Fallout 76’s retcons have created multiple continuity headaches since its launch in 2018, with Power Armor and the Brotherhood of Steel both affected.
Fallout 76 was the most recent entry in the Fallout universe and it has sadly caused issues with the series’ lore. The first multiplayer entry in the series and the first time a Fallout game has had long-lasting support and consistent content updates, Fallout 76 marked a new era in Bethesda’s franchise. Because of these content drops to Fallout 76, and the growing need to continue delivering quality Fallout content, expanding and altering the lore is occasionally done to deliver on these updates, which has sometimes resulted in retconning or changing parts of the Fallout lore.
Fallout 76 released back in 2018 to mixed reception, and has steadily been releasing content updates since in order to not only restore its reputation from launch, but to retain existing players and attract potential newcomers. Bethesda has assured players of Fallout 76 that a five-year roadmap is ahead of itself, which would ensure a steady flow of content until the next entry in the series. Many of the past content updates have revolved around populating human NPCs throughout the world, as the game launched without any, which not only give quests, but can serve as companions like in previous single-player Fallout games. Some of these NPCs have advanced the lore of Fallout, serving as settlers that lived during the aftermath of the bombs, or as raiders that are escaping war-torn parts of the country. However, the inclusion of particular NPCs, such as the Brotherhood of Steel, are harder to appreciate because it retcons the lore that was established in previous games.
While Bethesda’s online Fallout title does many things to extend the lore of Fallout and provide new creatures, factions, and landmasses along West Virginia, including new areas in Fallout 76 outside of Appalachia, it has also done many things to undo or rework some of the existing lore established in previous games. Fallout 76 takes place only 25 years after the bombs fell, which is actually quite early in regards to the other entries in the series, with Fallout 4 taking place 200 years after the bombs dropped. Because Fallout 76 takes place so much earlier in the franchise, many decisions were made to keep existing factions and items within Fallout 76, even though it may not be accurate in regards to the overall lore of the series.
When thinking about some of the largest retcons to the Fallout lore, the inclusion of The Brotherhood of Steel is top of the list. The fabled faction that appears in the previous Fallout games also makes an appearance in Fallout 76, with the Brotherhood of Steel spearheading Fallout 76‘s Steel Dawn and Reign stories that were introduced last year. This questline brings the Brotherhood of Steel into West Virginia and allows the player to join their ranks and conduct operations for them all across Appalachia. However, Fallout 76 takes place in the year 2102, and it was established in previous games that the Brotherhood didn’t begin to expand their territory and their reach until the year 2150 due to the extremely harsh territory and limited resources following the nukes.
The Brotherhood of Steel was established in the year 2077 in California, but because of the hostile surroundings and finite level of supplies, the Brotherhood remained in California for an additional 73 years. Fallout 76 changes this and has a squadron of Brotherhood knights, scribes, and recruits enter West Virginia nearly 50 years earlier to settle parts of the map and gain hold over the super mutant threat in the region, which itself is another retcon Bethesda made for Fallout‘s super mutants. While this acts as an interesting and expansive questline for Fallout 76 players, in regards to the lore and continuity of the series, it doesn’t make much sense. This retcon also expands even further in regards to the super mutant threat in West Virginia, as earlier Fallout games established that super mutants were engineered in 2103, though this fact was already changed back in Fallout 3 by showing that super mutant experiments were taking place as early as 2078.
There are more power armor combinations and variations than any other Fallout game in Fallout 76, partly because it has had consistent updates for the past four years. Said updates have helped Fallout 76 grow beyond its previously bad reputation, introducing new variants and sets to not only put into the hands of players, but to also expand the lore. New additions such as the Excavator, Strangler heart, and Ultracite power armor are all new variations on the power armor exclusive to the regions of Fallout 76, but other versions of the suit, such as the X-01, aren’t supposed to exist yet within the timeline. While the Enclave plays a role within the Fallout 76 main questline, and the X-01 schematics can be unlocked from their bunker, it makes little sense why this particular set of armor is available to fabricate, as the armor wasn’t widely used by the Enclave until the year 2220, over 100 years after the events of Fallout 76.
The Ultracite power armor is also technically a retconned piece of equipment. Beyond it being occasionally utilized in Fallout 76 weekly challenges, it was invented by the Brotherhood of Steel, which as stated above, should not be in the region of Fallout 76. The questline in the game justifies its existence by having a Brotherhood scribe transmit the schematics from the Brotherhood of Steel headquarters in California. However, since the Brotherhood should not have left California by this point, the armor’s inclusion in the region makes little sense.
While Fallout 76 builds off of many aspects of the lore of the Fallout universe, it has also introduced a number of continuity headaches. Bethesda has made efforts to narratively fit the pieces together in the context of the story, but many of the changes that were made have left Fallout 76 in a weird spot. Fallout 76 will continue to receive updates for the distant future, which will undoubtedly continue to simultaneously progress the lore in new directions, and break the lore from previous Fallout installments.
Nicholas Kincheloe has been writing for many years and has also been involved in film writing and editing. He spends his downtime playing through his backlog of games and writing stories.
