Fallout 76: Wastelanders launch: what's new

After several delays, Fallout 76 is finally getting its big overhaul in the form of expansion called Wastelanders, which will land tomorrow. It is a completely free update for all players who already own the game on any platform. And if you own the game on Bethesda launcher for PC, then you will be pleased to know that you can get the game for free on your Steam account, you just need to connect your Steam and Bethesda accounts and that's it!

Some already call Wastelanders 'Fallout 4.5', because it will bring a complete overhaul to the original concept of Fallout 76.

There's a new main quest where we "Uncover the secrets of West Virginia,"  and it consists of two separate story arcs. One you get immediately after leaving Vault 76 and it’s centred around a new watering hole called The Wayward. The Wayward is run by the bartender, Duchess, who "has a fair bit of trouble she needs help getting out of."

"The second quest arc (and the meatier of the two) starts in Sutton after players have hit level 20. In this quest, you’ll meet the Raiders and Settlers and get to the bottom of the mysterious treasure of Appalachia. Although the Wayward line doesn’t get you to level 20 by itself, doing the original questline plus exploring the Forest and Toxic Valley should get you there in no time at all," says Lead Designer Ferret Baudoin.

• Watch: The First Hour: Fallout 76
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Probably the most important and most requested thing is that we're getting NPCs! NPCs and interaction with them are the core of the experience in any Fallout game, and it was probably the strangest thing about Fallout 76: playing a Fallout game without NPCs to talk with. NPC will now be everywhere in the game, the will offer quests, ask for help, tell us some stories, or attack us. There will be several hostile groups, like chem-addicted Blood Eagles and mysterious Cult of the Mothman. There are also two new key factions, Raiders and Settlers, and they will both have their own settlements which players can visit. There's also a new Reputation system which will help us to build better (or worse) relationships with these new factions.

Additionally, there are new Wastelander events, Riding Shotgun and Radiation Rumble, new types of creatures, new gear, new dialogue system, the general quality of life changes, bug fixes, optimisation, and other improvements which aim to make Fallout 76 a much better experience than it was originally.