Bethesda’s long-running multiplayer game, Fallout 76, is getting its largest update since 2020 this December. The free “Burning Springs” expansion will take players to post-nuclear Ohio and introduce Walton Goggins as The Ghoul from Amazon’s Fallout TV series.
The update coincides with Fallout Season 2, which premieres December 17 on Prime Video. Bethesda worked with Amazon’s creative team to align the game and show experiences.
“I think the biggest thing across the show and with the games, in general, is the stories, the characters, the dialogue all very much match,” said Fallout 76 lead producer Bill LaCoste. “People coming in from the show will notice that there are a lot of similarities, and for good reason.”
Players will cross a rebuilt Point Pleasant bridge to explore Ohio’s desert landscape, which features sandstorms and arid biomes deliberately reminiscent of Fallout 3 and New Vegas. The new region centers around Highway Town, serving as the social hub where players can interact with The Ghoul at his establishment called The Last Resort.
Goggins provides both his likeness and voice for The Ghoul character, who introduces a new bounty hunting system to the game. Players can take on solo missions called Grunt Hunts or participate in server-wide public events known as Headhunts. Only one Headhunt can be active per server at a time.
Similar Posts
The expansion also introduces an intelligent Super Mutant called the Rust King, who anchors the main storyline in Ohio. Two new public events, “Sinkhole Solutions” and “Gearin’ Up,” will challenge players with radscorpion nest clearing during sandstorms and equipping a deathclaw with armor during raider attacks.
Players can also encounter new enemies like Rad Hogs, which can be tamed as camp pets. The Rust King’s “Proving Grounds” will push players to complete various challenges throughout the Burning Springs region.
Beyond the content additions, Bethesda has been working on technical improvements. The development team confirmed that native versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles are “coming soon,” though no specific release date was provided. However, cross-play and cross-progression features remain unannounced.
Technical reviewer Samuel Axon noted that while the TV tie-in will attract attention, the more important changes have been happening behind the scenes. “Combat overhauls, bug fixes, balance updates, quality-of-life improvements, and technological tweaks—all of which have been added to the game over time. Ultimately, that little stuff adds up to be more impactful than the big stuff for players,” Axon wrote.
The existing Milepost Zero content from a previous update will be retired when Burning Springs launches, with elements expected to migrate to Highway Town.
Bethesda plans to reveal additional details about Burning Springs during its Fallout Day presentation on October 23. Meanwhile, players interested in testing the update can access the Public Test Server (PTS) beginning October 2.
Creative director Jon Rush suggested more TV crossovers might follow: “There are a lot of possible pathways we have forward for future features, or for expanding on existing features, that could have light tie-ins to the show, or very direct tie-ins to the show.”