Fallout 76's Hunter/Hunted PvP mode is basically a battle royale minigame

When we went hands-on with Fallout 76 earlier this month, we got a brief glimpse of an optional minigame called Hunter/Hunted. It was billed as a dedicated PvP mode which would allow aggressive players to fight without worrying about penalties, but we weren't totally clear on how it works until today. Bethesda clarified the rules and rewards of Hunter/Hunted in a new blog post, and it sounds much more like a battle royale game than we expected.

You join Hunter/Hunted by tuning into its radio station via your Pip-Boy (pictured below). Once four (or more) players tune in, everyone is assigned a target from the pool of participants. Note that the person you're hunting isn't necessarily the person hunting you. Once everyone has a target, you'll have one hour to hunt each other down within a designated area. 

"Over time, the Hunt area’s size will decrease, forcing you closer to your current victim and assassin," Bethesda said. "Upon killing your target, you’ll be assigned to the player they were tracking, and so on, until just one Hunter remains. Win or lose, taking down at least one other Hunter will award you with some Caps and XP. These rewards will also increase based on the number of kills you achieve, up to a maximum of six kills."

While totally optional and technically not a battle royale game, Hunter/Hunted is certainly taking cues from the genre. It only requires four players and those players can use whatever gear they want, but it's still a PvP mode about fighting to the death within an ever-shrinking arena. That's battle royale if I've ever heard it. 

The Fallout 76 beta starts this week. Here's everything you need to know.  

Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with 12DOVE since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.

Latest in Fallout
Fallout overseer
Original Fallout creator says he "pushed" for a happy ending with "cake and balloons" instead of the RPG's downbeat finale
Fallout
Disco Elysium lead says original Fallout is an RPG "that's almost Biblical in its annihilation," making "other post-apocalyptic worldbuilding seem like an amusement park"
Fallout 4 mod Fallout London screenshot showing a ruinous post-apocalyptic Camden
As if Fallout: London wasn't already big enough, its devs now say the mod's "first DLC is getting closer" with "more surprises" to come
mister burke sat in a beige suit, black tie, white shirt, and black hat and shades
Bethesda fans raise $140k for prolific VA's medical bills as Bethesda describes him as "an incredibly talented and instrument part of our games"
Fallout: New Vegas mod Fallout: Nuevo Mexico
After 4 years, Fallout: New Vegas' massive New Mexico mod is canceled: "Continuing forward simply isn't sustainable"
MTG
30 years later, Fallout creator Tim Cain is searching for a legendary D&D player who cheesed an entire competitive dungeon with a lightning-fast Monk build
Latest in News
Dragon Age 2
Veteran Dragon Age dev says one big delay is better than several small ones: "You are laying band-aid on top of band-aid on top of band-aid"
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Dark Souls 2 fans remind Death Stranding 2 director Hideo Kojima that he won’t be taking the DS2 acronym that easily
Minecraft Diamond Armor
Minecraft Pocket Edition got its name because one of its devs was a big "Nintendo nerd" who wanted to pay homage to the Game Boy Pocket
Death Stranding 2
Hideo Kojima says Death Stranding's themes of connection came about because "I thought I lost everything when I became alone nine years ago"
Monster Hunter Wilds trailer screenshot showing a young woman with long blonde hair tied back into a ponytail smiling slightly, pumping her left fist in the air
Monster Hunter Wilds' infamously confusing menus spare no player, not even Gemma's voice actor herself: "This is honestly what I’m struggling with the most"
Death Stranding 2 kiss
Hideo Kojima says "it was very difficult to direct" Death Stranding 2's big kiss scene, but Norman Reedus thinks "it was niiice" locking lips with Léa Seydoux