🔗 Share this article

This marks the 64th significant content addition following its launch, the multiplayer Fallout experience is set to introduce its most substantial content update yet in December. Titled Burning Springs, this massive update will add fresh armaments, new missions, and take players to the previously unexplored area of the Ohio wasteland.

A Remarkable Journey

Previously, the notion of this online Fallout experience getting such a substantial update multiple years after release would have been considered unimaginable. At the time the MMO originally released in 2018, it was met with skepticism from reviewers and gamers who found the release version buggy and conceptually incomplete. Some thought it would suffer the same fate as other live-service ventures of that era.

We have consistently believed in this game, stated the development lead. The initial release was kind of like the opening act of our story. People come out and they don't see anybody there, and they become familiar with their surroundings. The team's strategy was simply remaining dedicated and continuing to create the experiences that we know our fans will enjoy, and that we as players ourselves.

Exploring Unexplored Regions

Burning Springs represents the biggest ever update to date. The primary aspect is the territory addition, allowing players to travel beyond into the Ohio region and investigate what events have transpired there. Heads up: Danger lurks!

For the development team that exploring a fresh territory after considerable duration in Appalachia presented an ideal situation to work with an previously unexplored area within the Fallout universe.

We had not thoroughly investigated Ohio in the established canon extensively, explained the development lead. Starting from the current map, if you travel east, you start approaching the Washington DC area. That region has been quite familiar. Ohio was developed too much. Accordingly, this installment being taking place first in the chronology provides us multiple creative opportunities. We decided to explore what's happening in Ohio!

Drawing Inspiration from Previous Games

What immediately surprises about Fallout 76's version of this new territory is that it's presented as a arid landscape. This may look unusual given the typical climate of Ohio, but there's a strategic reason for this artistic direction: The visual style was heavily inspired by Fallout 3 and the Mojave Desert.

Instead of simply copying aspects from those games, the designers concentrated on representing the essential spirit of those games within this update.

Our approach wasn't centered around looking at those installments and saying we must have certain features, clarified the development lead. Our goal wanted to achieve was taking the unique atmosphere of those Fallout games and having that properly represented in this expansion. The direction I communicated to the designers when we began working on the new region was: It must include arid landscapes, Deathclaws, and plenty of enemies. To me, that captures what the third installment and New Vegas are all about. Those are the fundamental aspects that create the unique atmosphere of those titles, and so I aimed to have that recreated here.

Streaming Adaptation Incorporation

The positive reception of the Amazon streaming show created a noticeable rise in user engagement for Fallout 76, with accounts indicating a six or seven player growth. The studio recognized they needed to utilize this situation, but didn't have the adequate schedule to implement a comprehensive connection immediately.

The approach came through natural progression when the creators found the perfect connection with the noseless antihero, who becomes a mission providing character within the fresh content.

We were determining what this new region would contain, what the general atmosphere would be, and then what the signature element of the new region would develop into, that's contract missions, explained the creative director. So who better to host these missions than this character? Since he is a knowledgeable admirer of the games too, he was extremely enthusiastic to collaborate with us and complete this project. Therefore it wasn't planned from the beginning, but it emerged through logical evolution of the feature.

Coming Updates

Burning Springs doesn't represent the last content addition for the multiplayer experience. The creators is currently developing on the initial major next year's content and organizing more expansions reaching as far as the seventy-second addition.

At one point a moment where we didn't believe there would ever be an update 76, stated the production director. Currently we are at a stage where circumstances have become so successful, for both the show and the game. It's genuinely kind of amazing to contemplate that there's an seventy-sixth expansion that might eventually align with, you know, whatever comes next!

Persistent popularity of this online experience stands as a demonstration of the studio's persistence and steady approach to building upon their initial idea while seamlessly incorporating fresh content that enhance rather than compromise the established world.