Despite the prospect of Fallout 5 seeming so far away as things stand, the confirmed project is still the focal point of a lot of debate and expectations. With almost a decade having passed since the last mainline release for the IP, there is a clear desire for a fresh single-player experience set within the franchise’s fascinating, irradiated, and war-ravaged world.
One of the most important aspects of any Fallout game is its core setting, with this often being integral in shaping the narratives, themes, factions, and experiences of a given title. A lot of pressure is already on Fallout 5 to shake up the current trends of the wider franchise, with many recent releases for the IP choosing parts of the eastern United States as their primary locations. Given this pattern, plus the success of recent non-gaming Fallout projects set outside this region, everything seems to point to Fallout 5 taking inspiration from the early beginnings of the franchise for its main setting.
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Fallout 5 May Look to the Past When Choosing Its Major Setting
The Fallout franchise has remained quite centralized in its choice of settings for some time now, with the major gameplay shifts of 2008’s Fallout 3 also marking a move away from the IP’s early locational focus of the western United States. Fallout 3 famously took place in the Capital Wasteland, for example, which includes regions of Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C. This was followed up, in terms of mainline games, by Fallout 4‘s Commonwealth, which itself spans across Boston and other areas of New England.
Even Fallout‘s most recent release followed this eastern trend, with Fallout 76‘s Appalachia portraying large swathes of West Virginia. This all adds up to place a lot of Fallout‘s more modern focus squarely on a fairly exclusive region of the United States, and Fallout 5 seems to be in prime position to make a huge statement away from this trend. While Fallout 5 has been confirmed by Bethesda, the only real information that fans currently have to go on is that the project will only gain traction after the post-launch content of Starfield, as well as the massively anticipated release of The Elder Scrolls 6.
This far-off release date makes it all the more important for Fallout 5 to stand out compared to its immediate predecessors, and a return to the western origins of the franchise could be a great way to achieve this. The trimetric gameplay of Fallout 1 and 2 both take place around the sun-baked nuclear deserts of California, with iconic franchise factions like the Brotherhood of Steel and the NCR being founded within this region.
The Modern Gameplay of Fallout 5 Would Be a Perfect Way to Re-Explore the West Coast
Of course, the only modern major Fallout title to re-explore this kind of setting was Fallout: New Vegas, which itself has gained fan-favorite status for the kinds of themes, locations, and factions that its Mojave setting was able to foster. More recent Fallout media has also smartly adopted this fiery and nostalgic setting, with the successful Fallout TV show being centered around Los Angeles and its surrounding areas.
If Fallout 5 also chooses to adopt this setting, it would be a perfect way to give a truly distinct identity for the project against the backdrop of more recent releases, while appealing massively to fans of the original games as well as New Vegas. With it seeming likely that mainline Fallout games will never leave United States settings, a long-awaited return to the West Coast seems to be a fantastic way for Fallout 5 to break a fairly entrenched recent pattern for the IP.
