At the 2024 Xbox Tokyo Game Show, Fallout 76’s creative director, Jon Rush, announced that a future update will be adding dogs and cats as pets that players can keep at their CAMPs. This update for Fallout 76 is expected to arrive sometime around the end of 2024, with no specific release date set, although it will likely be released alongside Season 19 and the Gleaming Depths update, also expected to arrive at the end of the year in December.

These new dog and cat pets coming to Fallout 76 are said to be limited to staying at the players’ CAMPs like other allies, instead of being travel companions. However, this could be the perfect chance for Fallout 76 to add proper companions like the other modern Fallout games have, instead of making the new pets just another CAMP decoration.

Fallout 76 Animal Friend Charisma Perk Card edit-1
Related
Fallout 76 Could Use Some New Blood in One Gameplay Area

Going forward, future updates for Fallout 76 should revisit and expand upon one fan-favorite feature, exploring untold mysteries with new questlines.

Every Feature Revealed for Fallout 76’s Dogs and Cats Pets So Far Explained

Future Fallout 76 Update Will Finally Let Players Pet the Dog (and the Cat)

There’s only a short reveal announcement to go off so far, but there’s already a strong idea of what to expect from Fallout 76’s dogs and cats update. As mentioned, these pets will be limited to staying at the player’s CAMP, like most of the existing CAMP allies in Fallout 76. Players will also have the option to customize their dogs and cats with apparel items, as well as changing their names. And, of course, players will be able to pet the dogs and cats in Fallout 76.

In a brief moment in the reveal, the dog can be seen digging in the dirt for some loot, but it’s unclear what type of items this will yield. It hasn’t been shown off, but the cat will also likely have its own way of generating resources, making them both useful additions to any player’s CAMP, similar to Fallout 76’s Collectrons.

Dogs and Cats will contribute to the player’s CAMP build limit and they will also occupy the CAMP ally slot, so players may need to make room for their new furry friends.

Fallout 76’s Dogs and Cats Could Be the Key to Introducing Proper Companions

As useful as it sounds that dogs and cats will passively generate resources for players, there are already plenty of resource generators and CAMP allies in Fallout 76 that provide these services, and then some. Not to mention, players can already tame wild animals in Fallout 76, like the iconic deathclaws. Therefore, Bethesda shouldn’t be afraid to let the dogs and cats off their leashes and provide something that no other ally or tamed animal in Fallout 76 does as a proper travel companion.

Fallout 76’s Dogs and Cats Should Take Notes from Fallout 4’s Dogmeat Companion

While there are natural limitations to what kind of services dogs and cats could reasonably provide, Fallout 76’s new pets should consider taking notes from the animal travel companions from past Fallout games, particularly Fallout 4’s Dogmeat companion. This includes helping players in combat, providing off-hand inventory storage, and retrieving nearby valuables.

It’s arguably a great time to be a fan of Fallout 76, with several major updates worth of content to explore, and no end in sight for what future updates will bring to the game. Before too much longer, players will be able to have their own cat or dog at their CAMPs in Fallout 76. Yet while this is sure to be a welcome addition to the game, players can recruit CAMP allies and tame wild animals in Fallout 76, so dogs and cats shouldn’t pass up on the opportunity to add something more, potentially introducing proper travel companions to the game like past Fallout games offered.