Fallout 76’s underground shelters look rad, but parts of them are gated behind Atoms or Fallout 1st

Custom content creators are going to love these

It’s kind of strange to log into Fallout 76 these days and see how far the game has come since the ignoble mess of a state it launched in.

We’ve gotten multiple free expansions and improvements: most notably a ton of bug vacuuming and quality of life upgrades for both solo and multiplayer modes. It can feel like a completely different game at times. A still flawed Fallout experience, but something new all the same.

Bethesda has been teasing a completely new customization option for a while, but now we actually get to see the fruits of their labor. “C.A.M.P. [I hate typing that out] Shelters” are going to be a thing, which, roughly translated, allows players to build underground instanced homes. Because it’s in a completely controlled space, it allows both players and the designers to have more freedom in terms of what is allowed to happen.

These spaces are going to be added “near the end of this year,” and will allow for three different sizes: the “Utility Room,” the “Vault Lobby” and the “Vault Atrium.” The former room will be unlocked after a short quest titled “Home Expansion,” but there are provisos. The lobby is going to be free for Fallout 1st members, after which it’ll cost an undisclosed amount of Atoms (currency). The Vault Atrium, described as the “largest” room, “will be available for Atom purchase immediately on patch day.”

You can get a good look at the underground aesthetic below: it slots nicely into the look of vaults in some previous games. From October 1-4, Bethesda is encouraging folks to enter the PTS (public test server) to try out the changes. If you do, you’ll earn a “PTS Pennant.” You’ll also be able to build to your heart’s content in the PTS as material requirements are temporarily removed.

It’s standard operating procedure at this point, as Bethesda opened up the PTS to everyone who owns the game on PC and runs it via the Bethesda launcher. They could have stood to open this testing concept up months before launch so it didn’t launch in the state it did, but them’s the breaks.

Inside the Vault [Bethesda.net]