Within the Bethesda-era of the Fallout sequence, no sport has had a much bigger map than the MMO spinoff Fallout 76. Whereas most did not actually like the sport at launch (our GamesRadar+ assessment gave it a 2.5 again in 2018), it is grown in reputation over time and now sits at a ‘Principally Optimistic’ ranking on Steam. And one of many causes gamers are extra keen on it now could be partly because of simply how rattling huge it’s, with it solely getting greater with each new enlargement. However even at launch the sport was touted as being “4 instances the dimensions of Fallout 4,” but it surely seems that just about wasn’t the case.
At a 2025 Recreation Builders Convention (GDC) panel attended by GamesRadar+, Fallout 76 lead artist Nate Purkeypile revealed that they needed to struggle to make the map simply as huge because it was. “Fallout 76’s map was enormous; it is really even greater than Skyrim, and that was one thing I needed to struggle for actually laborious from the beginning,” Purkeypile stated, explaining, “I knew it was a sport folks have been going to be spending a whole lot of time in, and I wished to seize that epic really feel of the West Virginia wilderness.” Making a much bigger map for a sport designed to be performed near-endlessly appears to be a given, but it surely’s fascinating to listen to that Bethesda was initially in favor of a smaller model.
Purkeypile additionally talked about how he felt in regards to the sport’s reception at launch, saying, “despite the fact that the sport had a rocky launch, folks appreciated the map. It was sort of good to listen to ‘hey, that sport sucks, however the map’s fairly cool’. I did my job.”
