Fallout fever is in full swing, hitting fans harder than radiation from a nuclear launch. Fresh off the captivating Fallout television adaptation spiking interest in the series, followed up by major patches for Fallout 4 updating it graphically for modern consoles, and even a tie-in coming to Fortnite soon, it seems that Fallout’s popularity is as unstoppable as a deathclaw on a rampage.
But one entry in the series that shouldn’t be forgotten is Fallout 76; Bethesda’s online experience set in West Virginia. While we were fairly harsh on it back at launch six years ago (that’s right, six years!), it recently celebrated a milestone of having over 1 million people logging in over the course of a single day, and continues to deliver new content and stories for its loyal players.
If you’re anything like me and fell in love with Walton Goggins’ mesmerising performance as Cooper Howard/The Ghoul, then Fallout 76’s next update is going to get you excited. As revealed during the Xbox Games Showcase this morning, for the first time in Fallout history you’ll have the ability to play as a Ghoul. Dress your character up as a gunslinger and enact your favourite moments from the show, or go about your business as usual – but without the hassles of disease and radiation to affect you! Whether or not you turn feral is another matter, and of course there’s also the discrimination aspect… but with an increased lifespan you’ll be able to outlive your enemies without problem.
We got an opportunity to speak with Fallout 76’s creative director Jon Rush, who told us a bit more about the creative influences behind adding Ghouls as playable characters;
“We wanted to come up with more features for our in-game players. A new player comes in and opens up their in-game map and it’s like a theme park – like Disneyland, where there’s always stuff to do and things to go and see.
While there is still plenty for our in-game players to do, we wanted to offer more ways that they can upgrade their characters’ power or play in alternate ways. So bringing in Ghouls which are very popular with players to mainly serve as a vessel for alternate play-styles was the influence here.”
So whether you stay as a human or turn into a Ghoul, there will be plenty of content to continue your journey in Fallout 76 as the game goes from strength to strength. Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming updates that seek to make the game even better!
