In a recent episode of Kinda Funny, Betheda’s Todd Howard took centre stage to talk about everything from Starfield to Fallout, and a key part of his discussion was around the make-up of the Fallout franchise. In one question, he was asked whether Fallout would ever leave the United States, potentially leaning into Canada or even the United Kingdom.
His answer was quite definitive.
Nope
Fallout is an All-American series. From the first game in 1997, the franchise has been rooted in post-apocalyptic America and hasn’t ever left the once great nation. It has travelled around the country, taking players from Washington DC to California, but it hasn’t departed the territory. Many fans have wondered if a Fallout game could ever be set outside of America – I’m not one of them, as I firmly believe the series cannot leave the United States.
Todd Howard agrees with me.
My view is, part of the Fallout schtick is on the American naivete and part of that. And so, for us right now, it’s okay to acknowledge some of those other areas, but our plans are to predominately keep it in the US. I don’t feel the need to answer… It’s okay to leave mystery or questions, ‘What’s happening in Europe, what’s happening here’. The worst thing you can do to mysterious lands is to remove the mystery.
There it is – Fallout doesn’t need to leave the United States. Firstly, it’s so firmly rooted in the nation that it would be almost impossible to uproot the series and take it somewhere else, and not knowing what has happened to the rest of the world is part of the mystery that makes the Fallout lore so intriguing.
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Todd Howard says a lot of things