Fallout 76's Season 24 Update is Adding a Long-Requested Feature

Fallout 76‘s Backwoods update will release alongside Season 24 on March 3. Beyond just confirming its release date, Fallout 76 developer Bethesda has also confirmed another new feature coming to the beloved MMO game.

Of course, Bethesda has not been completely silent on the new season so far. It has previously been confirmed that a new overhaul for how Fallout 76 events work is happening, alongside updates to World Loot, performance updates to the Pip-Boy, updates to armor and weapons, and other adjustments coming. It is also said to be cryptid- and alien-themed, which fits. Still, while a lot of those are exciting for the stability of the game, the latest confirmation is the most exciting.

When Fallout 76 Season 24 and The Backwoods update drop on March 3, they will be introducing a brand new Cryptid to the game: Bigfoot. Cryptids play a huge role in Fallout 76, and any time they are expanded, it’s a good time for players. Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, is one of the most popular cryptids in the real world, and Bigfoot’s omission from Fallout 76 has always been a bit off. Perhaps that’s because Bigfoot is most commonly associated with the Pacific Northwest, but for whatever reason, it seems the creature has come to Appalachia.

Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.

Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)

Unfortunately, that’s all that’s currently known about the new Fallout 76 cryptid. Fans will just need to wait and see how the game introduces the creature on March 3. That said, it’s worth noting that most Cryptids have either fixed spawn locations, certain spawn conditions, or are otherwise tied to quests or events in Fallout 76. It’s likely not a coincidence that Bigfoot is releasing alongside a major event overhaul.

Cryptids in Fallout 76

Bigfoot (NEW)
Mothman
Wendigo
Grafton Monster
Sheepsquatch
Snallygaster
The Beast of Beckley
Flatwoods Monster
Aliens
Blue Devil
Jersey Devil
Mega Sloth
Ogua
Smiling Man

Details may be scarce, but the date is set. Fallout 76 season 24 and The Backwoods update drops on March 3, bringing everything mentioned above and more to the Bethesda game. It’s worth noting that most seasons in Fallout 76 last for roughly three months, meaning that season 25 is slated for sometime in June. With this new update, as well as the new content introduced in the Burning Springs expansion of 2025, there has hardly been a better time to start the game if someone hasn’t.

Known Changes for Fallout 76 Season 24

Bigfoot is a new Cryptid coming to Fallout 76 with The Backwoods update.
Event Overhaul (Activities)
- Smaller, non-public “Event” quests have been rebranded as “Activities” to better reflect their nature as quick solo or small-group tasks. Public Events will retain their name and are not affected by this rebranding.
- Activities now have a unique icon and will appear in the “Featured Activity” list on the map (alongside Daily Ops and Public Events) for easier access.
- Min/Max enemy levels in all Activities have been adjusted to provide a better challenge for high-level players while remaining balanced for lower levels.
- Most Activities (like Collision Course) can no longer be started by simply walking into the area. Instead, they operate on a time-based random rotation.
- A new Activity will become available approximately every 10 minutes. The system will cycle through all available Activities before repeating any.
- Enclave Activities (A Real Blast, Bots on Parade, Dropped Connection) are now part of this public rotation and no longer require players to progress through the Main Quest to participate.
Certain quests will still function outside of the new 10-minute timer:
- Powering Up: Still starts by approaching a Power Plant (available on fresh servers or 8 hours after the last repair).
- Riding Shotgun: Remains a manual start by talking to Vinny (20-minute cooldown).
Base rewards for all Activities and Public Events have been updated, while unique event-specific rewards remain unchanged.
- Activity rewards:
- 75 Caps, a chance for a Legendary Item, and 1 regional item schematic/mod.
- A chance to receive 1–2 Legendary Modules.
- Scaled XP and C.A.M.P. Titles.
- Public Event rewards:
- 150 Caps, 2 Legendary Items, and 3–5 Legendary Modules.
- 3 Treasury Notes and 1 U-Mine-It map (if you have none).
- 1–3 Improved Bait (requires Fishing Main Quest completion).
- Scaled XP and Player Titles.
- “Uninvited Guests” & 4-Star Encounters
- Completing certain Public Events now has a chance to trigger a “special creature” spawn.
- These creatures are more difficult and drop extra rewards.
- One specific encounter is significantly harder, appearing as a 4-star enemy with “BIG feet”. Jail Break, Dogwood Die Off, and Hordes have been disabled.
World Loot & Container Improvements
Bethesda is updating various containers across the world to make scavenging more rewarding.
- Lockboxes: Loot tables have been significantly improved. Higher-difficulty locks now have a higher chance to contain Legendary Items.
- Ammo Crates: These now provide contextual ammo for your currently equipped weapon, along with a random assortment of other ammo types.
- Contextual Season Items: A new “smart loot” feature has been added. Containers now have a chance to drop specific items needed for active Daily or Weekly Challenges (for example, finding soap if a challenge requires it) to help players progress through the season.
U-Mine-It Map changes:
- U-Mine-It Maps can now be found.
- U-Mine-It Maps will now have improved loot depending on the level of the map used to activate the Lucky Strike quest.
Pip-Boy Performance Update
- Substantial Pip-Boy improvements are coming along with this update, too. Smother navigation, improved responsiveness, and more quality-of-life improvements should make navigating your Pip-Boy a better experience.
Performance Upgrades
- Smoother Navigation: Menus load up to 52% faster, and inventory actions are 70% quicker.
- Memory Efficiency: Up to 88% less memory usage, reducing lag and improving overall responsiveness.
- UI and Quality of Life improvements
- Clearer Tabs: Perks now have their own tab, separate from Effects, for easier management.
- Recipe Book: Find Recipes and Plans faster with the new Recipe Book in the Notes tab.
- Scrollable Text Boxes: No more shrinking text. Large Text boxes are able to be scrolled.
- Dedicated Leads Tab: Organize quest-related info more clearly with a separate tab for leads.
Armor Updates
The following changes are coming for armor in The Backwoods update:
- All armor now weighs 50% less when stored in your Stash.
- The weight of armor and Power Armor in your character’s inventory has also been adjusted to improve carry capacity management.
- Damage you take is now reduced first by your armor and then by special damage-reducing effects.
- Your armors will no longer break faster when you have special damage-reducing effects.
- All special damage-reducing effects from different sources, such as “-15% Damage from Robots”, now multiply together rather than add.
- Armors now have more elemental resistance options.
- Braced armor mods have been redesigned to give +5% blocked damage reduction.
- All under armor now share a new mod slot that controls which S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stat bonus is gained. The existing lining mods no longer grant any S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stat bonuses and instead grant more resistances.
- Updated default Legendary Mods and added a unique effect to several armors. Additionally, four new sets have been introduced:
Rage (Raider):
- Default Legendary Mods: Auto Stim, Pain Killer, Burning.Unique Effect: You deal +1% damage when hit and take +1% damage, up to 100%. Stacks expire over time when not taking damage.
- Drops from Earle Nuke Boss.
Bulwark (Secret Service):
- Default Legendary Mods: Assassin’s, Elementalist, Adamantium.
- Unique Effect: This armor weighs twice as much and provides 35% more protection.
- Drops from the Storm Goliath Nuke Boss.
Last Stand (BoS Recon): Converts 50% of your evade chance into flat Damage Reduction, but you can no longer evade.
- Default Legendary Mods: Zealot’s, Agility, Reflex.
- Unique Effect: Gain 50% of your evade chance as Damage Reduction. You can no longer Evade.
- Drops from Nuka World on Tour Nuke Boss.
Road Kill (Trapper Left Arm):
- Default Legendary Mods: Overeater’s, Glutton, Thru-Hikers.
- Unique Effect: Eat animal corpses to restore life.
- Drops from Meat Week.
Power Armor changes:
- Significantly reduced the weight of all Power Armor and the base weight of the Power Armor Chassis
- A deployed Power Armor Chassis no longer removes its weight as if you dropped it.
- Power Armor Chassis weight is now derived from its contents.
- Equipped Power Armor now retains 100% of its weight.
- Equipped Power Armor that is broken no longer has reduced weight.
- Nuke Zones will deal more radiation damage to those in Power Armor if they are not fully suited up (full set of Power Armor and using RadX). The damage is not immediate, and you should still expect to have time to react if you’re suddenly caught in a Nuke Zone while in your Power Armor.
Weapon Updates
The following changes are coming for weapons in the Backwoods update:
- All Cursed weapons can be modified in Legendary Crafting now.
- The Plasma Caster is receiving a major expansion of its modification options and a redesign of existing barrels:
- New Mods: Added Short Scope, Splitter Barrel, Automatic Barrel, and Burning Receiver.
- Sniper Barrel: Redesigned to deal significantly more damage, but it now consumes more ammo per shot.Signal Dish Barrel: (Formerly the Long Barrel) Now adds Radiation damage to the weapon.
- Several classic unique weapons have been updated with new default Legendary effects and stat buffs. These changes apply only to new drops and do not affect items already in your inventory.
- Civil Unrest: Now features Assassin’s / Inertial / Swift effects. Its unique AP bonus has been massively increased from +10 to +50.Perfect Storm: Now features Quad / Hitman’s / Nimble effects.
- Black Diamond: Now features Anti-Armor / Riposting / Strength effects and now deals bonus Cryo damage.
- All Rise: Will be updated to feature Juggernaut’s / Steady effects, with its unique HP bonus increased from +10 to +50.