Fallout 76 vs. Generation Zero: Open World without NPCs

In this article on Fallout 76 & Generation Zero, we'll tell you:

  • How the level systems of the two titles work.
  • How the game worlds differ.
  • Who the developers of Fallout 76 & Generation Zero are.

Do you like playing open-world titles, preferably together with your friends? Then you're probably already immersed in Bethesda's Fallout 76 beta. But next year, Generation Zero, the replacement from Avalanche Studios, may be waiting for you.

The title means nothing to you? We explore what makes Generation Zero interesting, what the game has in common with Fallout 76, and how it differs significantly from Bethesda's role-playing heavyweight.

Table of Contents

Post-apocalypse vs. 80s flair

The post-apocalyptic West Virginia of the year 2102 represents the setting of Fallout 76. The world is characterized by the destroyed remains of human civilization. Only monsters and robots populate the Appalachia game world alongside the players.

Generation Zero, on the other hand, is set in the late 80s in a deserted Sweden. The only "living beings" here seem to be hostile machines à la Horizon Zero Dawn.

The 80s flair is not only reflected in the selectable clothes and hairstyles of your character, but also in the car models in the game world and the synth soundtrack.

Role-playing game with shooter elements or shooter with role-playing elements?

As an online offshoot of the Fallout series, Fallout 76 still clearly belongs to the role-playing genre. You complete quests, hunt monsters, and receive experience points that increase your level and character stats. You'll get special abilities via skill cards.

The basic game mechanics, however, are those of a shooter. You can fight your way through the wasteland in both the first-person and third-person perspective with all sorts of wacky weapons, such as mini-nuke catapults or scrap-shooting rocket launchers.

Heavy weapons in Fallout 76.

Generation Zero seems like a classic first-person shooter at first. The weapon selection is more down-to-earth (pistol, shotgun, submachine gun) and the game is only played from the first-person perspective. But as soon as you open the game menu, an inventory, four skill trees and a quest log open up.

The shooter and sneak mechanics are clearly in the foreground in Generation Zero. Since you are only weakly armed at the beginning, sneaking up on or even past enemies is mandatory. On your journey through Sweden you'll loot houses, barns and cars. Always on the lookout for medipacks, ammunition and equipment to survive and uncover the secret of the empty world.

Together you'll fight the mysterious robots in Generation Zero.

How does the character progression work in Generation Zero?

The level system in Generation Zero is limited to four rudimentary skill trees, each with twelve skills:

  • Combat
  • Support
  • Survival
  • Tech

You will receive one skill point for each level upwhich you can then spend in one of the four categories, for example, to increase your stamina. Some abilities have two or three levels and can be upgraded several times.

Although you can specialize your character as much as you want, Generation Zero doesn't come close to the depth and possibilities of the level system in Fallout 76.

The four skill trees in Generation Zero.

S.P.E.C.I.A.L. System & Skill Cards in Fallout 76

Fallout 76, on the other hand, offers the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system known from Fallout 4, which lets you improve one of the seven character stats every time you level up:

  • Strength
  • Perception
  • Stamina
  • Charisma
  • Intelligence
  • Agility
  • Luck

The system is made more complex by so-called skill cards, one of which you also receive each time you level up. These offer bonuses that let you carry more items, for example. However, you can only equip as many skill cards based on the different value categories as you have invested points in the corresponding value category.

The new skill cards in Fallout 76.

Crafting heavy vs. minimalist approach

While crafting plays a big role in Fallout 76's open world - from building houses, to meals, to crafting your own weapon mods - it plays almost no role in Generation Zero. As is known so far, you only upgrade your weapons with found attachments (for example, sights and silencers).

However, building your own houses in Generation Zero with its game world full of intact but abandoned villages and towns would probably be a waste of time.

Single player, co-op or PVP?

Both titles can be played either alone or in a group of up to four players. The big difference, however, is that you are never alone on the map in Fallout 76.

Up to 24 players can be found on one server in Bethesda's role-playing game. This, in turn, brings with it PVP elements that Generation Zero completely dispenses with.

In the deserted expanses of Sweden in Generation Zero, there will never be more than four players at a time.

You can explore the wasteland of Fallout 76 with up to three friends as a team.

Open world with different approaches

Despite many similarities, such as a huge open world, co-op mode, and a leveling system, Fallout 76 and Generation Zero differ in their basic approach.

While Fallout 76 is more reminiscent of a classic RPG with its crafting and character systems, Generation Zero feels like a sneak shooter with RPG elements.

A large number of emotes, radio stations with music from the 50s and a colorful, autumnal forest as the starting area give Fallout 76 a rather light and bright atmosphere. This is contrasted by the dynamic 80s synth soundtrack and the empty swept and darkly colored game world of Generation Zero.

Especially fans of the Netflix series Stranger Things or the German surprise hit Dark should enjoy the mysterious 80s atmosphere of Generation Zero.

The deserted game world of Generation Zero.

Expertise: Avalanche vs. Bethesda

By the way, Generation Zero and Fallout 76 are not new territory for the respective developer studios when it comes to open world design.

Fallout 76 developer Bethesda has not only been responsible for two parts of the Fallout series in recent years (Fallout 3 & Fallout 4), the Elder Scrolls series has also been created in Maryland, USA, since the mid-1990s.

Sweden-based Avalanche Studios - like Generation Zero - are probably known to most gamers as the developers of the open-world playgrounds of the Just Cause series. But with the official game for the Mad Max franchise - Mad Max - from 2015, Avalanche Studios also already gained experience with empty-skinned game worlds.

The two studios are not completely unknown to each other, by the way. Apart from Generation Zero, Avalanche Studios is currently working on Rage 2 in collaboration with id Software, with Bethesda as publisher, and Just Cause 4 with Square Enix as publisher.

Bethesda and Avalanche are working together on the open-world shooter Rage 2.

Release of Generation Zero & Fallout 76

While Fallout 76 will already be released on November 14, 2018, no exact release date is known yet for Generation Zero. However, the developers Avalanche Studios are aiming for a release in 2019. Both games will be released for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

So for now, there's enough time to make yourself at home in the wasteland and put a stop to the mutated monsters. We have therefore compiled all the information about the beta and the release of Fallout 76 in one article.

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