‘Fallout 76’ Announced By Bethesda After 24 Hours Of Teasing, May Be Online Title

Bethesda Softworks began teasing a new Fallout game Tuesday on Twitch, which resulted in over 140,000 people watching a “Please Stand By” screen for nearly 24 hours. The studio finally made the official announcement for Fallout 76 today via a teaser trailer and the promise of more details to come at E3 next week.

The Fallout 76 teaser trailer takes the viewer into the bowels of Vault 76, which is in relatively good condition compared to other Vaults seen in previous games. “Take Me Home, Country Road” plays in the background while the camera pans through it surprisingly empty as a voice from a television speaks of rebuilding following the war. The Vault is decorated with balloons and banners to celebrate “Reclamation Day,” but a lone Vault dweller is the only one ready to leave.

Obviously, details are extremely light on Fallout 76, and the internet rumor mill is ramping up. Kotaku is reporting the game is being developed at Bethesda Game Studios in Maryland with help from the studio responsible for the canceled title Battlecry in Austin, Texas. The outlet stated it has heard it is “an online game of some sort.” What that means is definitely up for debate.

Bethesda Game Studio will debut Fallout 76 game during the Bethesda E3 Showcase scheduled for Sunday, June 10 at 9:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. PT. The studio is expected to showcase many games, including the recently announced Rage 2.

Vault 76 has been mentioned previously in Fallout 3 and it’s Mothership Zeta DLC as well as Fallout 4. It was listed as one of many “control” vaults in a Vault-Tec terminal to use as the baseline compared to the more experimental vaults, such as the one from the most previous Fallout title.

The Vault was designed to open automatically 20 years after the nuclear war and was listed as having 500 occupants. The fate of those occupants beyond the lone Vault dweller shown in the teaser trailer will assuredly be a topic of interest heading into the Bethesda’s reveal next Sunday.

The Pipboy at the beginning of the trailer showed a date of “27 Oct 2012.” This suggests Fallout 76 will take place 25 years after the bombs dropped. It is possible the Vault dweller shown in the trailer is the last to leave after the other 499 occupants departed to a fate unknown.

Location is just as important as any other aspect of previous Fallout titles. The question now is if the “Take Me Home, Country Road” reference points to a setting in West Virginia.