How Fallout 76 runs the Brotherhood of Steel

Upon arriving at the Atlas Observatory in Fallout 76The public test server was strange. The Brotherhood of Steel, a highly militarized group, settled there … and moments after meeting them, it was clear that I was already on their shit list. The Brotherhood members I spoke to initially were dismissive and rude. The worst thing is that they have pissed everyone off more in Appalachia, and they don’t really care. It’s a mess, and the new Steel Dawn expansion tries to tackle new problems in the wasteland and join the Brotherhood.

The Brotherhood has been in Fall 76 since launch; a small expedition traveled to Appalachia. That expedition died, and the expansion will show another group behind them to investigate what happened. “They assume that [the original group] he’s dead because they haven’t heard from them. So they want to know what happened to the people, ”says Mark Tucker, design director, in a call with Polygon. The Brotherhood soon discovered that Appalachia was a stable region with many resources, and they took root.

Meet the Brotherhood (again)

The Brotherhood of Steel is much older than Fallout 76; they were an important part of the first game in the franchise in 1997. The Brotherhood has become an icon as a faction of the Fallout games. The franchise can never get too far from them. The complication is that each time they appear, a different group of writers handle them in different ways. Black Isle Studios, and later Obsidian, described the California Brotherhood of Steel as elitist and lonely, doomed to die for their own arrogance. The Eastern Brotherhood of Steel, written by Bethesda, is described as much more noble and prosperous due to its own power.

But since Fallout 76 is a prequel, this Brotherhood of Steel is the proto-version of both of them orders. Of course, there are the iconic Paladins in power armor and heavy weaponry. But many Brotherhood members around their base wear equipment sourced from American space facilities, such as retro spacesuits. There is a good vibe in the Brotherhood of this era. They are based on the iconic aesthetic of American science fiction and feel like a bridge between the “old world” and the inevitable future of the game.

In the Steel Dawn campaign, the player character can influence the Brotherhood of Steel and choose which interpretation they prefer, as both paths must come from this current iteration of the Brotherhood. This is the first half of a two-part campaign, and the player’s first picks will come back later.

Appalachia evolved

“One of the things that we have to deal with is that even though the world is moving along a timeline and we’re introducing new things, players may or may not have played all of the old content,” says Tucker. “So we have to make sure that everything we do works and adjusts to whatever state the player may be in.

Players may have finished Wastelanders, but not the main mission, or the other way around. Both or neither may have finished. Steel Dawn has a dialogue that accounts for all the possibilities. It exists in the now, and the game has to evolve and adapt for the timeline to work for all players.

The arrival of the Brotherhood marks another important evolution for the map. Wastelanders filled Appalachia with NPCs and added two major new settlements of Foundation and Crater. Steel Dawn adds another layer of content, and the game’s settlers and raiders have a chance to react to the Brotherhood. The next update, which also deals with the Brotherhood, will expand the seeds sown in Steel Dawn.

The team has been forced to deal with not only the usual problems of developing an online title (schedule, regular updates, technical issues), but they have also vastly changed what Fallout 76 it is. The game launched without an NPC and now houses multiple factions. Adding new areas to the map is difficult due to technical limitations, but the team managed to work instances in the game for varied areas, rich in stories but isolated. “It seems like a simple tactic that people are used to now, but man, it was a heavy job,” says Gardiner, but he cites it as one of the team’s biggest hits of the year, along with the public test server.

Find the future

Image: Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks

Those hits have been hard-earned, especially after the original release (and disastrous reception) of Fallout 76. But the developer has learned to receive feedback from fans and orient the product towards what they want. And when it comes to the harshest or scathing reviews that thrive on YouTube or certain fan forums, Bethesda has learned to deal with that too.

“It’s a mix, still. But honestly, it’s not that bad. Even after launch, in what I call the dark times, it wasn’t that bad, “says Jeff Gardiner, project leader at Bethesda. “There were always people who enjoyed the game. And, you know, what I used to say all the time is that at least they’re still talking about this game, and to wish make it good. “

Bethesda is also learning how to work with the game’s avid community of builders. At one point, the developer fixed a bug by stacking two walls next to each other that “he thought was very benign,” according to Gardiner. “It turned out that people were using that to build special things at CAMP. It was a great task for us, because we did not know it, and the community loved to make double-sided walls. “

Steel Dawn is an update that doesn’t have to catch up as much as previous versions of the game. It’s based on the successful Wastelanders expansion, and the developers have a stronger hand on the wheel. For example, the addition of phased CAMP basements that have a much higher build budget and tons of customization is a meaty bone for builders and gamers to chew on. People can now theoretically build their own vaults. Steel Dawn touches on familiar territory for the Fallout franchise, but it feels unique, a sign that Fallout 76 has found its place as a cohesive game and world.

Steel Dawn will be released on December 1 as a free update; a second part of the campaign will be published in the future. Both updates, along with Wastelanders, are free additions to the game.