With Starfield just around the corner and The Elder Scrolls 6 looming on the horizon, speculation about the future of Fallout has already started. Bethesda has confirmed that Fallout 5 will be its next project following The Elder Scrolls 6. With this information in mind, many are already expressing opinions on the direction this game should take. The fan favorite Fallout: New Vegas is touted once again as the blue-print for future games in the series. After Fallout 4 failed to meet expectations for some, fans hope Fallout 5 takes more queues from Fallout: New Vegas and improves upon the missteps of Fallout 4.
Although received generally positively, Fallout 4 made certain changes that fans felt detracted from the game as a whole. Combined with the critical fiasco that was Fallout 76, it's time Bethesda looked back at what made Fallout: New Vegas such an acclaimed entry in the series. Developed by Obsidian Entertainment rather than in house by Bethesda Game Studio, many thought it was a pipe dream to ever see another Fallout game done in the style of New Vegas. However, with Microsoft's acquisition of Obsidian in 2018, followed by its blockbuster acquisition of Bethesda in 2021, hopes have been renewed that these two studios can work together again to reproduce the lightning in a bottle that was Fallout: New Vegas.
Gameplay Changes that Irked Fallout 4 Players
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At their core, the Fallout games have always been about role-playing. Allowing players to select a dialogue option from a series of choices based on a speech skill check has been a staple of the series. Fallout 4 changed this mechanic from having full sentences as options to simple words or phrases to convey the gist of the dialogue. An option would appear green, yellow, or red depending on its probability of success based on the player's level in the required stat, unlike previous entries that displayed the percent chance of the skill check succeeding. Although lines were fully voice acted by the protagonist, this dialogue system as a whole felt incomplete and lacked the robust role-playing capability of previous titles.
Another controversial change Fallout 4 made was the replacement of skills with perks. In previous games, as players leveled up, they would receive points to allocate towards skills based on their S.P.E.C.I.A.L aptitude in addition to the choice of a perk to unlock. Fallout 4 did away with skills in favor of a perk tree where players could spend points to unlock perks or use those points to increase one of their S.P.E.C.I.A.L stats to unlock higher tiers of the perk tree. Many players disliked this change, as it locked crucial skills behind high tiers of the tree, meaning they would have to grind for levels just to unlock one perk. While in theory this change was made to streamline the way perks were acquired, it created a messy system of unbalanced character builds and grindy gameplay.
New Vegas Sets the Series Standard for Open World Design
Bethesda brought the Fallout series into the open world RPG genre with Fallout 3—the first game developed after it acquired the IP. While Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 both had interesting worlds in their own right, Fallout: New Vegas constructed a thoughtfully designed world that has yet to be matched in a Fallout game. It perfectly captures the feeling of wandering the wastes of the Mojave Desert.
Landmarks and major points of interest such as the Lucky 38 on the New Vegas Strip, the Novac dinosaur, and Nellis Air Force Base are meant to be seen from far across the desert, beckoning players to come investigate. As a result, some of the most beautiful views in the Fallout series can be found in the Mojave Wasteland.
For a game set in the desert, there is a lot of diversity when it comes to New Vegas' environments. The first settlement players will encounter, Goodsprings, depicts an idyllic, small desert town in the middle of nowhere. Players can expect much more than just desert as they venture towards the neon lights of the New Vegas Strip or into the overgrown nightmare that is Vault 22. Players can even explore a nuclear winter ski resort in the form of Jacobstown. With a unique and interesting world beyond just destroyed buildings and open wastes, Fallout: New Vegas offers a well of inspiration for future games to pull from.
Fallout 5 Needs to Prioritize Storytelling to Stand Up to New Vegas
Without a doubt the most agreed upon aspect that sets Fallout: New Vegas above the other games in the series is its story. Rather than taking on the role of a survivor who exits the safety of the Vault in order to track down a missing loved one, the story of New Vegas is one of revenge. The Courier protagonist was on their way to deliver a package to New Vegas when they are ambushed and left for dead.
The story then unfolds around a quest to find the attacker and return what was stolen from you, all while managing relationships with the various competing factions struggling for control of the Mojave Wasteland. While it shares similar tropes and story beats with other games in the series, Fallout: New Vegas put a different spin on the usual post-apocalyptic fare and recontextualized the Fallout world in a way that was fresh and innovative.
Such interesting character motivations drive the story through to its climax which concludes with an all-out battle for the Hoover Dam involving all the region's factions. A large scale battle like this is nothing new to Fallout games, nor should it be discarded in Fallout 5. It is a great way to see the results of your choices play out during the climax. However, the context for this climactic battle is what's important for a satisfying story. Perhaps the premise of Fallout 5 could include star-crossed lovers coming from waring factions, or maybe a tale of murder and political intrigue as a relatively stable region is plunged into a war of succession after the leader of the dominant faction is assassinated.
There are any number of viable stories to be told within Fallout's vast universe of lore. If Bethesda wants to regain the favor of fans, then committing to breaking the mold that failed Fallout 4 and embracing the story-telling strengths of Fallout: New Vegas is the way to go about it.
Fallout: New Vegas is available now for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
