In a year where delays have almost been expected, it's very odd to get a game or update released early.
That's exactly what has happened with Fallout 76's Steel Dawn expansion though, as it's gone live now. That's a full week earlier than its original 1st December release date!
We've got the full patch notes, questline and everything you need to know right here!
Happy Accident
Thanks to an error on the Xbox One systems, Steel Dawn went live last night to 76's Xbox community.
Rather than correcting the mistake and taking down the Steel Dawn expansion, Bethesda decided to make it available on both PC and PS4 too.
If you're wondering what's included in the Steel Dawn Expansion, the complete questline is detailed below:
Steel Dawn Full Questline
The Brotherhood of Steel are one of the main factions within the Fallout series. Steel Dawn brings the Brotherhood to Appalachia, as Paladin Taggerdy and her crew settle in West Virginia:
- Complete New Quests: Meet the new Brotherhood arrivals and begin your journey through the Steel Dawn questline by heading to Fort Atlas (formerly ATLAS Observatory) in the Savage Divide region of Appalachia.
- Your level 20+ characters can begin the Steel Dawn quests immediately, even if you haven’t completed any prior Fallout 76 quest content.
- When you log in with an eligible character, a quest called “Welcome to the Neighborhood” will prompt you to visit Fort Atlas.
- Please note: You can now Fast Travel to Fort Atlas for free. However, if you had already discovered ATLAS Observatory before to today’s update, its icon will no longer be visible on your Map. You will need to revisit the area to discover Fort Atlas, which will cause its Map marker to appear.
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- Meet New Faces: Get acquainted with new characters, like Paladin Rahmani, Knight Shin, Scribe Valdez, and many others who have arrived in Appalachia with the Steel Dawn Update.
- Explore New locations: We’ve added several new locations and updated a number of existing ones that you’ll delve into during your journey with the Brotherhood.
- Gear Up with New Rewards: Progress through the Steel Dawn questline and complete Daily Ops to earn a host of cosmetic, C.A.M.P., and item rewards, including the following new weapons and armour straight from the Brotherhood arsenal:
- Crusader Pistol
- Plasma Cutter
- Hellstorm Missile Launcher
- Brotherhood Recon Armor
- You can purchase a variety of mods for these new items from Regs in Vault 79 using Gold Bullion, including mods that can alter each weapon to deal various types of elemental damage.
- Main Menu Updates: The Brotherhood has taken over the game’s Main Menu with an all-new background video and music.
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Additional Updates
There's more than just a new questline, though. Steel Dawn also contains some quality of life improvements within its 15GB update file.
These include the ability to build instanced interiors called C.A.M.P. shelters in your settlements.
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There's also a major change to the hunger and thirst systems. These will no longer penalise your character with debuffs, instead, focussing on giving them stronger buffs when well fed and hydrated.
Release Date
Fallout 76 Steel Dawn is available now to all players on Xbox One, PS4 and PC.