James Lynch 
In Vault 76 our future begins…
With the conferences well underway, despite the fact that the expo hasn’t officially started yet, Bethesda have picked up where Xbox left off earlier in the day. Microsoft presented a huge number of games, including 18 exclusives and 15 world premieres but, during the presentation, viewers were treated to the world exclusive launch trailer for Fallout 76, which boasts a map four times the size of that featured in Fallout 4 and is set in rural West Virginia.
Further details on the game have now been revealed at the developer’s own event, where your character is one of the first to enter what is described as “a very different” wasteland. We got a much deeper look at Vault 76 and its sprawling interior, but it is the outside where you will notice the real difference. The environments are far more lush and green than in every other Fallout game, presumably because the rural location made them less of a target for nukes.
Vault 76 was one of the very first vaults, and was built to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the United States of America. Your character was selected to spend 25 years underground before the vaults “reclamation day”, which is where the game begins. The world features all new rendering and lighting, with 16x more detail and dynamic weather systems. West Virginia was picked for its eclectic mix of countryside, towns and real-life nuclear secrets.
Sent on a series of missions by the vault overseer, Bethesda claim that they always wanted to tell the stories of the first people to leave the vaults. The big news of the night is that it will be always online, with the developer wanting to bring the best parts of their questing systems and open-worlds to a multiplayer setting. Everybody you leave the vault with will be a real person. Death does not mean the loss of progression, and your character is not locked to one server. In fact, the player will be wholly unaware of the server they are on.
A series of informational Vault-Tec videos showed off some of the multiplayer action, including combat from other unfriendly warriors (and a particularly nasty execution). The game will still allow you to quest alone if you so choose, but in all honesty this looks like it will be absolutely massive fun with friends. It will also make the game considerably easier. Base-building and construction are now unrestricted, thanks to the C.A.M.P system which allows players to found settlements/forts just about anywhere. Choose wisely, though, as enemies are frequent and come both from the A.I. and other players.
The map will feature nuclear armaments which can be acquired by the player and, after at least a bit of a struggle, set off by those with the right launch codes. If you haven’t got a full code you can team up with others to set the bomb off, destroying an enemy camp and forever altering the map. Fallout 76 will have 100% dedicated servers which will be tested in an upcoming beta, sponsored by Vault-Tec, the “Break-It Early Test Application”.
The game will be releasing on the 14th November 2018 and only time will tell if Bethesda can pull off everything they have promised here.
To watch the conference as it happens, you can tune into the action here. We will also be posting up all the news as it’s released so make sure to keep checking the website throughout all of E3.
