'Fallout 76' Full Map: Our Best Look Yet at the Massive New Game Map
What's the deal with that toxic alligator up North?
by Jonathan LeeFans are hungry for new information on Fallout 76, and in the absence of an official full map of the game’s West Virginia setting, one intrepid cartographer decided to make his own.
Game designer Oscar Armstrong-Davies stitched together footage from the Noclip Bethesda Game Studios documentary to form a rough map of what the game’s version of West Virginia could look like. This is Armstrong-Davies’ latest iteration following suggestions from other fans on Twitter and Reddit.
It’s very impressive work, but keep in mind that it’s not at all conclusive. The documentary from which this information was taken was filmed months ago at the height of Fallout 76 development, which means that none of what we saw of the game was set in stone. Game development is a long process of trial and error. So the towns and points of interest marked on Armstrong-Davies’ map may have since been relocated or removed entirely.
That goes for larger regions, too. It’s possible that entire sections may have been redesigned or mapped differently according to the needs of the game. In real life, the town of Harpers Ferry is right on the border of Maryland, putting it quite far from the landmarks found in Fallout 76. Bethesda lead artist Nate Purkeypile told Noclip that the Harpers Ferry portrayed in Fallout 76 had to be moved in order to include it in the game. In our world, it takes over a week to walk from Charleston to Harpers Ferry. In Fallout 76, it’ll probably take half an hour.
Reality aside, this fan-made map also gives us an idea about how players will progress through West Virginia. Vault 76 is most likely our starting point, which means The Forest is probably where we can expect to adventure through for the first few levels. Areas like Toxic Valley and the Mire are probably intended for seasoned vault dwellers, and rushing into them too fast is probably be a bad idea.
I’m intrigued by that giant alligator all the way north in Toxic Valley. Maybe it’s an area filled with radioactive reptiles or maybe it’s one terrifying, enormous gator. Either way, I’m looking forward to crafting an awesome pair of glow in the dark alligator skin boots.