Summary
The2024 Xbox Games Showcasewas a jam-packed stream featuring all sorts of announcements and reveals, includinga re-reveal of Perfect Dark, thereveal of Gears of War: E-Dayand more information on the likes ofIndiana JonesandAvowed. But perhaps the most underrated and possibly overlooked announcement from Sunday’s showwas the upcoming expansion to Fallout 76 called Skyline Valley.
While Skyline Valley will be debuting later this week, the trailer revealed that players will be able to play as a Ghoul in 2025. 76 will be the first Fallout game to let players be a Ghoul, and it’s perfect timing as Ghouls have never been more popular. Walton Goggins' Cooper Howard (or just The Ghoul)from Amazon Prime’s Fallout TV seriesbecame an immediate hit with fans, andnow it looks like gamers will be able to create their own character.
But while the announcement was exciting, it also lacked a lot of concrete information. Ghouls will arrive in a vague “Early 2025” window, and information about how they’ll work or how they’ll play wasn’t included. However,thanks to an exclusive interview with PCGamesN, we now know what to expect when these creatures get added.
Ghouls Are More Than Just A Look In Fallout 76
Bethesda Game Studios producer Bill LaCoste told PCGamesN that the idea for a playable Ghoul had been simmering for some time,even before the breakout that was Fallout on Amazon Prime. The impact of Goggins' character simply affirmed what the team had already been thinking.
“The community has certainly wanted this for a very long time,” LaCoste said. “They’ve wanted to play as a different character or a different faction for a long time. And we were talking about it before it became a big deal, before people saw Cooper in the TV show.
A lot of it has to do with Walton Goggins just being an amazing actor. But it worked together with our original thoughts. We had this in mind, making this a playable thing in the future, and when the TV show hit and people loved The Ghoul, we knew we’d made the right decision.”
To that end, LaCoste confirmed that playing as a Ghoul will be more than just a change in looks. When the ability to play as a Ghoul does arrive, it’ll require players to be at level 50. From there, a quest will be unlocked that will begin the transformation process. Once that transformation is complete, players will haveaccess to new abilities and perks specific to Ghouls.
According to the article, Ghouls will be able to harness the power of radiation. Additionally, factions in the game will interact with the player differently because of their new looks. And on a final note, Bethesda has noted that if players want to transform back into a human, they’ll be able to do so.
Based off the information in the interview, it sounds like Bethesda is going all out to make the Ghoul experience more than just a cosmetic lift. That would explain why the release is not anytime soon. And from the looks of it, that wait will certainly be worth it.
