'our World Is Like A Theme Park': Fallout 76's Latest Expansion...

Burning Springs is the latest expansion in Fallout 76, and this time the map has been expanded sideways (to the Northwest, to be specific). And even though the new map is just a jump, skip, and a hop over the river, it's an entirely different vibe.

"The way Jon Rush (creative director) likes to describe it is, our world is like a theme park," lead producer, Bill LaCoste, tells me. "So every area has a defined theme, and we didn't have anything that was very close to that desert kind of Wasteland. So this just made perfect sense for the region that we'd be expanding into, and the reasons why the region is that way. It really fit well with what we had."

This new area of the Wasteland is indeed inspired by the sandy slopes of Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 3, with the pillars being "desert, deathclaws, and raiders", which also coincidentally ties in with Fallout season 2 on Prime.

"We set this up in a way so this new area goes along with the show a little bit," LaCoste says. "We just wanted to expand in a different direction, you know. And also, I think part of the mystery and mystique behind Ohio is that there's only a handful of references to Ohio in all of the Fallout Lore. There aren't very many, and so that was part of the intrigue."

But before I could even begin to explore any of the sandy dunes, I was cornered into fighting in the Rust King's arena. Kidnapped after trying to help a fake person in need (this is what I get for being nice), I was left in a cage to choose an ally out of two other prisoners: One being slightly more chatty but a little snakey, and the other not wanting anything to do with me.

I can't actually remember who I picked as a partner, but in the end, it didn't matter because they both ended up dying in the arena—I didn't actually think I'd need to babysit them, plus I had a deathclaw on my back as if that wasn't enough to deal with.

After impressing the Rust King with my sick axe moves (I died twice), I was let free, able to roam this new side of the Wasteland, and I can confirm, it's very sandy. "We've said all along, you know, the main character of this game is Appalachia and the surrounding areas now," LaCoste says. "The new areas that we create, the stories that we tell through that environment are really important to our game, and that's what we've continued to do here, even with Burning Springs."

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Dotted across the barre

Source: PC Gamer