Bethesda is getting ready to launch its Fallout 76 beta, and it released a trailer of the game's intro cinematic to mark the occasion. The tongue-in-cheek tone celebrates America and promises to protect democracy, all with an odd, discomfiting tone. It also finally names a release date for the beta launch: October 23 on Xbox One, with PlayStation 4 and PC to follow a week later.
The satirical nature is part of Fallout's brand, offering a take on Cold War jingoism that accompanied historical events like the Cuban missile crisis. The trailer itself is given a dark tone by what we know in the fiction: that the bombs do drop, and these hand-picked best and brightest are utterly unable to reconstitute American society in any recognizable way.
Not that knowing the ending should stop you from trying. As a member of Vault 76, the multiplayer game revolves around you emerging earlier than other vaults in prior games and attempting to establish your own society. That will mean building villages, hunting for resources, and maybe launching a nuke or two of your own. You can read more about the game in our new hands-on impressions.
Bethesda envisions Fallout 76 lasting long-term, very long-term, but even now that Sony has started to allow cross-play the company isn't sure that will ever happen. Fallout 76 launches on November 14. For more details check out our pre-order guide.