'Fallout 76' players can get three old Fallout games for free
Is Bethesda Softworks just getting into the holiday spirit here, or is this an unspoken "make good" apology after Fallout 76's borked launch?
No one can say! And frankly, it doesn't matter. Bethesda has a special holiday offer in place for anyone who's played Fallout 76, which takes the popular apocalypse-centered role-playing game and turns it into an online game.
The offer is for more Fallout, and -- importantly -- free Fallout. Here's the deal, straight from the publisher's Twitter account:
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If you already picked up Fallout 76 and played it -- the full game, not the beta version of the full game that anyone could play prior to launch -- you'll be getting the gift of the Fallout Classic Collection sometime in January. The wording in the tweet suggests that you can still take advantage of this offer if you sign into the full game prior to January 1, 2019.
The Fallout Classic Collection -- currently available on Steam for $5.99 -- gathers together three of the earliest games in the series as a package deal. You get the original Fallout, its sequel Fallout 2, and the spin-off title, Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel.
The deal will apply to all Fallout 76 players, regardless of their chosen gaming platform. Therein lies a catch, however: while PlayStation 4 and Xbox One users will get the three-game collection for free, that collection is a PC-only released -- so they'll have to play those games on a computer, rather than their consoles.
That shouldn't be a big problem for most, however. The most recent of the three games, Fallout Tactics, released in 2001. All three of these early Fallout titles should have no problem running on most modern computers -- Windows-only, based on the Steam listing -- even the most low-spec models.
It's not clear how access to the collection will be unlocked, but it'll likely happen on the Bethesda.net platform that also hosts Fallout 76. The latest Fallout game skipped Steam in favor of Bethesda's own, relatively new game store client/online gaming platform.
The service itself is still a work-in-progress. There's no client-level friends list, for example; all the social elements in Fallout 76 happen inside the game. It's possible that this freebie offer is motivated, at least in part, by a desire to get more people into Bethesda's online platform.
It's still a sweet deal though. The original Fallout and its (absolutely incredible) sequel are nothing like the modern, first-person iterations of the series that fans have come to expect. But they're propelled by sharp writing and a slightly different approach to RPG design that should be instantly familiar to fans of "retro-styled" isometric PC RPGs like Pillars of Eternity or Divinity 2: Original Sin.
Topics Gaming
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
