Amazon’s new Fallout collection has had fairly first rate reception up to now (it’s at the moment sitting at a 93% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes) and followers of the video games principally appear to be loving it, aside from that obvious New Vegas retcon – although that doesn’t appear to be the entire story. Todd Howard has confirmed the present is canon to the video games’ lore, and for now, it seems to be as if that’ll be the one new Fallout content material we’ll be getting for the foreseeable future. Bethesda is busy with post-release content material of Starfield and the following Elder Scrolls recreation, which isn’t due till 2026 on the earliest, so it’ll be an extended wait earlier than we get our fingers on the following entry within the Fallout franchise.
However doesn’t imply we will’t speculate on the issues we need to see included in Fallout 5 (assuming that’s what it’s known as). After watching the present and immersing ourselves within the apocalypse as soon as once more, it’s solely apt that we focus on what options we wish the following recreation to incorporate. So, listed here are the 5 issues we need to see in Fallout 5 after watching the present…
1. Let’s See Extra of the Pre-Warfare World
There’s an unbelievable quantity of lore and backstory within the Fallout video games. It’s a 26-year-old franchise in any case, and the in-universe timeline spans over two centuries, from when the nukes dropped in 2077 to the occasions of the present in 2296. However some of the fascinating and underutilized intervals within the Fallout timeline is the pre-war period. Apart from a brief prologue in Fallout 4, the time earlier than the apocalypse is just ever talked about and examine, typically even turning into myths and legends – taking a look at you, Kings from Fallout: New Vegas with their Elvis-based quasi-religion.
The present has tapped into this era extra, with Walton Goggins’ ghoul character having a number of flashbacks to when he was a Western actor known as Cooper Howard. The retro-futuristic trappings of Fallout’s alternate timeline are delivered to life in live-action, with vibrant colours and 50s-style outfits and vehicles. It’s very distinctive, and it’s what makes Fallout completely different from different post-apocalyptic settings. The world earlier than the bombs is simply as fascinating because the one stuffed with raiders, tremendous mutants, and big cockroaches.
Fallout 5, at any time when it releases, ought to make use of this untapped setting. After all, it shouldn’t be the principle focus, as shrouding the previous in thriller has at all times made the video games extra fascinating. That mentioned, shedding a bit extra gentle on this distinctive setting may very well be a extremely fascinating selection. What was happening in different components of the Fallout world? What was China doing within the run-up to the nuclear Armageddon? Or possibly we may study extra concerning the Vault-Tec firm and its goals – one thing that the present has proven us a bit extra of.
2. Extra Vaults
Speaking of Vault-Tec, we’d like extra vaults. These underground bunkers/social experiment hellscapes make up a few of the most essential elements of the Fallout lore, and practically at all times play an essential function within the plot of the sport. From Fallout 3’s Vault 101 and its isolationist coverage to Fallout: New Vegas’s Vault 22, a horrible maze of tunnels infested with man-eating vegetation, vaults make up a few of the most fascinating locations to go to within the Wasteland.
And sure, we’d like extra. Fallout 4’s vaults have been… underwhelming, to place it frivolously. It was actually solely Vault 81 that had something fascinating happening, however that was just one quest, and it ended too quickly. In Fallout 5, we’d like extra detailed vaults, with a number of content material and lore for gamers to discover. Vault 31, 32, and 33, which have been launched within the present, are good examples of this. These related vaults continuously commerce and intermarry with one another; this is able to be excellent for a drawn-out, multi-quest storyline in a recreation, with a number of paths and conclusions.
3. Let Me Play As a Ghoul, Goddamnit!
I need to play as a ghoul. It’s that straightforward. I need to play as an irradiated, 250-year-old zombie who’s proof against radiation and doesn’t aggro feral ghouls. After all, that must be a significant trade-off. Possibly your limbs cripple extra simply? And possibly it’s important to be continually combating off the encroaching insanity of going feral – the present has launched an inhaler gadget that appears to carry this modification off.
It appears unusual to me that Bethesda has by no means allow us to play as a ghoul earlier than in a Fallout recreation. You’ll be able to play as completely different races within the Elder Scrolls collection, so why not allow us to play as a decaying, necrotic human right here? It could fully change the way you expertise the sport, particularly as most individuals shun or look down upon ghouls within the Wasteland. Maybe it will lock you out of sure questlines and companions, but in addition open up new alternatives that Smoothskins would in any other case be unable to entry. As talked about, ghouls don’t appeal to the eye of feral ghouls, so it will make exploring these subway tunnels in Fallout 3 simpler.
4. Give Me Extra Disgusting Irradiated Monstrosities
The Wasteland is chock-full of vile disagreeable creatures which have been mutated by the big quantities of radiation they’ve come into contact with. You’ve bought radroaches, big mole rats, mirelurks, and my most/least favourite supply of nightmare gas, centaurs. However there’s at all times extra that may very well be executed. A Fallout set within the Everglades of Florida may have mutant crocodiles, and a recreation set within the northern states may embody giant, irradiated moose.
The Fallout present contains fairly a disturbing scene with a gulper, which is a mutated salamander. This isn’t technically a brand new addition – gulpers first appeared in Fallout 4’s Far Harbor DLC – however the live-action model has doubled down on the grossness. The within of the gulper’s mouth, which is fabricated from human fingers, is totally vile… however it’s cool, in a grotesque, never-going-to-unsee-that type of manner. On the subject of Fallout, you possibly can by no means have a creature be too disgusting or foolish, so the extra the merrier.
5. A Return to New Vegas… Fairly Please, Todd?
That is in all probability not going to occur, however we will dream, proper? It goes with out saying that Fallout: New Vegas is the fan favourite of the franchise. The writing, worldbuilding, quest design, loot, RPG mechanics, and nearly the whole lot else have been at their finest in New Vegas. Yeah, okay, the gunplay wasn’t nice, and visually it was missing, however you would be a post-apocalyptic cowboy with a cyborg canine as a companion. What extra may you ask for? All the things that makes Fallout nice, New Vegas did completely.
But for some foolish cause, we’ve by no means revisited the Mojave Wasteland. There are some followers on the market who imagine Todd Howard has some type of vendetta in opposition to New Vegas as a result of it was developed by Obsidian and never Bethesda… however c’mon, does Todd strike you as the kind of man to only fully neglect a few fan-favorite recreation out of sheer pettiness? I doubt it, however for no matter cause we’ve not returned to New Vegas, placing it in Fallout 5 can be an insanely well-liked transfer with the fanbase. Insanely well-liked… and not possible. Why would Bethesda return to an area that has already been explored when there’s an entire irradiated America to discover?
In order that’s our checklist of 5 issues we need to see in Fallout 5 after watching the present! If you wish to learn extra about Amazon’s new adaption, take a look at our overview of it right here.