After a day of teasing in true Bethesda fashion, a teaser trailer has officially been released revealing a game that is known as Fallout 76.
Since it was a teaser trailer we don’t have a ton of information to go on but we do have some clues. Based on the snippet of information we get from the trailer, it looks like there is going to be some sort of celebration at Vault 76.
Vault 76 has a decent amount of lore behind it based on mentions in Fallout 3, it’s Mothership Zeta DLC and in Fallout 4. With that many mentions, it’s clear there is some sort of importance with this vault. It is even further confirmed since a whole game is being made focusing on Vault 76.
Here’s the description given from the Vault 76 page from Fallout Wiki:
The Vault-Tec terminal in the Citadel lists Vault 76 as a “control” vault, with 500 occupants. The vault was designed to open 20 years after a nuclear war, and was among the seventeen known control vaults, meaning that it was used as a baseline to compare to experimental vaults. It is also mentioned in one of the alien captive recorded logs (no.13) recorded by Giles Wolstencroft, a Vault-Tec official who was abducted while inspecting the vault’s construction site. In Fallout 4, the newsreader in the prologue mentions Vault 76 debuting in 2076 in honor of America’s tercentenary when discussing Vault-Tec’s plans to expand.
Vault 76 is located in Virginia meaning we’ll be in a new location for this game, provided the entirety of the game isn’t spent in a vault. A poster can be seen in the teaser trailer indicating the party is for “Reclamation Day” and the dates 1776-2076 are shown, also indicating this game doesn’t take place too far into the future.
The vault is known as a control vault and was designed to be automatically opened after 20 years to compare the results with the other vaults in the area.
Possibly coincidentally, 1776 was also the year the United States officially became its own nation so it could be inferred that 2076 is when the new United States would rise again. In terms of lore, this is the earliest players will have stepped foot into the wasteland so it doesn’t sound like there will be many, if any at all, established settlements.
An astute comment by Allen pointed out the date on the computer read 21 (27?) Oct 2102 which seems like the game doesn’t actually take place in 2076.
The line “When the fighting has stopped, and the fallout has settled…” can be heard in the trailer which makes it sound like humanity is ready to make the steps to go out into the world and take it back.
Weird things have happened with this vault, including an alien abduction, so it’s possible Bethesda has some surprises up its sleeve with this game. If it does end up taking place in the vault itself, there will likely still be a number of twists to keep the game interesting for everyone.
For those of you who haven’t seen the trailer yet, you can watch it above.
Since this was a teaser trailer, we don’t have a ton of information to go from but all we can do is analyze the trailer. More information will be available at Bethesda’s E3 2018 conference. You can read out mega-post about what to expect right here.
A new Fallout title probably wasn’t on a lot of minds so that’s why it comes as an even bigger surprise. Fallout 4 released in late 2015 so it seems like this title came out a little sooner than expected, especially when you consider the last main Elder Scrolls title came out in 2011.
In what would be a first for the series, Kotaku has mentioned they are hearing from sources this title will have some sort of online element. Whether that is just simple co-op or something else entirely remains to be seen.
Although no platforms were announced, we can presume an Xbox One, PS4 and PC version of this game will be on the way. Bethesda has been supporting the Nintendo Switch a lot as of late but we can’t confirm anything about a Switch version right now.
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