Nothing can get people excited about the end of the world quite like the Fallout series, and though Bethesda’s online spinoff Fallout 76 isn’t scheduled to release for a few more months, the game’s official in-game introduction video is available now. For once, it’s a piece of Fallout 76 content that doesn’t include a John Denver song.
“War … war never changes,” a political figure says in classic Fallout fashion at the start of the video. “In 1776, this great nation accepted that armed conflict was the only way to preserve our rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
With the threat of nuclear war looming over the world exactly 100 years later, America celebrates the completion of Vault 76. The vault is designed to save its inhabitants from certain death in the face of the apocalypse, but there’s an elitist and almost fascistic quality to the narrator’s words.
“But not everyone will be saved. Those chosen to enter this vault must be our best and our brightest. For when the fighting has stopped and the Fallout has settled, you must rebuild — not just walls, not just buildings, but hearts and minds, and ultimately America itself.”
The video doesn’t reveal how the nuclear apocalypse exactly plays out in West Virginia, but we expect to learn this early on. After all, we know how twisted and ruined America became after the bombs fell just a year later.
You won’t have to wait until November to get your hands on Fallout 76. If you’ve pre-ordered the game, you can get into the “B.E.T.A.” program, which stands for “break it early test application.” It will first be available to Xbox One players on October 23, and other platforms will receive it at a later date.
One fan who has already gotten a chance to play the game is a boy named Wes. Fighting neuroblastoma, Wes wanted to play Fallout 76, and Bethesda not only gave him a chance to try out the game early, but the company also gave him a signed replica Power Armor helmet and a signed map of West Virginia.
Fallout 76 launches on November 16 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.
