Bethesda has always been one of the leading developers in the gaming space as far back as we can remember. Currently, the studio is aiming toward newer horizons with its next massive original role-playing IP— Starfield.
Amazing news though, that may be; other already acclaimed franchises like Fallout seem to be lying dormant. And that does have passionate fans worried about getting another mainline entry, specifically, Fallout 5.
Luckily, Todd Howard, our beloved director of Bethesda, has hinted at a few things that do confirm that Fallout 5 will happen. And before you ask, no, he didn’t say the game will have 300 endings like Fallout 3 again. With that, here’s everything we know about the fifth installment.
Fallout 5 Release Date
Starfield is set to arrive in 2023, and Elder Scrolls is Bethesda’s next big project. That’s easily going to push Fallout 5’s release date ahead, most likely to sometime around 2027 or 2028.
No doubt that’s disappointing to hear for most fans of the series. But again, this is just speculation on our part. So hopefully, time proves us wrong.
Elder Scrolls 6, by our estimation, should launch by 2026. By that time, Bethesda might start working on Fallout 5, and maybe we’ll even get an announcement trailer for the game too.
Either way, two of Bethesda’s most ambitious titles are coming out in the near future. The development will be a rather lengthy process, and even though we don’t want to believe it, that does point to Fallout 5 being absent for most of the lifetime of the current generation consoles.
Is Bethesda Working on Fallout 5?
While speaking to IGN, Todd Howard talked about what the future slate of titles for the company looks like. That’s also when he mentioned Fallout 5 after a really long time as well:
Yes, Elder Scrolls 6 is in pre-production and, you know, we’re going to be doing Fallout 5 after that, so our slate’s pretty full going fowards for a while.
Todd Howard
So there you have it. Fallout 5 has been confirmed by Todd Howard, although it might technically not be under development right now. At best, the game’s probably in the early concept stages, and the story’s being drafted out.
Starfield is releasing in 2023 (if it doesn’t get delayed again), and after that, the studio has got its hands full with Elder Scrolls 6. Every Elder Scrolls entry turns out to be a breakthrough in what an RPG can be. So accordingly, Bethesda won’t be shy with the time it needs to bring it to life.
On another occasion before this one, Todd told IGN the studio’s thought process concerning the series.
“Fallout’s really part of our DNA here. We’ve worked with other developers from time to time – I can’t say what’s gonna happen.”
Proceeded by:
“You know, we have a one-pager on Fallout 5, what we want to do”
That was in November 2021, which isn’t that far back. By “one-pager”, you could expect the story, setting, and gameplay to pretty much be an idea at this point. So expect a really long ride ahead of you if you’re a fan of the Fallout series.
Will Fallout 5 Have Single-Player?
Yes, Fallout 5 will have single-player.
This was confirmed by Todd Howard himself in an interview with GameStar. He was asked if all future games would incorporate multiplayer. To which he replied,
For those games, we want to keep them as single-player. That is what our focus is going to be.
Todd Howard on GameStar
Bethesda hasn’t really gotten the hang of multiplayer for the Fallout series. The Fallout 76 fiasco is still fresh in our minds even after several years. It is highly unlikely that Bethesda will be experimenting with its franchise even more than they already have. The game studio is already on thin ice considering the continuous delay of StarField, which in turn delays The Elder Scrolls 6 and hence the domino effect continues.
It is a sigh of relief to see Todd embracing the multiplayer disaster and not bent on giving whatever nightmare Fallout 76 was.
Fallout 5 Location Speculation
We love a bit of easter egg sprinkled here and there in games. They can be as simple as a quack sound from a duck or a potential hint about the next game in the series. For the Fallout series, the latter has proven to be true.
Bethesda bought the rights to Fallout Franchise and began working on Fallout 3, which was their first official Fallout game. Throughout the Fallout Series, it has been seen several NPCs mention a specific location, and that trend tends to follow throughout the series.
It is not mere coincidence but rather Bethesda giving us hints about the potential setting for the next Fallout game. Based on that reasoning, let’s look at some of the potential locations where Fallout 5 might happen.
San Francisco
Top of the list is San Franciso and we have some solid reasons for that assumption. First of all, Fallout 4 almost took place in San Franciso, as confirmed by Emil Pagliarulo, Fallout 4’s Design Director. They even had Obsidian Entertainment change a dialogue in Fallout New Vegas, which stated that San Francisco has been “totally wiped off the map”.
This was so that San Franciso could remain a possible location for future Fallout games. Although Fallout 4 didn’t take place in San Franciso, if we use our theory of previous installments foreshadowing future games, then we can make this assumption.
In Fallout 4, an NPC by the name of Kellogg mentions San Francisco in his lore, while Golden Gate Bridge was also shown in his memories. Furthermore, the Pipboy Game, Atomic Command, in Fallout 4 also features San Francisco. Finally, the Hubologist from Nuka-World also claims to be from San Francisco.
We think these are enough reasons to speculate that Fallout 5 might happen in the bay area of San Francisco.
New York
New York has more or less the same reasoning as San Francisco for being the next possible setting for Fallout 5. Firstly, we can see the Statue of Liberty in the Pipboy Game. Secondly, New York was also a possible location for Fallout 4, which also didn’t happen.
Another reason to suspect that is at the start of Fallout 4; the newscaster states that “confirmed reports of nuclear detonations in New York and Pennsylvania”. From this, we have got our post-apocalyptic setting. Furthering this, they also talk about flying over a city with skyscrapers as high as Prydwen, full of mutants, in Fallout 4.
Let’s connect the dots; the flight path between DC to Boston has New York and Philadelphia as major cities. The mention of skyscrapers is a hint towards New York. There you have it, the reasons for suspecting New York as the possible setting for Fallout 5.
Chicago
Another potential location for Fallout 5 is Chicago and which is another city that has been mentioned in the previous Fallout game. It is first mentioned in Fallout 3 when you ask, “Where the rest of the Brotherhood of Steel is?” To which you get the answer, “Chicago”.
The second mention is in Fallout New Vegas. The game mentions that there is an Enclave Outpost in Chicago while the game also allows you to question, “Where is Chicago?”. Though the game is really far in the future still, if the speculations make sense, we will put it here.
Fallout 5 Gameplay
The biggest change we will see in Fallout 5 is going to the visuals. Bethesda rolled out its latest invention, Creation Engine 2, which is the new and improved form of the previous generation Creation Engine. They are using it to develop Starfield and then The Elder Scrolls 6, so it is not unlikely that they will do the same for Fallout 5.
Fallout 4 might be the best-looking Fallout to date, but still, graphics weren’t the series’s strong suit. With the adoption of the new game engine, it is likely that Bethesda will kick the visuals of Fallout 5, up a notch. Fallout 4 rolled out the settlement mechanic, which was a hit. It did have a little room for improvement, but it still worked pretty well.
The next iteration of the game will probably come out with a refined version of the mechanic. With expanded choices for materials and a better crafting system. Fans complained in Fallout 4 that the roleplaying system is a little underwhelming, so it would be nice to have that worked on for a much more immersive story.
Fallout 5 – Platforms
Although there is no official statement from Bethesda confirming the platforms for Fallout 5, we have theories of our own. Theories backed by logical reasoning.
Fallout 4 was released on PC, Xbox Series X | S, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 & 5. So generally, one would assume that the next installment of the game would also be offered on the same platforms. Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, let’s ask ourselves some questions.
Will Fallout 5 Be an Xbox Exclusive?
You probably already know this, but Bethesda and its subsidiary studios were all bagged up by Microsoft in 2021. So Dishonored, Deathloop, Elder Scrolls, Starfield, and many more games are all team Xbox.
Unlike PlayStation’s first-party quality games scheme, Xbox used the pay-2-win option. So fans of Bethesda games who own a PlayStation console might be bummed out. Microsoft hasn’t officially stated that all their Bethesda games will be exclusives yet. However, Starfield is an Xbox exclusive, so we can’t say much about the rest.
At the rate it’s going right now, we feel like Xbox won’t offer up its titles to PlayStation. And if Starfield is successful, then that’ll be the final nail in the coffin to that question. Even Redfall, Arkane Studio’s upcoming project, is also an Xbox Series X|S only title. And with that, chances of Bethesda’s legacy continuing with Sony’s platform seem to be getting grim.
If, fortunately, Xbox does allow Fallout 5 and other of its titles to be made available for the PS5, then it’ll likely be after a period of timed exclusivity. Much like what we saw with Deathloop’s arrival on Xbox, but PlayStation folks might be left high and dry this time. Even if it does get a piece of the pie, there is a good possibility that it will be late to the Fallout 5 party.
Are There Any Leaks About Fallout 5?
There have been numerous instances till now where sources claimed to know something about Fallout 5. Some stated knowing the game’s release window; others talked about story aspects. The faction system of the game was also said to have been leaked.
Unfortunately, all these updates turned out to be nothing more than rumors. So as it stands, there’s no official credibility to any of the said leaks.
The best news we have to go on right now is the statements Todd Howard made. Although, yes, Todd’s known to overpromise, we’re sure that this time he was telling the truth about Fallout 5 coming after Elder Scrolls 6.
The Fallout franchise is as big as it gets, and its fanbase is as devoted as ever. Fallout 76, 4, and 3 are played by pretty much everyone familiar with the series. And Bethesda’s not turning a blind eye to that as Todd Howard has casually nodded to the idea of making Fallout 5.
So we’re convinced the game will arrive, but it’ll be an arduous wait till then. In the meanwhile, here’s a look at what’s cooking over at Bethesda right now.
