Plenty of early impressions of Fallout 76 have been surfacing and, well, I’ll leave it up to you to make your own opinion on them, although the first signs aren’t particularly great.

Bethesda has announced details of Fallout 76 beta test at long last. Sorry, I stand corrected, the ‘B.E.T.A.’ test, which, of course, stands for Break-It Early Test Application. Finally, we can spend hours cooped up in a confined space without a hope of seeing sunlight.

While we’ve had confirmation that Fallout 76 will be available exclusively through the Bethesda.net Launcher, skipping Steam entirely, this may not be the case for all of Bethesda’s future titles.

Fallout 76 strays a heck of a long way from the traditional 3D Fallout formula, and nowhere is this more apparent than how it’s approach to quest design. It’s an online-focused experience set shortly after the first-ever Vault Dwellers head to the surface, meaning there are no NPC humans whatsoever in its post-apocalyptic world. At all. The only people you’re going to see are other players themselves.

Bethesda has confirmed that Fallout 76 will be available exclusively through Bethesda.net on PC. This is Bethesda’s own game client, meaning Fallout 76 will skip Steam entirely.

I’ve been doing a bit of nosing around and, while we can’t be absolutely certain just yet, it looks pretty damn likely that Bethesda is migrating its games from Steam to its own Bethesda.net launcher. Heck, once the games are on Bethesda.net, I suspect they can have a better go at the whole paid mods thing without rousing the pitchforking protesters on Steam from their deep slumber.

The Fallout 76 beta test will be commencing in October, a community administrator over on the official forums has confirmed. Bethesda Game Studio’s co-op online game will be the first of its RPGs to hold a closed beta, and it sounds as if it’s going to only be open to fans who pre-order Fallout 76.

Sci-fi is the order of the day today for the GD World Cup 2018. You won't that in the real World Cup. Fallout 76 and The Division 2 both bring their own apocalyptic portents, while Cyberpunk 2077 and Starfield are rooted in further flung futures, one dystopic, the other, well, we don't know anything about yet. That won't stop the hype train though, so vote your most anticipated games to be in with a chance of nabbing the grand prize.

Spots in the knockout stages of the GD World Cup 2018 are going fast. Today, The Division 2, Beyond Good & Evil 2 and Devil May Cry are battling for qualification in a closely fought group. Get voting for your favourites below to be in with a chance of winning our grand prize.

Back in the real world, nations are dropping out of the World Cup likes flies. 32 is quickly becoming 16. Here too, in the GD World Cup 2018, we're beginning to wave goodbye to a few games that just couldn't raise the hype like the others. If you want the likes of Hitman 2, Fallout 76, and Nioh 2 to stay in, they'll need every vote to secure victory. It's not just about the games though, as you can also nab yourself a fat prize in our hardware giveaway.

Today's round of the giveaway competition features six future gaming giants slugging it out in the GD Gaming World Cup. Just vote for your most anticipated games in the polls below and you could win a massive prize.