We knew Fallout 4 DLC was coming, as evidenced by Bethesda launching a paid "season pass" voucher alongside the giant game in November, but we had no idea exactly what to expect in terms of add-ons. A Tuesday update on the developer's blog confirmed the game's first wave of 2016 paid content—and promises of so much that the price of a season pass will soon go up.

In a first for a major Bethesda game, Fallout 4 will also allow its PC players to access its DLC content early and for free, provided they become approved beta testers. Bethesda doesn't mean a limited-time free access, where you get into a beta and then lose the content and your progress in it; the developer says that approved DLC beta testers will get to keep all content for free and retain both progress and achievements as the DLC content is patched and approved ahead of retail launch. You'll want to sign up quickly at bethesda.net.

As of right now, three bunches of DLC have been announced, with only one having a description that sounds like a major plot-driven release. "Far Harbor" will launch in May at a $25/£20 price point, and it will ask players to hit the seas in search of a Valentine Detective Agency case on a new island. The other DLC, March's "Automatron" and April's "Wasteland Workshop," will focus largely on companion-related upgrades—dealing with robots and trappable pets, respectively—for the price of $10/£8 and $5/£4.

Those three chunks of DLC alone exceed the $30 asking price for last year's season pass offering, and Bethesda says the game's total DLC library will eventually exceed $60 in value (leaving a current gap of at least $20 in announced value). As such, Bethesda says the pass will jump in price to $50 on March 1. If you're watching your wallet and want more Fallout 4 content, set a calendar reminder for February 29—the season pass will remain at its current $30 price until then.

If DLC means nothing to you, never fear. The announcement also confirms an overhaul of the game's "survival" mode, the completion of the mod-friendly creation mode, and more performance patches for both PC and console editions of the game. Our anecdotal experience with the latest update for both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 suggests improvements across the board with game performance, and it's encouraging to hear about continued work in that regard.