Amazon’s new Fallout series has had pretty decent reception so far (it’s currently sitting at a 93% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes) and fans of the games mostly seem to be loving it, apart from that apparent New Vegas retcon – though that doesn’t seem to be the whole story. Todd Howard has confirmed the show is canon to the games’ lore, and for now, it looks as if that’ll be the only new Fallout content we’ll be getting for the foreseeable future. Bethesda is busy with post-release content of Starfield and the next Elder Scrolls game, which isn’t due until 2026 at the earliest, so it’ll be a long wait before we get our hands on the next entry in the Fallout franchise.
But doesn’t mean we can’t speculate on the things we want to see included in Fallout 5 (assuming that’s what it’s called). After watching the show and immersing ourselves in the apocalypse once again, it’s only apt that we discuss what features we want the next game to include. So, here are the 5 things we want to see in Fallout 5 after watching the show…
1. Let’s See More of the Pre-War World
There’s an incredible amount of lore and backstory in the Fallout games. It is a 26-year-old franchise after all, and the in-universe timeline spans over two centuries, from when the nukes dropped in 2077 to the events of the show in 2296. But one of the most interesting and underutilized periods in the Fallout timeline is the pre-war era. Except for a short prologue in Fallout 4, the time before the apocalypse is only ever talked about and read about, sometimes even becoming myths and legends – looking at you, Kings from Fallout: New Vegas with their Elvis-based quasi-religion.
The show has tapped into this period more, with Walton Goggins’ ghoul character having multiple flashbacks to when he was a Western actor called Cooper Howard. The retro-futuristic trappings of Fallout’s alternate timeline are brought to life in live-action, with vibrant colors and 50s-style outfits and cars. It’s very unique, and it’s what makes Fallout different from other post-apocalyptic settings. The world before the bombs is just as interesting as the one filled with raiders, super mutants, and giant cockroaches.
Fallout 5, whenever it releases, should make use of this untapped setting. Of course, it shouldn’t be the main focus, as shrouding the past in mystery has always made the games more interesting. That said, shedding a bit more light on this unique setting could be a really interesting choice. What was going on in other parts of the Fallout world? What was China doing in the run-up to the nuclear Armageddon? Or maybe we could learn more about the Vault-Tec company and its aims – something that the show has shown us a bit more of.
2. More Vaults
Talking of Vault-Tec, we need more vaults. These underground bunkers/social experiment hellscapes make up some of the most important aspects of the Fallout lore, and nearly always play an important role in the plot of the game. From Fallout 3’s Vault 101 and its isolationist policy to Fallout: New Vegas’s Vault 22, a horrible maze of tunnels infested with man-eating plants, vaults make up some of the most interesting places to visit in the Wasteland.
And yes, we need more. Fallout 4’s vaults were… underwhelming, to put it lightly. It was really only Vault 81 that had anything interesting going on, but that was only one quest, and it ended too soon. In Fallout 5, we need more detailed vaults, with lots of content and lore for players to explore. Vault 31, 32, and 33, which were introduced in the show, are good examples of this. These connected vaults frequently trade and intermarry with each other; this would be perfect for a drawn-out, multi-quest storyline in a game, with multiple paths and conclusions.
3. Let Me Play As a Ghoul, Goddamnit!
I want to play as a ghoul. It’s that simple. I want to play as an irradiated, 250-year-old zombie who’s immune to radiation and doesn’t aggro feral ghouls. Of course, that has to be a major trade-off. Maybe your limbs cripple more easily? And maybe you have to be constantly fighting off the encroaching madness of going feral – the show has introduced an inhaler device that seems to hold this change off.
It seems strange to me that Bethesda has never let us play as a ghoul before in a Fallout game. You can play as different races in the Elder Scrolls series, so why not let us play as a decaying, necrotic human here? It would completely change how you experience the game, especially as most people shun or look down upon ghouls in the Wasteland. Perhaps it would lock you out of certain questlines and companions, but also open up new opportunities that Smoothskins would otherwise be unable to access. As mentioned, ghouls don’t attract the attention of feral ghouls, so it would make exploring those subway tunnels in Fallout 3 easier.
4. Give Me More Disgusting Irradiated Monstrosities
The Wasteland is chock-full of vile unpleasant creatures that have been mutated by the large amounts of radiation they’ve come into contact with. You’ve got radroaches, giant mole rats, mirelurks, and my most/least favorite source of nightmare fuel, centaurs. But there’s always more that could be done. A Fallout set in the Everglades of Florida could have mutant crocodiles, and a game set in the northern states could include large, irradiated moose.
The Fallout show includes quite a disturbing scene with a gulper, which is a mutated salamander. This isn’t technically a new addition – gulpers first appeared in Fallout 4’s Far Harbor DLC – but the live-action version has doubled down on the grossness. The inside of the gulper’s mouth, which is made of human fingers, is absolutely vile… but it is cool, in a grotesque, never-going-to-unsee-that sort of way. When it comes to Fallout, you can never have a creature be too disgusting or silly, so the more the merrier.
5. A Return to New Vegas… Pretty Please, Todd?
This is probably not going to happen, but we can dream, right? It goes without saying that Fallout: New Vegas is the fan favorite of the franchise. The writing, worldbuilding, quest design, loot, RPG mechanics, and just about everything else were at their best in New Vegas. Yeah, okay, the gunplay wasn’t great, and visually it was lacking, but you could be a post-apocalyptic cowboy with a cyborg dog as a companion. What more could you ask for? Everything that makes Fallout great, New Vegas did perfectly.
Yet for some silly reason, we’ve never revisited the Mojave Wasteland. There are some fans out there who believe Todd Howard has some sort of vendetta against New Vegas because it was developed by Obsidian and not Bethesda… but c’mon, does Todd strike you as the type of guy to just completely forget about a fan-favorite game out of sheer pettiness? I doubt it, but for whatever reason we’ve not returned to New Vegas, putting it in Fallout 5 would be an insanely popular move with the fanbase. Insanely popular… and very unlikely. Why would Bethesda return to a local that has already been explored when there’s a whole irradiated America to explore?
So that’s our list of five things we want to see in Fallout 5 after watching the show! If you want to read more about Amazon’s new adaption, check out our review of it here.
