Fallout 76 has fast travel, and players under level 5 can't die in PvP

We're continuing to piece together information on Bethesda's upcoming online-only Fallout 76, and in a recent interview with multiplayer.it, Todd Howard stated the game will include fast-travel and that players under level 5 can't be killed in PvP. Please note: I'm relying on Google's machine translation to read the article, which is in Italian.

When asked by the interviewer if there will be fast-travel in Fallout 76, Howard responds with a simple "Yes." There's no follow-up questions or elaboration, so it's not clear how fast-travel will work, how many areas it will be available in, or if there will be restrictions, such as having to visit or clear a location of enemies in order to open it as a fast-travel point.

With no mounts or vehicles in Fallout 76, and a world four times the size of Fallout 4, this news will come as a relief to some players, especially if you wind up loaded with loot a long way from your base. As a feature, though, it feels a bit odd for a shared-world game to have players winking out of sight and appearing elsewhere. Fast-travel could also presumably be used by enemy players to quickly travel closer to you—which might be an annoyance to those who want to experience the game solo and avoid interactions with others.

Also in the interview, Howard states that players under level 5 can't be killed by other players in PvP. (He also says this feature might change before Fallout 76 is released.) Though PvP is already optional, and you don't need to fight other players if you don't want to, this sounds like it could let low-level players dip their toes into PvP without risking their lives if they bite off more than they can chew. On the other hand, it raises additional questions: what if two low-level players square off, and neither of them can die?

Fallout 76 is due to be released November 14, 2018. There will be a beta period prior to that, though the date of the beta is currently unknown.

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.