Fallout Confirms Major Release Coming March 2026

3 hours ago 10

Published Feb 21, 2026, 1:01 PM EST

Nicholas Becher is a gaming journalist with an MFA in Creative Writing from FAU. With extensive experience playing video games, he covers all forms of gaming content at Screen Rant, from breaking news to the latest fan theories. Most-played games range from Clair Obscur to Civ to Elden Ring to Halo 2 and beyond.

It's a great time to be a Fallout fan, especially after a major Fallout 76 roadmap update earlier this month that gave players plenty to look forward to throughout the year. It appears Fallout 76 will be getting a load of new content from now until the summer (and likely beyond), with one major release scheduled for March 2026.

According to a new roadmap from Bethesda last week, Fallout 76 is scheduled to get the highly anticipated Backwoods Update on March 3, 2026 (via X). It's among the biggest updates for Fallout 76 yet, kicking off Season 24 by introducing a massive overhaul to how events work in the game, as well as adding an iconic new Cryptid, and updating several core gameplay elements.

Fallout 76 Season 24 Kicks Off In March

Fallout is back in a major way this year, with the new 2026 roadmap introducing a huge list of Fallout 76 downloads and events scheduled through June, and more that are certain to be announced in the months ahead. By far the most anticipated roadmap item is the upcoming Backwoods Update and Season 24 launch, which begins on March 3.

Fallout fans who are eagerly waiting for an update regarding the franchise's other projects—such as Fallout 5 or a possible Fallout 3 remaster—will have plenty of Fallout 76 content to keep them busy in the meantime. Season 24 is Fallout 76's twenty-sixth major update since its release back in 2018, and it's set to overhaul some of the core aspects of gameplay in exciting ways.

What's Included In The Backwoods Update

Season 24 of Fallout 76 introduces the Backwoods Update, which includes a new Bigfoot Cryptid, a massive overhaul to how events work and the Public Events system, improvements to world loot and container functionality, as well as updates to weapons, armor, and Pip-Boy performance.

The biggest change coming with the update is the event overhaul, which will effectively rebrand smaller, non-public events as "Activities" to avoid confusion and misleading information. Further, these activities will no longer be triggered by simply walking into a particular area, and instead will be based on a random timer system.

The event overhaul will also rework the amount of Base Rewards players earn for completing both Activities and Public Events, as follows:

Activity Rewards

Public Event Rewards

75 Caps, possible Legendary Item, and 1 regional item schematic/mod Possible 1–2 Legendary Modules Scaled XP and C.A.M.P. titles	150 Caps, 2 Legendary Items, and 3–5 Legendary Modules 3 Treasury Notes and 1 U-Mine-It map 1–3 Improved Bait Scaled XP and Player Titles

Another interesting and exciting new update related to the events overhaul is the new chance to encounter "Uninvited Guests" after completing certain Public Events, where a "special creature" will spawn that will be far more difficult and drop better loot and rewards. One such enemy is none other than Bigfoot himself.

Overall, this is just a small piece of what Season 24 and the Backwoods update will bring to Fallout 76 when it releases on March 3, and it will be available completely for free, assuming you already own the game.