The Fallout TV series has defied all expectations and did justice to the lore instead of tainting it. Naturally, it restoked the love gamers had for the franchise and encouraged many of them to revisit the games out of blissful nostalgia. If that includes you and you have a Legion Go, then you have multiple options – from classics to newer titles. But if you prefer multiplayer over single-player, then Fallout 76 would be a natural choice (as it's the only choice). The good news is that the game works well enough on the handheld. In fact, "well enough" may be an understatement here.
Performance
When testing Fallout 76 on Legion Go, we tested multiple configurations and hardware settings. Here is the overview of the results.
The performance difference between 20-watt, 25-watt, and 30-watt is virtually non-existent. So there’s no fear of your battery discharging faster, or if you’re plugged in, risking your device heating up.
Toggling between low and medium graphics presets also won’t change performance by a significant margin, so you might as well explore the brutal, post-apocalyptic world of Fallout 76 with slightly better graphics. However, you may experience a significant drop in FPS when switching to high settings.
Performance may suffer when there’s a lot of on-screen activity, especially during combat (and when there are multiple players on screen simultaneously), but that's not specific to Legion Go.
For our performance comparison, we played the game on two resolution settings: 800p and 1,200p. The settings we kept intact in both resolutions were:
Graphics Preset: Medium
VRAM: 4 Gigs/4 GB
Borderless
Windowed
We noticed minimal performance differences between medium and low graphics settings, so we opted to test both resolutions at medium, given that they offer the optimal balance of graphics and performance that most gamers would find acceptable. If you’re on either end of the "best performance (low graphics) or best graphics (slow performance)" spectrum, the results will differ for you. However, you can find your own optimal mix by going beyond presets and tweaking individual settings until you hit the right configuration.
As for the VRAM, the 4 GB setting is actually on the lower end of what many Legion Go users have found to be the sweet spot for most games - between 4 and 6 GB. So this is another area where you may have some performance enhancement leeway. You can also change and then test the different VRAM frequency settings in Legion Go BIOS.
The borderless and windowed combination worked well for us, but you can also try the full screen view to see how it impacts performance on your device.
1200p Resolution
At 1200p, the FPS broadly hovered between 30 and 50 and, more acutely, between 35 and 45 frames. Many elements contributed to the FPS drop or rise, including the number of creatures on screen, the number of players, combat graphics, etc. But even the most significant FPS dips weren't bad per se and recovered quickly enough that you didn't feel its impact on the performance.
Maxing out power to or beyond 30 watts didn't yield much of a difference, i.e., around 5 FPS in most cases.
800p Resolution
The broad FPS range at 800p was between 40 and 60, though it mostly remained somewhere between 45 and 55 FPS. The drop in FPS was slightly sharper (especially during combat) at 800p, but the recovery was just as swift. The drop in visual appeal would be subjective, but the performance boost is significant enough to justify that for most gamers.
It may seem like digital alchemy (which you shouldn't mind if you are also an Elder Scrolls fan), but trying out different Legion Go power and VRAM configurations with different graphics settings will help you identify the optimal graphics and performance combo. If you mostly play plugged in, you can test the game's performance at high graphics preset with power maxed out, though keep the risk of overheating the device in mind. But if charging time is an important factor for you, then medium graphics, 20 watts, and 800p may help you enjoy great performance without losing as much in visual appeal as you might think and enjoy a long gaming session on a single charge.
Gameplay
When it comes to story and love from gamers, Fallout 76 definitely lives in the shadow of its single-player brethren. However, like some other Bethesda titles, Fallout 76 has evolved and improved over time, and a lot of these improvements are apparent in its gameplay. Even though the core mechanics and the overall "feel" of the game haven't changed, the studio has improved the game quite a bit from its early days, thanks to the continued support from the community. So, if you gave up on it, then it's worth giving another shot.
The number of concurrent online players has spiked after the release of the series, and a consistent increase can be taken as an endorsement of the fact that the game has actually improved.
The growth of the multiplayer community is also good news for both solo and multiplayer. It may trigger major expansion of the world and new updates and content, both from the community and the studio itself.
However, it still sticks to its multiplayer core, and if you are a hardcore single-player Fallout fan, you defintely won’t find it comparable to titles like Fallout 3 or New Vegas, even if you stick to solo playing.
How you play the game, i.e., solo or multiplayer, will have an enormous impact on the gameplay. When you are questing with others, handling higher-level enemies is relatively easier than when you are playing solo, which is just one of the ways the game incentivizes multiplying. There are also public events, shared experiences, and trading. The exploration element that it shares with single-player Fallout titles is still there and, for many, the primary appeal of playing Fallout 76 solo. Now there is more to explore and several new elements, including characters and weapons, to try.
Final Words
Fallout 76 is definitely a go with Legion Go (no pun intended). The handheld has more than enough computing power to let you enjoy this title at decent graphics settings without compromising on performance. The gameplay is smooth, and the visuals, while not breathtaking, are enough to immerse you in the mutated world of Fallout, which we have all come to love over the years.