Did you know the power was inside of you all along? No, not ultimate world-dominating power. The power to create awesome Fallout games. There’s been so much discourse about what comes next for Fallout. Will Bethesda develop it? Is Obsidian making a followup to New Vegas? Perhaps the work has been shuffled to one of the studios Xboxhasn’tclosed this year.
None of these is the answer, though. The real future of Fallout is already here and it’s time for Bethesda to take note. Fans of Fallout are the ones carrying the series forward in exciting ways. Besides the MMOFallout 76, there hasn’t been a new main entry in the franchise since 2015’sFallout 4. And that game already felt like a step backward from Obsidian’sFallout: New Vegasand Bethesda’sFallout 3.
Boldly Going Where Bethesda’s Fallout Doesn’t
In the decade since Fallout 4, though, we have gotten one of the best Fallout games yet.Fallout: Londonis a total conversion mod of Fallout 4, created by Team FOLON, a group of independent developers, and it’s available online for free. Instead of being in the Boston area, the player journeys through a post-apocalyptic London.
If you haven’t played the game, you should attempt to fix that. I’ve been going back through the Fallout games and am on my first playthrough of London. It’s fantastic. Its European setting makes for a unique Fallout experience, as you visit what’s left of notable London landmarks, playing through a massive single-player campaign.
This is the first time we get to see what Fallout might look like outside of the United States and the American exceptionalism that’s deeply rooted in the franchise. Instead, London offers its own unique take on life after the end of the world. It’s filled with characters, locations, and landmarks all designed to immerse the player in new surroundings.
That means spots like the London Eye, London Tower, and Buckingham Palace are in the game, as well as fictional royals, a Camelot-inspired faction, and double-decker buses littering the street. Beyond that, though, this is a different country with a different set of technological developments. That means your weapons, computers you find, and even the British version of the Pip-Boy are brand-new designs made specifically for the game.
Wait, Why Are We Going To Bakersfield Next?
We still don’t know the next official steps for the Fallout franchise, outside of the continuation of theAmazon Prime Video series, but there is more Fallout on the way. And this is the most unique take on it yet.
Modder Alexander “Red888guns” Berezin is turning the original 1997 Fallout into, of all things,a boomer shooter. He is reinterpreting the game in a Doom-style first-person shooter and it actually looks amazing.
Turning Fallout into an old-school FPS is certainly an interesting idea and the trailer for what he’s working on looks like the exact right kind of retro goodness to snag my attention. Add in that it’s a Fallout adaptation, and I’m officially hooked.
It’s hard to believe that Bethesda or any other studio under the Xbox umbrella would make something like this. These games aren’t made by major studios anymore and given how we can’t seem to get an actual new Fallout game from Bethesda – thus far – there is no way this is the sort of project they would present in place of a full-on sequel.
Have We Grown Beyond Bethesda’s Fallout?
I want more Fallout games. I want a New Vegas sequel. I want Fallout 5. I’d even play a remaster of the original RPG titles. Anything Bethesda brands with the Fallout name, I’ll at least give it a shot.
However, the further we get from Fallout 4, the less sure I am that a new official Fallout game will be able to match the quality of the games of the past. Fallout 76 is passable, but lacking in a key thing that makes the franchise what it is.
This is a game series about isolation in a dead world. For the most part, you wander alone, occasionally meeting people and often getting into trouble. I’m not storming the Wasteland with my three closest gamer buddies – we are too busy playing Fortnite for that. In Fallout, though, I crave my alone time.
Part of me is scared that a new Fallout release from Bethesda will include multiplayer elements that take away from the core experience. The last thing I need is to wander around a wasteland map dotted with the bases of other players I don’t know. Though, I suppose I could switch to an offline mode, as can be done withDeath Stranding 2.
So the answer is simple. Bethesda should just let someone else do the work. Thus far, it seems the fans are the ones putting out the most exciting Fallout gaming content. Now pay them to do it for you. That way we both win. You get my money and I get a great new Fallout game.
