After years of demand from franchise veterans and a recent push from newfound fans of the Fallout show, the Fallout franchise’s first playable Ghoul character is finally available, in Fallout 76’s free Ghoul Within update. Compared to the typical human playable characters throughout the franchise, Fallout 76’s playable Ghoul provides quite a distinct experience thanks to all the new Ghoul-exclusive buildcrafting tools and gameplay mechanics.
After Ghouls, adding playable Super Mutants in Fallout 76 seems like an obvious next step for the game to take; if not Fallout 76, future Fallout games shouldn’t shy away from experimenting with playable Super Mutants. If a playable Super Mutant does eventually happen, it would likely have a clear advantage over Ghouls, being the Super Mutant’s naturally superior Strength.
Fallout 76’s Playable Ghoul Has an Obvious Opportunity for a Fallout 3 Tie-In
Now that the franchise’s first playable Ghoul character has arrived, Fallout 76 may have the perfect excuse to revisit Fallout 3’s iconic setting.
Playable Super Mutants Could Be a Game-Changer for Strength Builds in Fallout 76
The new playable Ghoul character in Fallout 76 is especially great for their passive healing properties when exposed to radiation. For Super Mutants, though, their enhanced muscular physiques and large stature would likely transfer to exceptionally high Strength attributes compared to humans and Ghouls. Given how the Strength attribute affects players in Fallout 76, a high-Strength Super Mutant build would have two main benefits: superior melee damage and inventory carry weight.
Super Mutants originate from a particular strain of the Fallout franchise’s Forced Evolutionary Virus. Some of the side effects of this strain of the FEV lowered the subjects’ Intellect but increased their Strength by nature of causing physical growth.
Super Mutants Could Introduce a New Meta for Melee Builds
While the playable Ghoul’s Feral buffs are the new meta for unarmed melee builds in Fallout 76, if playable Super Mutants ever get introduced, they would likely be the new meta for one-handed and two-handed melee weapons. In terms of gameplay, the distinction between the different types of melee weapons in Fallout 76 may not be significant, but it could still ultimately provide vastly different roleplaying opportunities.
Super Mutants have been known to wield some of the heaviest melee weapons throughout the franchise, like fire hydrants, rocket-powered sledgehammers, clubs of cement and rebar, and swords fashioned out of car bumpers. Naturally, heavy weapons like these can deal a lot of damage, but every point of Strength players have will further increase their melee damage, making a Super Mutant melee build seem like it could be the ultimate meta.
Super Mutants Could Provide Solutions to the Never-Ending Struggle of Inventory Management
Not only does the player's Strength attribute affect their melee damage, but it also determines their maximum carry weight in Fallout 76. So, with Super Mutants naturally having high Strength, players would likely be able to carry a full arsenal of all of their favorite weapons around at all times.
Considering how common it is for players to make a new character in Fallout 76 just to use their additional inventory and Stash space, being able to carry most, if not all, of a player’s valuables on one character would likely be enough to convince many players to transform their character into a Super Mutant, regardless of consequences like their often limited Intelligence. Whether players are committed to collecting all of the rarest items in Fallout 76, or players who frequently swap between multiple weapon and armor sets, it would be quite convenient if players could carry all of their gear with them instead of needing to make a pit stop at a local Stash box after so many activities.
While Ghouls seem to be the current favorite child of the Fallout franchise, hopefully Bethesda will still be open to experimenting with a wider variety of playable mutant races in the near future. Especially considering how playable Super Mutants could be a fine addition to Fallout 76, at the very least, Super Mutants arguably deserve the same chance as a playable character that Ghouls have finally gotten.
Fallout 76
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 54 /100 Critics Rec: 9%
