Fallout 76 adds World Pets in December, Hideouts bounty system coming spring 2027

Fallout 76 has two substantial updates on the horizon that will reshape how players explore the Wasteland. World Pets launches in December 2026, followed by Hideouts in spring 2027, each introducing systems designed to deepen engagement with solo and cooperative play.

World Pets expands the existing C.A.M.P. pet system by allowing players to bring a companion on their travels. Rather than serving as pure cosmetics, each pet type offers distinct gameplay advantages. Dogs retrieve Stimpaks and boost the chances of Legendaries appearing during Bounty Hunts. Cats improve fishing by unlocking better baits and extra Fish Bits. Deathclaws guide players to Black Titanium deposits and increase Legendary encounters in Infestations.

Pets level up and gain strength as players use them, with melee damage scaling uniformly across all types. Variant skins allow further customization. According to Fallout 76 Creative Director Jon Rush, the team deliberately avoided making pets purely combat accessories. The decision to grant unique perks ensures that pet selection becomes strategically meaningful, with players choosing companions based on their planned activities rather than aesthetics alone.

World Pets coincides with a visual overhaul of Skyline Valley. The region receives expanded Bounty Hunting with new contracts, additional rewards, and a new Robobrain lawman NPC directing players to targets.

Hideouts, the spring 2027 update, introduces a new bounty hunting framework centered on criminal hideouts scattered across Burning Springs and Skyline Valley. Players gather Leads through exploration, Public Events, Head Hunts, and other activities. Multiple Leads can be combined at a tinker's workbench to create higher-difficulty challenges with superior rewards.

Each hideout encounter takes place in dynamically designed interiors. Players may face Mothman Cults, robots, or Fallout factions modified by area-wide hazards, special enemy-buffing mutations, timed challenges, and other environmental effects. The composition of each hideout remains unknown until players enter, forcing constant tactical adaptation.

A new adversary called The Drifter can appear at any hideout location. Operating as a competing bounty hunter, The Drifter functions as a Raid-level encounter capable of defeating both targeted bounties and rival hunters. Players who obtain a Marked Hideout Lead can force The Drifter to appear; defeating him grants rewards tied to achieving Drifter legend status.

World Pets enters Public Test Server (PTS) ahead of its December 2026 launch. Hideouts arrives on PTS in October 2026 with a planned spring 2027 release.