Fallout has taken many different forms over its long history, but even though the series has changed dramatically over the years, one area where it has always stuck the landing is its retro-futuristic Americana satirization. From Southern California to West Virginia, from Washington D.C. to Boston, from Las Vegas to even Los Angeles in the recent Amazon series, Fallout has recreated the post-nuclear remains of a number of American locations under that lens up to this point, but there’s still a long list of potential locations that the series could head to in the future that we haven’t seen its take on yet.
Fallout 5 is, of course, a long, long ways off yet, with Bethesda unlikely to begin full production on it until The Elder Scrolls 6 has released- which itself is likely 4-5 years away, at the very least. Even so, amidst tis ongoing wave of resurgent Fallout hype, here, we’re going to take a look at a few locations where the post-apocalyptic series’ next mainline instalment could be set- or at least locations where we’d like it to be set.
ALASKA
Alaska is probably the one location that series veterans have been most curious to explore for ages, given the special place it holds in the series’ lore. Fallout has a rich and expansive backstory, with a war between the United States and China over a global shortage of natural resources being the catalyst for the nuclear apocalypse that destroys the world in the year 2077. In that war between the two superpowers, Alaska, owing to its rich reserve of resources, is a territory that is fought over furiously for years. In fact, a lot of crucial lore details that have gone on to feature Fallout games’ stories – like the nuclear superweapon Liberty Prime – are directly tied to the role Alaska plays in the series’ larger backstory.
Beyond how narratively compelling it could potentially be in a Fallout game, Alaska should also make for a great map for any open world experience to take place in. With active volcanoes, peninsulas, frigid climates, icebergs, a multitude of islands, literally millions of lakes, and more, the state’s diverse characteristics and environments would lend themselves incredibly well to an open world map, especially one designed through the post-apocalyptic lens of the Fallout franchise.
NEW YORK
It’s honestly a little surprising that we haven’t seen a Fallout game set in New York yet. We have, of course, visited plenty of major American cities in previous Fallout games, from Washington D.C. and Las Vegas to Boston and more, but the fact that we’ve yet to see the post-nuclear remains of Manhattan and its surrounding areas is a little surprising. At the same time, perhaps that means it’s about time that Bethesda finally takes the series to the city.
There’s been no shortage of open world games over the years that have let us explore New York (or something directly inspired by it), but visiting a version of the city that was devastated by a centuries-old nuclear war would be another prospect entirely. Fallout games have often let players explore vast and open stretches of desolate landscapes, but New York would provide a very different landscape. Would Central Park be an irradiated jungle crawling with mutated wildlife? Is Coney Island now the base of operations for a wacky Mad Max-style gang of raiders? Hopefully these will be questions that Bethesda will be inclined to answer with Fallout 5.
MIAMI
Speaking of locations that would allow Fallout 5 to deliver entirely different kinds of environments for the franchise, Miami would serve as a particularly fascinating setting for Bethesda’s RPG series. Granted, Miami tends to serve as a fascinating setting for pretty much all games as a rule, but Miami in a Fallout game? That would be too good to pass up, if done right.
Not only would the uniqueness of Miami culture prove an excellent foil to how zany and off-kilter Fallout so often loves to be, it would also allow Fallout 5 to deliver an experience with a flavour and aesthetic entirely unlike anything else we’ve seen from the series in the past. There would be plenty of interesting opportunities for the game from a map design perspective as well. Standing on the beaches of destroyed city and looking out at the ocean? Trying to avoid deathclaws in the Everglades? Maybe even dealing with super mutant alligators? Sign us the hell up.
PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Stories across media, from games to movies to books and everything else you can imagine, love the Pacific Northwest as a setting, and it’s easy to see why. The abundance of natural beauty and gorgeous landscapes in the region is an absolute feast for the eyes, and in games, a joy to explore, especially if it’s a well-designed map you’re talking about. It would, again, also have a different flavour to it from the sort of locations we’ve seen in Fallout games in the past.
Beyond that, from a narrative perspective, should Bethesda want to distance Fallout 5 from Amazon Prime’s recent series, especially after the momentous and game-changing events that the latter portrays in the New Vegas and California regions (don’t worry, no spoilers here). If Fallout 5 does indeed want to remain on (or close to) the West Coast (as it so often does) while also not overlapping with the Amazon series too much, the Pacific Northwest might be a great location to do that in. And hey, what do you know- that also puts it (sort of) pretty close to Alaska! That might just work out, couldn’t it?
ANYWHERE IN TEXAS
Bethesda could pick literally any spot in Texas to set a Fallout game and it’d probably work as a great setting. There’s no shortage of cities throuhgout the state that would serve as an excellent backdrop for a Fallout story, while outside of those dense hubs of civilization (or whatever they would look like in Fallout’s twisted and broken world), the size and variety of Texan landscapes also means that, depending on how much of the landscape is incorporated, the game could benefit from a massive, varied map, probably more so than any other game in the series.
Beyond that, tonally and aesthetically, that would just be a great fit for Fallout, to the extent that it’s already surprising we haven’t seen a Texas Fallout game to date. The franchise routinely channels western tropes, and over the years, has proudly worn its western inspirations on the sleeve. Given all that, how long can Fallout avoid Texas, really?
CANADA, MAYBE?
Yes, it’s difficult to imagine a Fallout game that isn’t set in the United States, given how deeply the while American culture satire aspect is woven into the franchise’s identity, but technically speaking, in Fallout lore, Canada is part of the US after being annexed by it during the America-China conflict we discussed earlier. That, in fact, is a part of Fallout lore, so a game that explores that particular bit of backstory might be an interesting prospect.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
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