Fallout 76: 9 New Features We Can't Wait To Try
8. A Budding Post-Apocalypse
Make no mistake: Fallout 76 is a genuine entry in the series' expansive mythos, but when that cog-shaped door to the outside world rolls open, a very different post-apocalypse to the one Fallout fans have grown used to over the years will come into view.
Only 20-odd years have passed - as opposed to the usual rough timeframe of two centuries - since the Great War concluded, and while radiation, mutants, raiders and general danger will no doubt be commonplace in West Virginia, the world itself will look, feel and be less decrepit than Fallout 3 or 4's renditions of Washington D.C. and Boston respectively.
We've all seen evidence of that first-hand via Bethesda's gameplay reveal at E3 - small establishments have yet to crumble and forests still maintain a healthy green foliage - but it's not just in the level design where Bethesda's given itself room to explore new opportunities.
In such a short space of time since doomsday arrived, the laws of the new world have yet to be established. Have bottle caps yet to be adopted as currency? Has the Brotherhood of Steel been formed yet? Will we meet any individuals who survived the war on the surface?
The potential is palpable.