NPCs, but I struggled to convince myself it was time well spent.

Since then, I've kept my eye on Fallout 76 and its updates, many of which have been intriguing, but never good enough to pull me back in. However, Fallout 76's latest update is so refreshing, so bizarre, and so brilliant that it has finally convinced me to reinstall the game, give it another shot, and, naturally, rope my begrudging sibling into playing it with me. While I can't say whether I'll rediscover my love for Bethesda games through this update, it certainly looks fun enough to try.

Fallout 76 Is Doubling Down On Ghouls

It Is One Of The Best Things To Happen To The Game

Fallout 76's latest season, Glow of the Ghoul - which is remarkably season 20, something that baffles me considering I never thought it would last more than a few years - is finally bringing the long-teased feature of playing as a Ghoul. This comes months after the huge Skyline Valley update, which added a new region and more, although I missed it completely. Importantly, along with the announcement of the Skyline Valley update, Bethesda revealed that players would be able to turn into Ghouls via the Ghoul Within update.

The announcement piqued my interest, as it felt like something truly new within the Fallout franchise. I was keen to finally get the opportunity to play as someone other than a typical vault dweller. Of course, I'd have to wait a while to get to play as a Ghoul, but now that the Ghoul Within update is finally coming - as it coincides with the Glow of the Ghoul season - I'm finally ready to jump back into Fallout 76. I'm excited for all things Ghoul, and Bethesda doubling down on its ghoulish content makes me think it is too.

What To Expect From Fallout 76 This Month

Some Ghoulishly Good Content

The Glow of the Ghoul season is bringing two major additions to Fallout 76. As aforementioned, the biggest of those two is the Ghoul Within update, which allows players to turn into Ghouls once they reach level 50. This completely changes the player's overall appearance, while adding some unique mechanics that add a new layer of challenge, while also giving the player some much-needed bonuses. It's a fun trade-off, one that I think could make the game's already interesting combat and exploration even better.

The second feature that the Glow of the Ghoul season is adding is new C.A.M.P. content. These are all ghoul-themed, including a cool-looking skeleton in a barrel of green ooze, which will surely lead to some impressive player-made C.A.M.P.s worth checking out. While this side of the season doesn't really interest me, it is cool to see Fallout 76's C.A.M.P. feature get so many updates, especially as it feels like the entire reason why the game is an MMO rather than the far better-suited format of a single-player RPG experience.

I Couldn't Be Happier About More Ghoul Content In Fallout 76

It Feels Like A Refreshing Change

I've made it no small secret that I didn't love Fallout 76. It isn't that, on principle, the game is bad, but rather that Bethesda's handling of it, in conjunction with its rather lackluster approach to game design currently, ruined the experience for me. I wanted to love Fallout 76, but beyond increasing the prevalence of the base-building mechanics that I struggle to believe was anyone's favorite part of Fallout 4, and making it multiplayer, there was nothing unique about it that made it worth suffering through the bugs and bad performance.

However, the inclusion of playable Ghouls, in addition to the many ittedly impressive improvements made to the game over the years, feels like a fresh new idea for the series. It is going to inject Fallout 76 with something that actually helps it stand out, something that isn't possible in any of the other Bethesda Fallout games without the use of mods. While I'm not entirely sure that Ghouls will save Fallout 76, I'm hopeful that they'll do enough to get me back in and remind me of the huge potential this multiplayer game has.