Wastelanders Fallout 76 DLC will release a week later than originally planned

(Image credit: Bethesda)

Bethesda has announced the free Fallout 76 Wastelanders expansion will now release a week later than originally planned on April 14. 

First set to release on April 7, Bethesda posted the announcement on Twitter and its official website, citing that the shift to remote working as a result of the "critical situation we are all in" has changed the way the studio has been able to work. "This has affected our ability to do the final testing we need for Wastelanders," Bethesda states, "and we must move the release date a week." 

The free expansion is set to bring NPCs to the wasteland setting of Appalachia in Fallout 76. When Fallout 76 first released, one of the biggest criticisms the game received was that it felt too soulless and empty with the absence of NPCs. You would have to go about collecting quests from holotapes and terminals, for the most part. The DLC is coming to Xbox One, PS4, and PC and will be available to anyone who owns any edition of the game. 

Wastelanders will also bring back some of the more traditional role-playing aspects of the series, with more dialogue options and choices that matter. On top of that, the DLC will also introduce a new main questline, as well as new romanceable characters. Essentially the Wastelanders will breathe a breath of fresh air into the post-apocalyptic setting and will give players more than enough reason to dive right back into the adventure. The delay to Wastelanders is perfectly understandable, and Bethesda expresses that it has been working hard to minimize the delay as much as possible.

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Heather Wald
Senior staff writer

I started out writing for the games section of a student-run website as an undergrad, and continued to write about games in my free time during retail and temp jobs for a number of years. Eventually, I earned an MA in magazine journalism at Cardiff University, and soon after got my first official role in the industry as a content editor for Stuff magazine. After writing about all things tech and games-related, I then did a brief stint as a freelancer before I landed my role as a staff writer here at 12DOVE. Now I get to write features, previews, and reviews, and when I'm not doing that, you can usually find me lost in any one of the Dragon Age or Mass Effect games, tucking into another delightful indie, or drinking far too much tea for my own good.