1 December 2025

Why Fallout 76’s Burning Springs Update Takes Players to Ohio

By newsgame

“Appalachia is the main character in our game,” said Fallout 76 creative director Jon Rush. “Our players love to play in our Appalachia—the community’s Appalachia, the developer’s Appalachia, our Appalachia.” Given the team’s passion for the region, it’s no surprise the Fallout 76 developers were eager to further expand the world in the upcoming Burning Springs update. Burning Springs brings Fallout 76 players to the titular region of southwest Ohio as they encounter new and familiar faces, such as the TV series’ Ghoul and the powerful Rust King.

The creative director, as well as Fallout 76 production director Bill LaCoste, spoke to Game Rant about all things Burning Springs, from the implementation of Walton Goggins’ Ghoul to the quality-of-life updates allowing players to start the game at Level 20. Both were particularly excited about the update’s Ohio setting, explaining that the team chose the area both because it fit into the existing Appalachian aesthetic and because it offered new themes and concepts they could explore.

Ohio’s Fundamental Americana Motivated The Team’s Choice

“As fans and avid players of the Fallout series, we were drawn to Ohio because we’ve never really explored much of it before,” said Rush. The previous games and TV show have explored settings such as California, Las Vegas, and Washington, DC, but Fallout 76 was the first title to dive deep into all things Appalachia. The game’s current map primarily includes West Virginia, with the previous The Pitt update adding sections of Pennsylvania to explore as well.

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The Burning Springs region includes a large portion of southeastern Ohio and draws particular inspiration from the city of Athens. Athens is a city located along the Hocking River and is the home of Ohio University. Rush explained why Athens in particular was chosen:

“Tantamount to the regions within the Fallout universe are the inclusion of locations based on real world places. For Burning Springs, Athens stood out as a must-have for the update. I believe it was one of the first cities to be established in Ohio, and dates back all the way to 1800. What’s more ‘Americana’ than that?”

The Brutal Reality of the Rust Belt Inspired Burning Springs

Fallout 76’s Burning Springs update will also lean heavily into Ohio’s designation as part of America’s “Rust Belt,” an area that saw significant economic, population, and infrastructure decline in the late 20th century as many factories closed. Burning Springs is home to a faction known as the “Rust Raiders.” The Rust Raiders serve the Rust King, a power-hungry super mutant who rules over much of the region. The “Rust Belt” aesthetic is present in many elements of the faction’s design, from the rusted armor worn by grunt soldiers to the Rust King’s massive rust-encrusted throne.

Rust is a major part of life in Burning Springs. In the post-war world of Fallout 76, rust is not just something that clings to the walls of long-abandoned factories. Instead, massive, ongoing dust storms carry the toxin—combined with runoff from the many chemical plants in the area—throughout the region. It taints the water supply, fills the lungs of Burning Springs’ residents, burns skin, and strips the land of all growing things.

Despite this, there are those who remain in Burning Springs and have made a life there, surviving despite the Rust’s overwhelming presence. Fallout 76 players can explore the sprawling settlement of Highway Town, which Rush describes as a “huge community hub” that is “the heart of Burning Springs.” As with the rest of Fallout 76’s Appalachia, some people have fought for this area and made it a home despite both the Rust King’s tyranny and the Rust’s toxicity.

The Ohio Setting Highlights The Effects Of Environmental Disasters

The section of rural Ohio comprising the Burning Springs region in Fallout 76 has been affected by multiple environmental disasters. A previous Fallout 76 update, The Pitt, explored the effects of improper chemical storage at the Abraxodyne Chemical Plant in Pittsburgh, including an entire district of the city that had sunk due to chemical runoff, creating “The Trench.”

Only a few hundred miles from The Pitt, Burning Springs was also home to several Abraxodyne plants, including the one the Rust King has claimed as his stronghold. The environment of the entire region is also affected by Abraxodyne’s mismanagement of their product, leaving massive areas scarred and damaged, and much of the population ill. Rush confirmed that this will be explored further in the upcoming update:

“The team had wanted to explore the idea that the Abraxodyne company was more than a dish detergent maker and possibly expose that some of their chemical manufacturing was being used for other secretive purposes. When combining those explorations with “the rust belt,” we ended up with the environmental disasters seen in Burning Springs.”

The core theme of Fallout 76’s Burning Springs update, Rush explained, is “might makes right.” The Rust King is a warlord who desires power, and bounty hunters like the Ghoul thrive in the lawless Burning Springs region. Choosing the Rust Belt, an area that has faced financial, political, and environmental struggles for over a century, as the setting for this struggle is an inspired one. It also allows the team to highlight the strength and will that lie at the heart of each Appalachia-set story, as Fallout 76’s players and NPCs turn this wasteland into a home.

As Rush said, Fallout 76 is a story about Appalachia and all things Americana. Burning Springs is pocked with rust, infected with chemicals, and infested with Rust Raiders killing indiscriminately in service to their warlord, but it’s also a place filled with new stories and experiences for Fallout 76 players to discover when the update launches on December 2, 2025. What could be more Americana than a hundred-year-old city transformed into a hub for survival and community in a rust-destroyed wasteland? Fallout 76’s re-imagination of rural Ohio has pulled out all the stops to create an exciting and rich new landscape to explore. Just watch out for the Deathclaws, the Rust Raiders, possible dangerous Ohio-based cryptids, and, of course, the Ghoul.