While Fallout 76 is still receiving a steady stream of updates six years after release, no feature is arguably more exciting than the prospect of playing as a ghoul in an update teased to be coming in early 2025. Bethesda initially announced the upcoming feature for Fallout 76 back at the Xbox Games Showcase 2024, and recently shared more about how playable ghouls will function during their showcase at Gamescom 2024. With the details revealed about the features playable ghouls will bring to Fallout 76, it seems as though players are in for some major gameplay shake-ups when the update launches.
Fallout 76 has been on a bit of a tear lately thanks to the success of Amazon Prime’s Fallout TV series and the subsequent boost the entire Fallout franchise has seen as a result. However, independently of this success, Fallout 76 has done some great things with recent updates like Skyline Valley adding a brand-new region to the game’s map, and the upcoming Milepost Zero update set to introduce new gameplay mechanics as well. While these updates have brought welcome additions to the game, playable ghouls sound like they will be one of the game’s biggest overhauls in recent years.
Playable Ghouls Could Turn Fallout 76’s Late Game on its Head
Ghoul-specific Perks Open the Door for Even More Build Variety
One of the details shared about Fallout 76‘s playable ghouls during Gamescom was the addition of 32 ghoul-specific perk cards players will get to choose from once they complete the associated quest and choose to undergo “ghoulification.” Fallout 76 already boasts 205 unique perk cards, and the addition of these new ghoul-specific cards will bring the total up to a hefty 237. The developers noted that players will need to reach level 50 before they can undergo this process, meaning players will likely already have a specific build for their character before they reach this point.
What’s more is that players playing as a ghoul can still utilize the 205 standard perks on top of the 32 ghouls-specific ones, potentially opening the door to never-before-seen build types. As noted by the devs during the Gamescom showcase, ghouls are radiation resistant, so players who typically run power armor builds to avoid radiation can potentially free up some perk card slots for use with these new ghoul-specific perks. Some of the datamined perk cards for ghouls even include abilities that allow players to lower their radiation resistance as a ghoul, potentially allowing them to gain other Fallout 76 mutations while still a ghoul.
Fallout 76’s ‘Feral Meter’ for Ghouls Could Add an Element of Randomness to Gameplay
Another major feature of Fallout 76‘s playable ghouls hinted at during Gamescom was the inclusion of a “feral meter” that replaces the standard hunger and thirst meters. Since ghouls don’t need to eat like human characters, players will instead need to manage their level of “feralness,” which wasn’t fully explained but something was teased to happen if players’ feral meters become completely depleted. As most Fallout fans likely know, ghouls can become feral as their brains deteriorate from radiation, causing them to lose a sense of self and become animalistic and aggressive.
How becoming feral will affect Fallout 76 ghoul players is still unknown, but there are some potential ways it could be implemented based on existing in-game mechanics. Going feral in Fallout 76 could function similarly to drinking Nukashine, which grants players a period of increased speed and AP regen, but causes them to blackout and teleport to a random location after the effects end. Feral player ghouls could follow a similar route, which would be a much more interesting outcome than simply dying if their feral meter runs out.
