Where Does Fallout Go From Here?

Even though there's not a new Fallout game on the horizon for potentially years, it feels like Fallout has never been bigger, thanks to the splashy (and importantly, good!) television show that recently premiered on Amazon Prime. Both Rob and Patrick were taken by surprise by how much they enjoyed the show, and what started as an exchange about episodic storytelling and what it means to "adapt" a video game quickly became a larger conversation about their past histories with the Fallout series, and in a post-Starfield world, what we're to take away about Bethesda and how the developer's approach is running into trouble.

Patrick: I’ve watched most of the new Fallout TV show, Rob, and while that’s not the reason I’m writing to you today, I can tell you the show is shockingly good. I don’t want to overstate things, but it’s damn fun. It’s respectful of the world it’s pulling from without feeling overly beholden to it. Ella Purnell plays the lead, a vault dweller in search of her father, and she’s electric every moment she’s on the screen. Same with Walton Goggins, who appears to be having a blast. I do not know if the story it’s telling is going anywhere good, but I’m digging it.

The reason I’m writing is because watching the show got me nostalgic for a period in my life where the Fallout games, and specifically the era where Bethesda took over, were really important to me. Fallout 3 hit me like a ton of bricks, and essentially convinced me of the merits of open world games. Fallout: New Vegas hit me even harder, thanks to its tremendous story.

Funny enough, despite so much of my old writing becoming internet rot, a blog about Fallout 3 from my days at MTV has survived, where I unpack realizing Fallout 3 was going to be a GOAT for me. Let’s rewind to 2008, Rob, and please excuse the writing. It was 16 goddamn years ago!