For the first time ever in a Fallout game, players will be able to play as a ghoul as part of an upcoming update to Fallout 76. I've been looking forward to this feature since it was announced at an Xbox showcase, with more information being revealed alongside the Skyline Valley update but now, after the Fallout Day broadcast, we know a bit more about what playing as a ghoul will be like.
"You'll no longer have to worry about catching a bad case of the rads because you'll be immune to radiation damage, in fact, you'll crave it," lead producer Bill LaCoste says. "As a ghoul, rads will heal you and possibly unlock unique abilities."
There'll also be other perks, like more perks, fittingly enough. Players who choose to turn into a ghoul will have access to new perk cards such as Boneshatter, which increases the chance for melee attacks to shatter a limb, and Glowing Gut, which makes consuming food and drink inflict 200% more rads (a good thing for a ghoul, remember) and United Ordeal, which gives you +2 bonus S.P.E.C.I.A.L. when you're in a party with another ghoul character. You'll be able to use these and more alongside regular human perk cards. "This, coupled with a ghoul's immunity to rads, will open up dozens of new playstyles for players to experience the wasteland," Jon Rush, creative director, says.
"Instead of hunger and thirst, you'll have a new feral metre to keep an eye on," Rush continues. "Depending on your playstyle, you might even let yourself get a little wild, because going feral has a few perks of its own, such as turning into a crazed berserker hand-to-hand combatant who can rip the face off a deathclaw."
But there are a couple of drawbacks to having all your flesh slough off—it can't all be sunshine and rainbows. "Many NPCs and factions like the Brotherhood of Steel won't take too kindly to your new look, even if you do have a fancy new hairpiece," LaCoste says. "For ghoul players who still want to complete quests with factions who wouldn't normally align themselves with a ghoul, there may be a way to fool them."
Another really big drawback comes from your choice of weaponry. Because ghouls rely on radiation to heal and make them stronger, it's a good idea not to wear power armour if you want to utilise all of those perks. You'll also have a smaller AP pool and a huge decrease of 300% in accuracy with ranged weapons if you're around too much radiation and turn feral. On the other hand, going feral does give you a huge boost to punching, turning you into "a DPS scrapper," as Rush reminds me.
But if you still can't decide whether you want to make the leap, then don't worry, it doesn't have to be permanent. "It's a big decision, but we also don't want to do anything that adversely affects anybody's character forever," Rush reassures me. "So there is an option to revert your character back to human, and you're not going to lose any progress or anything that you've done as a ghoul."
The quest that you have to complete to become a ghoul also apparently gives you a pretty good rundown of what it would be like to play as one. So don't feel bad if you don't want a new radiated look, or just need a bit of extra time to think about it, because giving up your power armour is no easy decision.
