Fallout 76's massive Steel Dawn update is finally here, and Xbox players accidentally got it early

He came out around 22 p.m. ET last night

We don't really know what the future holds for Fallout 76 beyond microtransaction-laden seasons and the "Fallout 1st" subscription service: but for now, we have the much-awaited new free update from Steel Dawn.

Yes, after much hype since its unveiling in May, the Brotherhood of Steel is marching along the back roads of West Virginia. Oddly enough, there was a classic Bethesda error during its rollout that ended up working in the Xbox owner's favor.

As revealed in a separate press post on Bethesda's blog, Steel Dawn has rolled out to Xbox users "ahead of schedule." Although the update wasn't playable, it actually sped up the expansion, as Bethesda decided to "not roll back the update and make everyone wait another week." Instead, they called it good to go and brought it to life. Last night, after 22 p.m. ET, the extension launched.

So what's up? Well, the Steel Dawn questline is the crown jewel here, allowing players to start a new journey in Fort Atlas. Bethesda says level 20 characters can begin the questline immediately, "even if you haven't completed any previous Fallout 76 content." Anyone who qualifies will receive the "Welcome to the Neighborhood" quest, which, in a Fallout classic, will launch the scenario.

Shelters are also an option, which allow players to create their own homes and instanced rooms away from the confines of the open world CAMPs This mechanic is tied to the "House Expansion" quest, which you "must complete" to unlock Shelters . You need to read the shelter posters in “Appalachian train stations” or “find a key in the northern forest region for the claim center”. Yeah, the posters look better.

A bunch of quality of life tweaks (less punishing hunger and thirst mechanics!) and bug fixes (the latter are too robust to summarize in a timely fashion, as is customary with every Fallout patch 76) are also part of this update, but the dynamic bundles will not be available until the "original date" of December 1. Very good for me! You can keep your microtransactions, I already paid for this game.

You can find an overview of the expansion's two most important elements below: the Steel Dawn storyline and the Vault mechanic. Full patch notes can be found here.

Steel Dawn Patch Notes [Bethesda.net]

New Steel Dawn questline:

The Brotherhood of Steel has returned to Appalachia with a mission to reclaim the region for humanity, preserve any technology they can find, and find out what happened to Paladin Taggerdy and his crew. Starting today, you can begin your journey with the Brotherhood of Steel and work for a better future for Appalachia in the all-new Steel Dawn questline.

• Complete New Quests: Meet newcomers to the Brotherhood and begin your journey through the Steel Dawn questline by heading to Fort Atlas (formerly ATLAS Observatory) in the Savage Divide region of Appalachia.
  • Your level 20+ characters can begin Steel Dawn quests immediately, even if you haven't completed any prior Fallout 76 quest content.
  • When you log in with an eligible character, a quest called “Welcome to the Neighborhood” prompts you to visit Fort Atlas.
  • Note: You can now fast travel to Fort Atlas for free. However, if you had already discovered the ATLAS Observatory before today's update, its icon will no longer be visible on your map. You'll need to revisit the area to discover Fort Atlas, which will bring up its Map Marker.
• Meet New Faces: Get acquainted with new characters, like Paladin Rahmani, Knight Shin, Scribe Valdez, and many more who arrived in Appalachia with the Steel Dawn update.
• Explore New Locations: We've added several new locations and updated a number of existing locations that you'll explore on your journey with the Brotherhood.
• Equip yourself with new rewards: Progress through the Steel Dawn questline and complete Daily Ops to earn a host of cosmetic, CAMP, and item rewards, including the following new weapons and armor straight from the arsenal of Brotherhood:
  • Crossed gun
  • plasma cutter
  • Hellstorm Missile Launcher
  • Brotherhood Recon Armor
  • You can purchase a variety of mods for these new items from Regs in Vault 79 using Gold Bullion, including mods that can modify each weapon to deal various types of elemental damage.
• Main Menu Updates: The Brotherhood has taken over the game's main menu with a brand new background video and music.

CAMP. Shelters

Head underground with CAMP Shelters, which are instanced interiors you can add to your CAMP and customize it to get creative as a builder.

• We've added a brief new quest, called "Home Expansion", to the game that all players must complete to access CAMP Vault Features.
  • Start the “House Expansion” quest by reading a poster from the Shelter Claim Center at Appalachian Train Stations. Or, find your way inside the Claim Center by locating a key in the northern forest region.
• With today's update, we're introducing our first three CAMP Shelters, each of which offers a different sized space to build, and feature their own unique layouts and styles.
  • Vault Utility Room: After completing the “Home Expansion” quest, all players can claim the Vault Utility Room from the Atomic Shop for free.
• Note: As we decided to release Steel Dawn early, only the Vault Service Room will be available on November 24th. The Vault lobby and atrium featured below will arrive at a later date.
  • Vault Lobby: Fallout 1st members can claim this medium-sized Vault this month in the Fallout 1st section of the Atomic Shop. In the future, it will be available to all players for Atoms.
  • Vault Atrium: The largest of our first three Vaults, the Vault Atrium can be purchased using Atoms.
• Once you have claimed a Shelter CAMP, you can access its interior by building the associated Shelter Entrance in your CAMP
  • Your CAMP can contain one of each type of shelter you own, and you can build multiple entrances into the same shelter.
  • Find your available shelter entries by scrolling down to the new “Shelter” category in the CAMP Build Menu. Select the entrance you want to build, then head inside.
• Each shelter has its own building budget that is separate from your main CAMP, as well as any other shelters you have built.
  • The inside of your Vault will be saved as you build, so you won't lose anything if you move your CAMP, move your Vault entrances, or if your entrances are destroyed.
  • Since they are instanced, refuges are able to offer large construction budgets. Currently, each of our top three shelters has larger budgets than your main CAMP
• We've relaxed some building restrictions in shelters by introducing an "Enable/Disable Snapping" option that you can disable to place items where you want them, or enable to snap items to each other or to the grid. construction.
  • Plus, use the Shelter Control Panel inside each Shelter CAMP to quickly scrap or repair everything you've built so far.