Bethesda shows off new Fallout 76 Wastelanders gameplay

(Image credit: Bethesda)

Players visiting PAX East this weekend got treated to an early peek of Fallout 76 Wastelanders, the free, highly-anticipated expansion coming to Fallout 76 next month.

Full of people – not to mention companions, extensions to the main quest, a variety of brand-new locations, extra monsters to shoot and lots of new equipment to collect – the new teaser also showed off dialogue options as well as confirming NPCs would also be introduced to the main story quests, too (thanks, PC Gamer).

"Join Wastelanders developers Jeff Gardiner (Project Lead), Ferret Baudoin (Lead Designer), Mark Tucker (Design Director), and Nathan Purkeypile (Lead Artist), and as they talk about the changes coming to Appalachia as well as what goes into creating the stories and motivations of West Virginia’s newest residents," explains the video description of a bonus 28-minute long segment that also went live on YouTube for fans who were unable to make the show.

"We get to go back to one of the strengths of Bethesda – the conversations," Baudoin says during the livestream. "We’re trying to connect with you, with human beings, with emotions. We're trying to give you a real impetus for why you’re doing the things you’re doing."

Talking of conversations; we also learned that Jason Mewes from Jay and Silent Bob is one such chatty NPC you'll encounter on your travels.

We now have a release date for the upcoming Fallout 76 Wastelanders expansion – April 7, 2020 – which will add human NPCs, dialogue trees, new quests, weapons, and plenty more. The lack of people to converse and trade with was one of the most criticised parts of the original game, so how will the first proper expansion - seemingly designed to specifically address that - change things? Here's everything we know so far about the highly-anticipated expansion, Fallout 76 Wastelanders.

Read about how Fallout 76 is a surprisingly sharp reflection of how we could survive the apocalypse.

Vikki Blake
Weekend Reporter, 12DOVE

Vikki Blake is 12DOVE's Weekend Reporter. Vikki works tirelessly to ensure that you have something to read on the days of the week beginning with 'S', and can also be found contributing to outlets including the BBC, Eurogamer, and GameIndustry.biz. Vikki also runs a weekly games column at NME, and can be frequently found talking about Destiny 2 and Silent Hill on Twitter.