Fallout 76 is expanding to Shenandoah with its Skyline Valley update, which is just around the corner

Fallout 76: Skyline Valley Launch Trailer - YouTube

Fallout 76's next big update just got announced at the Xbox Games Showcase, and instead of heading off the map to a new expedition, you'll be able to stroll right into the Skyline Valley update.

We only saw a very short launch trailer at the showcase. It starts with a host on an old-fashioned 10-hour telethon trying to sell vault spaces, pointing out just how popular Vault 76 is, with over 17 million dwellers and counting. However, if 76 isn't your style, then you have another option—Vault 63.

There, you'll find "the greatest scientific minds" who are "thinking up shocking new ways to protect and preserve this Appalachian land," according to the salesman. We've known about Vault 63 and some of its inhabitants, like Hugo and Cassidy Stoltz, for some time now, as a few quests revolve around the scientific lab and its meteorology sector.

Hugo Stoltz is a former Vault-Tech board member and also something of an evil genius (or just a morally corrupt one). Even before the bombs dropped, Hugo was hiring hitmen to kill off employees and displacing people who lived in Shenandoah National Park, but during the Great War, he decided to go one step further and ghoulify himself along with his family and employees.

The spokesperson also alludes to Skyline Valley being right in the center of Shenandoah National Park, a beautiful and spacious area that probably looked better before the bombs dropped, but I'm not going to turn my nose up at fresh real estate. After this, we get to see a couple of locations, including an abandoned weather station and a faulty generator station, and there are new enemies to go along with them.

We briefly see a disgusting turkey-ostrich hybrid that seems way too big for its own good. With a razor-sharp beak and tons of bulbous eyes, it's something that I really don't want to run into. After that, we're shown "a couple of residents," who basically just look like zombie cybermen armed with batons and guns, and who also don't look very friendly.

We'll be able to play Skyline Valley next week on June 12. But unfortunately it won't include the equally exciting feature that'll let us play as a ghoul, which won't be available until early 2025.

Elie is a news writer with an unhealthy love of horror games—even though their greatest fear is being chased. When they're not screaming or hiding, there's a good chance you'll find them testing their metal in metroidvanias or just admiring their Pokemon TCG collection. Elie has previously worked at TechRadar Gaming as a staff writer and studied at JOMEC in International Journalism and Documentaries – spending their free time filming short docs about Smash Bros. or any indie game that crossed their path.