The first-ever Fallout Day broadcast reveals Fallout 76 Ghoul gameplay, camp pets and teases fishing

Bethesda held its first-ever Fallout Day broadcast and used it to reveal more about what’s coming to Fallout 76.

Fallout Day is today, October 23rd, because in Fallout lore, the Great War began and ended on October 23rd, 2077, when nuclear weapons devastated the world. But there were no explosive announcements about new Fallout games or mega-ton reveals for Fallout 5, which Bethesda says is in the works, possibly after The Elder Scrolls 6. Instead, Bethesda developers talked about new features for the MMO Fallout 76.

Bethesda began its broadcast by saying that it had seen more players in Fallout this year than ever before, setting record numbers for almost every title in the franchise. Fallout 76 is now approaching its sixth anniversary and has surpassed 20 million players, a number reached earlier this year due to the explosion in popularity of Prime Video’s Fallout TV show. In keeping with Fallout Day, Bethesda announced that you can play Fallout 76 for free until October 29th as part of a free game week.

Now for the new features: Fallout 76 is finally getting camp pets later this year. The feature begins with two pets: a cat and a dog. As expected, you can pet her. But beyond interacting with your camp pets, you can dress them up and set up furniture like scratching posts or a pile of dirt filled with bones for them to enjoy. Bethesda later announced the addition of new pets, “and perhaps some that aren’t as furry.”

Player titles will also be released in December. This includes a prefix and a suffix that you can combine to create your nickname. Player titles are earned as rewards.

For endgame players, there’s the upcoming Gleaming Depths raid, a traditional MMO-style dungeon designed to challenge hardcore players. You must be at least level 300 and have an organized, well-equipped squad of up to four players to have a chance of progressing, Bethesda added. This raid takes place in an abandoned Enclave research lab and features the Ultracite Terror, a boss who is essentially a giant irradiated snake.

Elsewhere, 4-star Legends are coming to Fallout 76, offering the highest quality weapons and armor in the game.

As Bethesda has announced, you will be able to transform into a ghoul for the first time in Fallout history in early 2025. During the Fallout Day broadcast, Bethesda showed off the Ghoul gameplay and revealed how it works.

Once you reach level 50 and complete the Ghoulification quest, you no longer have to worry about radiation as you are immune to radiation damage. In fact, Rads heal you and unlock unique abilities. This also means you don’t have to worry about having to eat to live, instead of hunger and thirst you have a new game knife to keep an eye on.

Going into the wild also has some benefits, such as turning into a mad berserker, a melee fighter who can “tear the face off a deathclaw.” Ghoul-specific perk cards include combat genes (in combat, you gain 1 HP per second). Bethesda said the Ghoul will hopefully open up dozens of new play styles given how different it functions.

There are also unique narrative options revolving around the various factions’ hatred of ghouls. The Brotherhood of Steel, for example, hates ghouls, so expect a tough time from them. For Ghoul players who still want to complete story quests with factions that wouldn’t normally ally with a Ghoul, “there may be a way to fool them,” Bethesda teased. If you can’t cope with being a ghoul, you can become a human again. Bethesda said it hopes to see ghoul parades and ghoul camps when ghouls go live in Fallout 76.

Finally, Bethesda teased fishing in Fallout 76 – a feature that players have been asking to be added to the game for years.

The Fallout Day broadcast ended with Bethesda development chief Todd Howard thanking fans for their support and saying the studio is looking forward to more Fallout even after 20 years of working on the franchise.

Wesley is the UK news editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.