Fallout 76 Release Date Set for November, Preorders Get Beta Access

One of the major announcements that came during Bethesda’s E3 2018 presentation is the reveal of the release date for Fallout 76. The next big thing in the Fallout universe is going to launch on November 14th, and preordering the game will net you beta access. The presentation wasn’t all words, though – they also decided to show us a glimpse of the game in action. There’s a new trailer out now, and it contains some of the footage we saw at E3.

There’s some fresh info, too. It’s going to be set in the hills of West Virginia, in case the teaser from a few weeks ago wasn’t on-the-nose enough. You will be able to play alone, but the game will constantly be online, placing you in an instance with around 20 people when you log in. Maybe you’ll befriend them, maybe you’ll fight them. Maybe you’ll try to hide from them and try to make a singleplayer experience of it.

The map will be around four times bigger than the one in Fallout 4, which makes it pretty darn big. Building will be a big part of the core gameplay loop, which was to be expected after the success of the settlement mechanics in the previous game. You’ll be allowed more freedom when building, but you’ll have to pay more attention to your defences this time – human players are a real threat, and they aren’t as easy to fool as the FO4 AI.

As expected, the game takes place 25 years after the war, and is a prequel to Fallout 4. You’ll leave your vault along with thousands upon thousands of others, and try to rebuild the surface world. Twenty five years sounds like a bit on the short side when it comes to waiting out the consequences of nuclear holocaust, but hey, I’m no physicist.