Fallout 25th Anniversary Plans Are Kinda Underwhelming
If you were hoping for some substantial Fallout 25th anniversary celebrations, then unfortunately, it seems like you’re going to be disappointed. Bethesda is celebrating a quarter-century of this venerable RPG franchise with…get ready for it…content for Fallout 76 and Fallout Shelter, as well as sales and giveaways. Wahey.
Per a Bethesda press release, you’re getting a free week of Fallout 76, which got a new update adding ‘iconic’ Fallout 3 location The Pitt earlier this year (following on from the Test Your Metal update back in June). Given that Fallout 76 is currently sitting at a Mixed recent review rating on Steam, that’s probably not going to feel like much of a reward. Still, at least you can check out the game for free for a week, so that’s nice.
As well as this, Bethesda will be adding content to Fallout Shelter for the first time in four years. The game is getting a new questline with brand new enemies to fight, as well as new Vault Dwellers, new enemies, and a new anniversary-themed celebration room decoration. More info will be available next week when the update launches.
Bethesda is also holding a number of sales and giveaways throughout the month of October to celebrate Fallout’s 25th anniversary. Hopefully, these will include sales for the original Fallout games, which arguably remain head and shoulders above anything Bethesda has done with the franchise (with the possible exception of New Vegas, which wasn’t Bethesda-developed anyway).
In characteristic Bethesda style, there’s even a little quiz on the official Fallout 25th-anniversary website, one that offers a series of scenarios intended to test your decision-making skills. Of course, since this is a Bethesda quiz, you often don’t actually have a choice at all; one scenario has you making a trade you can’t back out of, for example, while another has you following a robot you can’t choose to ignore or leave behind. Sigh.
Fallout looks to be on the back burner for now
Although Fallout 76 remains an active live-service game, it looks like Bethesda isn’t too interested in creating more single-player Fallout RPGs (although, given Fallout 4’s limited lack of roleplaying opportunities, that’s arguably not been a priority for a while anyway). The company is currently hard at work on Starfield, in which, unlike Fallout 4, your character won’t have a voice.
The Elder Scrolls VI is also in the works, although we haven’t heard much about that game since it was announced in 2018. In essence, it seems like Bethesda views the future of the Fallout series in terms of Fallout 76 and Fallout Shelter, not in terms of new single-player games. Many Fallout fans may disagree, but such is life in the wasteland.
If you want to check out Bethesda’s Fallout 25th-anniversary plans, you can do so over on the official celebration website. In memory of the good Fallout games, be sure to take a look at Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout: New Vegas if they do end up on sale, and give them a replay if it’s been a while since you explored their worlds.