You’ve seen the teaser. You’ve heard the rumors. You’ve watched the E3 trailer. And now it’s time to find out, exactly, what Fallout 76 is.
On Sunday night, Bethesda took the stage at E3 to finally talk about what Vault Boy and his comrades are up to with this prequel game. Let’s start with the bombshell (so to speak): “Fallout 76 is entirely online.”
That’s right: Bethesda is bringing the Fallout series online with this game, with the option to play solo. It’s what the studio is calling “softcore survival” — death doesn’t mean the loss of progression or your character. Players will be able to hop over to wherever their friends are and play on servers populated by dozens, but not hundreds, of people. Choices are key here as players will decide on the heroes and villains.
There is PvP here and co-op adventures as well. Scavenge, gather, and crafting is a major component. Players, solo and grouped, can build bases anywhere they want and move those buildings to desired locations with mobile platforms. Oh, and there will be nuclear sites that players can use to nuke the world if so desired.
B.E.T.A. (Break-it Early Test Application) testing begins soon, and Fallout 76 will launch later this year on November 14th.
“We have built a platform 100% dedicated servers that will support this game now and in the years to come,” said the studio.
Set in West Virginia far before the other Fallout titles, Fallout 76 will cover four times as much territory as its predecessor and feature 16 times the detail, which is saying something. “You are one of the first to emerge into an untamed and very different wasteland,” explained Game Director Todd Howard.
Players will have spent 25 years in the vault after the bombs dropped, and now they’re going to head out on America’s tricentennial to reclaim the wasteland. Players will be uncovering the nuclear secrets of the region as they explore six regions of West Virginia.
