Geek Interview: The Secrets Behind Fallout 76’s ‘Once in a Blue Moon’ Update

The longevity of any game in this day and age is often an indicator of its quality, and only the biggest franchises tend to survive in this fast-paced industry. However, every once in a while, there is that one game that bucks the trend, and despite initial criticisms and apprehension, Bethesda‘s online-only Fallout 76 action roleplaying title has continued to thrive, with the latest update, Once in a Blue Moon, now available as well.

The new update brings more Public Events that lead to big fights against the new Cryptids, the Ogua and the Blue Devil, together with new daily quests pertaining to the Costa Business questline. Of course, there are also a bunch of new rewards and C.A.M.P items to look forward to beyond the bug fixes and quality-of-life changes.

To get a better understanding of just what goes into an update like Once in a Blue Moon for Fallout 76, we sat down around the campfire and traded tales with Jonathan Rush, Art Director at Bethesda Game Studios.

---

With Once in a Blue Moon being the 16th major update for Fallout 76, suffice to say, it can be hard coming up with new ideas to keep the community interested, and for Rush, being able to explore this world that the team has built and flesh it out even more was an alluring idea.

The two Public Events are intertwined with the Blue Ridge Caraven faction, one of “the most popular factions that are 76 specific” and were “a really good fit,” which meant the team had a great time expanding the lore for players to dive into.

While Fallout 76 always had smaller missions that hinted at story threads through its various updates, this new update goes one step further in connecting everything in a cohesive manner. The Costa Business questline provided a neat avenue to “collect all these stories and punctuate the start of those stories so people know how they are resolved and where characters have gone,” which ties things up nicely while setting the stage for future developments.

Part of that lore building extends to the new Cryptids that are part of the update, namely the Ogua and Blue Devil, the former being a mutated turtle and the latter being more in line with a werewolf, which are great fits once again for what the team was going for in terms of the vibe.

“For Once in a Blue Moon specifically, I was really honed in on the Blue Devil because I really love classic horror movies. So Appalachia offers that kind of tales around the campfire vibe, people looking over their shoulders and making sure nothing is watching them in the bushes,” Rush explained. “So the setting gave us a lot of opportunities for underlining that same sort of campfire horror story or tall tale vibe.”

While the focus on gameplay elements is an important one, ensuring that everything looks great is also a key part of the Fallout 76 experience. Once in a Blue Moon has plenty of old Hollywood elements thrown in for good measure to cater to players who are looking for something interesting to spruce up their campsites.

“You shill have those adventurers, and now you also have a big sect of camp builders,” Rush said. “What the theme of the season really afforded us the opportunity to do was delve into that part of the fiction that hadn’t really been explored too much and offers both types of players unique experiences and unique assets to help enrich their gameplay.

This means cool Hollywood-type things to build with and equip, such as a movie studio-type shelter and a working bowling alley, an interesting addition that has the community pretty excited. It is all done to give players “full control of how they want to tell their stories.”

Rush mentioned that “the sky’s the limit” when it comes to the future of Appalachia and Fallout 76 when designing new content. It could be new factions making an appearance, exploration off the current map or expanding the size, and of course, plenty more Cryptids to add to the fun.

It goes without saying that as a live-service game, Fallout 76 is at the mercy of its community, even with a steady stream of content. Rush points to the fact that “keeping their fingers on the pulse of what players are experiencing” has enabled Bethesda to facilitate a dedicated fan base, which serves to keep the lights on, so to speak.

Getting player feedback and making changes swiftly helps, and maintaining a good balance for both solo and multiplayer play ensures that no one is left behind in the nuclear wasteland. The effort put in and the good relationships forged between developers and fans bring much satisfaction and pride to Rush and his team.

The hope is that this bond will continue for the foreseeable future, as Fallout 76 continues to grow and drop new content to keep the Wastelanders satisfied. At the very least, there’s always bowling to look forward to.