Highlights

  • Fallout's resurgence is driven by the success of its TV adaptation, attracting both old and new fans.
  • Fallout 5 is likely confirmed, but a follow-up to New Vegas is improbable due to project schedules.
  • Cazadores from New Vegas could return in Fallout 5, possibly due to migration to new locales like San Francisco or New Orleans.

Fallout's popularity is likely at an all-time high at this moment thanks to the recent success of its TV adaptation that debuted to critical and audience acclaim. While the post-apocalyptic series has always had a presence in gaming and beyond, its resurgence has put even more attention on it from both longtime and newly won fans. After Bethesda Game Studios took over the IP in 2007, the franchise saw a bit of a shift in its genre and design, and the developer's entries into the Fallout catalog introduced a whole new section and generation of fans to its dark retro future 1950s vibes and aesthetics.

On the heels of its initial successful outing in 2008 with Fallout 3, Bethesda then tasked Obsidian Entertainment to produce the next title, and the result was 2010's Fallout: New Vegas. Considered a crowning achievement and in many fans' eyes as the superior title between the two, the fact that a followup to Fallout: New Vegas has long been desired and requested speaks to its legacy. However, that is an unlikely proposition at this point, given both Obsidian and Bethesda's planned and forthcoming project schedules. Fallout 5, though, is almost certainly a guarantee, and when fans do return to the wasteland, a particularly menacing creature seen in New Vegas should as well.

A number of team members at Obsidian who worked on New Vegas had previously contributed to Fallout titles produced under Interplay's banner before the studio shut down.

fallout-4-vault-dweller-dog-meat-wasteland
Related
Fallout 5’s Setting May Already Be Set in Stone

Although Fallout 5 is likely years away from release at this point, it's incredibly likely that the game's setting has already been set.

Fallout 5 Should See the Return of New Vegas' Cazadores

Fallout: New Vegas' Cazadores

Among some of the deadliest enemies in Fallout: New Vegas, the cazadores will likely rank high on the list for any fans familiar with them. Spanish for "hunter," the moniker is extremely accurate, as the giant mutated wasps usually come in swarms, and their combination of strength, speed, numbers, and ability to poison makes them incredibly vicious and difficult to contend against; cazadores will easily overwhelm the unsuspecting and unprepared. This was famously and especially true for those who encountered them initially during the early hours of New Vegas. Players who decided to beeline for Vegas itself from the start via the most direct path were likely thrown for a loop when they found it infested with cazadores, essentially serving as an in-game suggestion that they explore elsewhere and build up their character and gear first.

How Fallout 5 Could Include Cazadores

Some fans might recall that a key piece of lore regarding the genesis of cazadores was provided in Fallout: New Vegas' Old World Blues DLC. There, it was revealed that the science staff at the Big Mountain Research Center was responsible for dreaming up and creating the nightmare creatures in the facility, where they eventually escaped and subsequently spread across the Mojave Desert. They also appeared in areas of Utah during the Honest Hearts DLC prior to that.

Though details about Fallout 5's setting are sparse at this point, as it is far out on the horizon, some possible speculation can be made based on previous patterns and inclusions. Past rumors have indicated that Fallout 5 may be set in San Francisco, as various conversations and references in FO4 point to this potentially being the next major region that players will explore. Given Fallout's general dark absurdity, and that creatures like the Super Mutants (who originated on the West Coast) were seen in Washington, D.C. by the time of Fallout 3, cazadores could theoretically make their way as far as San Francisco if, indeed, that will be the next locale.

It's also possible Bethesda is planning to surprise fans by setting Fallout 5 in a city like New Orleans, which would itself be ripe for reprising cazadores or some new and even worse variation of them. Wherever the next Fallout game ends up sending players, though, there are plenty of plausible reasons and precedent for cazadores to have migrated far from their original New Vegas habitat, and crop up again to terrify and challenge players in the fifth mainline release.