Season 1 of Amazon’s Fallout TV series may be over, but Bethesda isn’t letting the Fallout train slow down. The Fallout 76 Skyline Valley update is just around the corner and brings a wealth of new features to keep players hooked for Season 17.
“Expanding the map allows us to continue evolving Appalachia; providing new content for all players to enjoy regardless of level or experience.”
– Jonathan Rush, Creative Director of Fallout 76 from the Skyline Valley Developer preview
Veteran wastelanders and newbies alike can explore a large Southern map expansion that contains a spooky weather effect; setting the mood for the area. With new events, enemy types, and a boss that will challenge even the most geared wastelanders, the Skyline Valley update has something for everybody.
Fallout 76 Skyline Valley release date
During the Xbox Games Showcase 2024 stream, Bethesda announced that the Skyline Valley map expansion for Fallout 76 will be coming to all platforms on June 12, 2024.
What to expect for Fallout 76 Skyline Valley update
The Skyline Valley update hit the Public Test Server (PTS) on April 18, 2024. Since then, players have been given a taste of a new public event along with an introduction to a brand new main questline.
If you haven’t played the PTS and want to wait to discover the features of the update on your own, then you should stop reading here. Spoilers ahead!
New points of interests
The map expansion takes place in the real-world Shenandoah Valley. The valley hosts Vault 63 along with 26 named points of interests (POIs). One of the most notable is the Dark Hollow Manor which is literally at the center of the storm that is constantly decimating the region. We won’t list all of the POIs here since the names and locations are subject to change, but you can expect a healthy amount of variety in this new storm-stricken map expansion.
New enemy types
The Lost Dwellers of Vault 63
As with almost every vault in Fallout 76, the inhabitants of Vault 63 aren’t too hospitable. These vault dwellers are called the “Lost” and have an electrified theme. Many are ghouls that seem to have undergone a, forgive the pun, shocking transformation. Keep your distance from these fellas, as they tend to discharge electricity and create a small explosion upon death.
Thrashers
If you’ve ever been asked if you’d rather fight 100 turkeys or 1 giant turkey, you’ll love this. The new Thrasher enemy is a huge mutated turkey that’s about the size of a Smart Car. Like many animal-type enemies, they seem to be weak to fire so keeping a flamer on-hand can make dealing with packs of Thrashers much easier.
Communists in the Valley
New communist soldiers can also be found throughout the Skyline Valley region but a lore explanation has yet to be uncovered. Bethesda tends to place “filler” enemies into new areas such as Super Mutants or Mothman cultists but communist soldiers aren’t an enemy type that has been given this treatment before. It’s possible that they’ll play a role in the new main questline that takes place in the area.
New nuke event boss
War never changes – and neither do boss battles in Fallout 76. As with the other triggered boss events, Skyline Valley encourages players to launch nukes into the region to begin the ‘Neurological Warfare’ event.
While the nukes can target any location in Skyline Valley, the event will occur at the Hawksbill weather station. Here, players will battle three new robotic enemies known as the Storm Goliaths. While they aren’t as big as Liberty Prime, these robots are tough and the event is far from solo-friendly.
The content on the PTS is a small portion of what Skyline Valley and Season 17 will bring to Fallout 76. As with previous updates that bring new areas to the game, we can expect more events and content to be added to the region as time goes on. The future of Fallout 76 is looking bright as long as Bethesda continues to give it the attention it needs.
