Fallout 76 players can now get original Fallouts free
Finally, people who bought Fallout 76 will get a good game
Folks who bought Fallout 76 last year can now grab ye olde Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics for free. Finally, your Fallout 76 purchase will get you a good game (several, even). The giveaway is the latest part of Bethesda's ongoing apology tour over the multiplayer survive 'em up's shonkiness. Unlike the trifling amount of virtuacash offered in apology for the £175 edition's garbage bag (Bethesda do plan to replace the bags), this is available to folks who have any edition. All Fallout 76 editions were wonky enough to merit apology gifts. All of it. The whole thing. Not that Bethesda call it an apology gift, of course.
The offer is open to "anyone who logged into the full release of Fallout 76 on any platform in 2018," Bethesda explained on Wednesday. Download the Bethesda Launcher (which PC players should already have from FO76 itself?), log into your Bethesda account, and bish bash bosh you should see the Fallout Classic Collection in your library.
These are the first two Fallouts from the 90s, the singleplayer isometric RPGs from Black Isle Studios (survivors of which went on to found Obsidian Entertainment and make Fallout: New Vegas) before Bethesda bought the series. They are good games. Also, Fallout Tactics is there too (I haven't played it but people who hold grudges for baffling lengths of time tend to whoop and cheer when you slam Fallout Tactics, so shower me with your praise - or your disgust that I would so brazenly play to the braying hominids).
The Fallout Classic Collection's typical full price is £14, though it goes way cheaper in sales and I do think I've received all three games for free in giveaways on various stores over the years. But hey, it's something.
Bethesda had announced the giveaway shortly before Christmas, stuffily saying players would "receive an entitlement for Fallout Classic Collection" in early January. Ah, love those entitlements. You could've said "late Christmas present" or summat, you know.
Yesterday they also muttered about adding new bits to Fallout 76, which they've said before will include new quests and the opening of new Vaults.
"We know you're eager for new content and new ways to play Fallout 76," they said. "We're still not quite ready to share details, but we can say that the time between the announcement of our next major update and its release will be very short. Our goal is to get the content in your hands as quickly as possible so we can iterate, improve, and make any needed changes based on your feedback."
It is sorely lacking in... everything. Nate Crowley concluded in our Fallout 76 review that it "feels like an atavistic reprisal of a late-2000s MMO. Worse yet, with its low server populations and absence of human NPCs, it's as if it's designed to feel like a dying late-2000s MMO."
Nate also helpfully reviewed Fallouts 5 through 75 for us.