The newly announced Fallout 76 is an online survival RPG heavily inspired by games like DayZ and Rust, according to three people familiar with the project who spoke to Kotaku under the condition of anonymity.
Fallout 76 was reportedly originally prototyped as a multiplayer version of Fallout 4, but has since evolved. It is said to have a story, quests, base building, and other survival-based multiplayer mechanics. One source cautioned that the gameplay is rapidly changing, but that the aforementioned features outline the core of the game.
The name Fallout 76 is based on Vault 76, which, according to Fallout lore, was meant to open 20 years after the nuclear war. Fallout 3 and 4 are set over 200 years after the war, after much of the population has had time to reconstruct human civilization. In contrast, Fallout 76 taking place so shortly after the war will reportedly feel very different.
Development on Fallout 76 is being led by Bethesda Game Studios‘ main office in Maryland, which is responsible for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4, as well as the company’s newest branch in Austin, which was formerly known as BattleCry Studios and whose last project was the cancelled online hero combat game BattleCry.
Fallout 76 is in development for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.