New Fallout 76 Details Surface As Beta Looms

Fallout 76 is nearly upon us, and with a beta test for the game beginning later this month, players who have pre-ordered are probably wondering what to expect. New details about the game are coming down the pipeline today, with Bethesda detailing a variety of different things about the game. These include details on things like grouping, PvP, and even fast traveling.

What's clear is that while the core of Fallout 76 will be just like other Fallout game, in some regards it'll do things quite a bit differently from single-player titles in the series. That's obvious from the get-go, as Fallout 76 allows you to group up with up to three other players and explore servers populated by 24 players in total.

Despite the focus on multiplayer, Bethesda's Pete Hines explains to Xbox Live's Major Nelson in a new multi-part video interview that you can still do things on your own, as you can fast travel to anyone in your group or back to your shared camp at any time. So, if your goals differ from the other people in your group, you can strike out on your own and meet back up with them when they need you.

Hines also explained an interesting approach to player-vs-player encounters. Though the Wasteland should be a dangerous place, you don't actually need to engage other players in combat if you don't want to. You'll take decreased damage from other players until you choose to fire back at them, and if you never decide to fire back but they kill you anyway, they won't be able to loot your stuff and they'll be branded a murderer.

Speaking of dying, you won't drop weapons or armor when you shuffle off your mortal coil, though you will drop your junk and scrap. All junk is not created equal, however, and some items are rarer than others, so finding your corpse to retrieve your dropped items may be necessary at times.

Finally, Hines also reiterated that the map is four times larger than the one found in Fallout 4, so even though it's a multiplayer game, you may not run into other players all that frequently. All in all, Fallout 76 sounds like it's shaping up to be an interesting take on the Fallout franchise, and those who pre-ordered the game will be able to get an early glimpse at what it offers when the Xbox One version of the beta begins on October 23. The beta will then go live on PC and PS4 on October 30, with the game launching for everyone on November 14.

SOURCE: Xbox Wire