Summary
Fallout 76was once meant to feature enemies in the form of headless corpses controlled by Liberators. But the concept was ultimately scrapped in favor of aFallout 76enemy that’s a different type of terrifying, a former Bethesda developer has revealed.
The source in question is Nate Purkeypile, who filled half a dozen artist positions at Bethesda during his 14-year stint at the company. Immediately prior toleaving Bethesda to develop his own gamein 2021, Purkeypile worked as the lead artist onFallout 76.
Reflecting on his time at the company, the industry veteran has recently shared a horrificFallout 76enemyidea that was ultimately scrapped. Taking to Twitter in late May, Purkeypile revealed how he had once developed a concept for hostile creatures in the form of beheaded corpses whose skulls were replaced by Liberators, which control them. The idea got as far as some concept art, with Purkeypile stating that he had later even prototyped it as part of a game jam. The developer initially wanted to include these headless, Liberator-controlled corpses in the game instead of the Scorched.
That tidbit of info indicates that the concept itself is around a decade old. Given how the Scorched are an integral part of theFallout 76world and lore, Purkeypile must have been pushing for this idea before their role in the game’s story was set in stone. That would have been no later than 2015, when the live-service RPG was still in pre-production. By the time Bethesda wrapped up work onFallout 4and started active development ofFallout 76, the game’s main quest must have already been mapped out, making the idea of replacing the Scorched with any other type of enemy out of the question.
While the story ofFallout 76would have been notably different without the Scorched, their scrapped competition could have expanded on the lore of the in-universe version of the People’s Republic of China. The ability to reanimate beheaded corpses by inserting themselves into their necks would also have offered a stronger justification for the arachnid design of Liberators. The game that fans ended up getting ultimately went in a different direction, characterizing Liberators as more conventional spy robots.
Players who want to learn more about Liberators can do so by carefully exploring Mama Dolce’s Food Processing located in Morgantown, assuming they haven’t done so already. That’s coincidentally also one of the best locations forfarming Canned Dog Food inFallout 76.
Fallout 76
WHERE TO PLAY
Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of Skyrim and Fallout 4, welcome you to Fallout 76. Twenty-five years after the bombs fell, you and your fellow Vault Dwellers—chosen from the nation’s best and brightest – emerge into post-nuclear America on Reclamation Day, 2102. Play solo or join together as you explore, quest, build, and triumph against the wasteland’s greatest threats. Explore a vast wasteland, devastated by nuclear war, in this open-world multiplayer addition to the Fallout story. Experience the largest, most dynamic world ever created in the legendary Fallout universe. Expand southward to Skyline Valley – a brand-new region of Appalachia. Investigate the cause of the electric storm circling overhead and unveil the mystery around Vault 63 and its dwellers, including a shocking new Ghoul type – The Lost.
