Wastelanders Update Will “Fundamentally” Change Fallout 76: Everything You Need to Know

Earlier this year, Bethesda released a roadmap for Fallout 76, completely unveiling everything that would be coming to the game over time, which would iron out major bugs, and improve players’ experiences and the overall quality of the game. One of the major items listed in that roadmap was an update entitled, “Wastelanders”.

We didn’t have much to go on about “Wastelanders” when the roadmap dropped, except that it would feature a main new quest line, factions, and “surprises.” Well, during Bethesda’s E3 showcase this past weekend, we got a full reveal of the update, which is not only adding a major questline, but which will, according to Bethesda, “fundamentally change the game” of Fallout 76.

The world of Appalachia is going to be expanding in a major way with the addition of the “Wastelanders” update coming later this year. While Bethesda’s Todd Howard (lightly) addressed the frustrations the community has felt since the release of Fallout 76, there was an air of assurance that the game was just getting started.

Before Fallout 76 even launched last November, Bethesda doubled down on the fact that we should look at the game as more of a collaborative effort between gamers and the developers, and as something that would be fine-tuned over time. Something that we could build together. During E3 Bethesda explained the first year of Fallout 76 “was all about the opening of Vault 76 and players settling the Wasteland.” In Year two, however, humans are returning to “reclaim Appalachia.” Humans, as in human NPCs, with full dialogue trees.

It’ll be interesting to see how Bethesda incorporates this into Fallout 76, because the mere fact the game is entirely online has fundamentally changed the way an NPC is able to be a part of the Wasteland.

In the update, players will have the option to side with either the Raiders or Settlers, and these two factions are capable of lending a hand with companions, new weapons, and the ability to earn armor.

Wastelanders will launch in Fall 2020 and will be completely free. Fallout 76 is currently have a free trial week June 10-17.