Bethesda Softworks released Fallout 4 in November 2015, with Fallout 76 launching three years later. However, while Todd Howard confirmed Fallout 5 is on its way eventually, it’s not coming until some point after Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6. With the latter game still years away, it will be quite some time before the next single-player Fallout game. Fortunately, it’s not as if Fallout has a monopoly on retro-futuristic dystopias. Mundfish’s Atomic Heart releases next week, and while the upcoming game owes more to BioShock than Fallout, there are certainly parallels.
Beyond being sci-fi first-person shooters, both games depict their own versions of an alternate universe Cold War. Fallout is steeped in Americana, while Atomic Heart depicts a hypothetical Soviet utopia, but 1950s retrofuturism is at the core of both their identities. Therefore, Bethesda might want to look closely at Atomic Heart when designing the next Fallout game.
What Fallout and Atomic Heart Have in Common
The Fallout series is one of the few examples of an alternate history, taking place in a timeline that diverged from reality in the late 1940s. While American culture remained more-or-less locked in the 1950s, technology advanced much more quickly, but not in the way it did historically. Robots, laser rifles, and nuclear-powered cars share a world with vacuum tubes and computers from the 1970s. Fallout’s version of the 21st century drew more from what people in the 1950s thought it would look like than it did from anything that could exist in reality.
Atomic Heart, meanwhile, almost seems like it could take place in the Fallout universe’s version of the Soviet Union. Set in an alternate 1955, Atomic Heart depicts a world where technology advanced much more quickly but also quite differently after World War Two. Aesthetically, it draws from how the Soviets of the era imagined their country’s future. While the ideals promoted by each culture were vastly different, both imagined utopian futures enabled by technology.
In retrospect, these visions might seem quaint, naive, or even propagandistic, which may be why Fallout and Atomic Heart seem dedicated to deconstructing them. Fallout’s 21st century was hardly a utopia, showing a world where the Cold War never ended and powerful megacorporations acted with impunity under the protection of an authoritarian state. Ultimately, this failed utopia destroys itself in the fires of nuclear war.
Atomic Heart isn’t out yet, so it’s hard to make strong statements about the game’s themes. However, it’s similar in that it also takes place in a failed utopia inspired by how people in the past envisioned the future. The game also draws inspiration from the BioShock series, whose stories are built on critiquing and satirizing the worlds they depict. Based on the trailers, Atomic Heart seems to be more about technological dependence in general than the Soviet Union in particular, but the basic idea is similar.
Atomic Heart Could Inspire Fallout 5
There are a couple of ways that Bethesda’s far-off Fallout 5 might draw inspiration from Atomic Heart. The most obvious might be if Bethesda sets a Fallout game outside the United States. While Fallout’s alternate Cold War was between the US and China, the USSR existed until the Great War in 2077. In fact, one of Fallout 1’s preset player characters, Natalia Dubrovhsky, is the granddaughter of a Soviet diplomat who took shelter in Vault 13.
This does not necessarily mean that Bethesda needs to make a Fallout game set in Russia. However, one set at least partially in post-apocalyptic China might be interesting. Chinese propaganda of the 1950s was quite similar to that of the Soviet Union, embracing many of the same aesthetics. While the PRC and USSR were never precisely the same, Atomic Heart’s visual design could be a good model for a hypothetical Fallout game set in China or the Soviet Union.
Atomic Heart is also a good reminder that the United States isn't the only place that can be seen through retrofuturism. People from all around the world have their ideas of how the future will look. Exploring a post-apocalyptic France or Brazil with a unique aesthetic identity might be interesting. Something like this could hit the mark too, as Fallout fans have talked about potential overseas games for some time. There are also fan-made projects like the upcoming Fallout: London, a massive total conversion mod for Fallout 4 that lets players explore a post-apocalyptic England.
Granted, there are reasons that Fallout works best in the United States. While the gap is closing, the US is still estimated to be the biggest gaming market based on revenue, so many players are automatically familiar with Fallout’s cultural inspirations. America’s status as a Cold War great power also drives home the themes of hubris playing a significant role in its destruction. However, that arguably only works with the US, Russia, and China.
Fallout 4 and the Shi
Still, even if Fallout stays committed to its American setting, there are other ways that some Soviet-inspired futurism could sneak in. One example is the Shi, a faction introduced in Fallout 2. Based in Fallout’s version of San Francisco, they are one of the most technologically advanced groups in the Fallout universe, resembling a less-evil version of Fallout 4’s Institute. Descended from shipwrecked Chinese submariners, the Shi’s aesthetics and society seem more influenced by Imperial China than Communism. However, its founders would have grown up surrounded by Communist propaganda. That would probably leave some lasting effect, which may influence the Shi’s design philosophy if they ever decide to start rebuilding their part of the city.
Given the references to the Shi in Fallout 4 and the presence of their Hubologist rivals in Nuka World, Bethesda may be planning a return to San Francisco in Fallout 5. If so, that’s a good opportunity to introduce some 1950s Communist aesthetics, perhaps spiced up with a bit of traditionalist Chinese flavor.
Atomic Heart releases for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on February 21, 2023.
