Bethesda’s Fallout 76 had a pretty rough launch back in 2018. The title was absolutely filled with glitches and many players felt cheated by a variety of issues, including pre-order rewards that weren’t fulfilled properly and a barely-playable game.
It feels safe to say that Fallout 76 had arguably the worst launch of any Fallout titles. While Fallout 4 wasn’t received flawlessly, it was still received pretty well in general, and though there were a good number of bugs, it was… bearable, at least. 76, not so much.
Since that rough launch, Bethesda have put in a good amount of hours fixing it. Nowadays it’s technically playable, but the player base has all but disappeared. Much of the gaming community considers it a dead game, and though those that are still left seem to be devout fans of the game, it’s generally avoided.
But Bethesda is seeking to change all of that with their most recent update, the free Wastelanders expansion. This title brings a great amount of new content, most notably Wastelanders (duh), which are NPCs passing through or staying in West Virginia, where the game takes place.
These Wastelanders will forge some alliances that you’ll need to keep in mind, though allying with one seems to be optional. Keep in mind that if you do ally with one, their rivals probably won’t take too kindly to it. Two of the main factions are engaged in a turf war, with farmers on one side and raiders on the other.
Additionally, players will explore a new story questline to serve the Overseer through. All of this will, of course, be rewarded with your usual quest awards as you work through the expansion. Everyone is here to do what they can to grab their share of a treasure rumored to be buried in Appalachia, and you’re more than welcome to hunt for it yourself.
The preorder for the Wastelanders expansion is active now, with the full title releasing on April 14th. Obviously, given that it’s free, “preorder” is a weird word to use for it. Essentially, you can go ahead and pre-install the expansion so that when it becomes available, you’re able to play immediately instead of waiting for the new install.
Fallout 76 just recently hit Steam as well, launching on April 7th a few days ago. Before now, people were only able to play it on Bethesda’s launcher. If you already own it, you can claim a free copy on Steam over the next two weeks by linking your Bethesda and Steam accounts.
