Known for its excellent RPG titles, Bethesda Games Studios is one of the premier AAA studios working in the games industry. Up until the announcement ofStarfield, Bethesda was primarily known forThe Elder ScrollsandFalloutseries. While it’s been confirmed thatThe Elder Scrolls6is on its way at some point in the future, there haven’t been any updates on what the future ofFalloutmight hold outside of moreFallout 76expansions. WhileFallout 76definitely has its merits, it’s safe to say that the game got off on the wrong foot with a lot ofFalloutfans.
After its shaky launch, the series and Bethesda as a whole were put in some hot water as fans had had enough of the broken state that the studio sometimes launches its games in. There have been plenty offixes, patches, and updates forFallout 76since its launch, putting it in a more playable and stable state. However, many fans of the series skipped the entry entirely as the MMORPG format, and the bugs that the game carried with it, just didn’t appeal to them. It’s for this reason that it makes sense for Bethesda to change things up for the future of theFalloutseries and bring back theFallout Tacticsgames before the release ofFallout 5.
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A Change of Pace for the Fallout Franchise
In terms of genre,Fallouthas seen some changes since its early days as an isometric CRPG. When Bethesda got its hands on the IP in 2004, the series gained a first-person perspective and began to have a much bigger emphasis on action than on the classic role-playing of games past. The series has seen somesuccessful spin-off titles includingFallout: NewVegas,Fallout Shelter,andFallout 76, butFallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steelseems like the kind of spinoff title that would really whet a lot of fans' appetites during the wait forFallout 5.
Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steelis a tactical turn-based RPG that came out in 2001 and is akin to games likeFinal Fantasy TacticsorX-COM: UFO Defense.The game was almost entirely combat-focused unlike the previous entries in theFalloutseries at the time and served as something of a change of pace for the series. If anotherFallout Tacticsgame were to release today, it would likely alsogive the series a much-needed change of pace afterFallout 76.
By slowing things down for a more thoughtful, tactical experience and focusing on telling asmaller scale story set in theFalloutuniverse, a newFallout Tacticscould bring the series a breath of fresh air. It seems like that was potentially what Bethesda was hopingFallout 76might do, as the game diverted from the series' traditional format, but the issues that the game had at launch served as too much of a roadblock for fans.
Additionally, whileFallout 76definitely changed things for the series, it wasn’t enough of a shake-up as the moment-to-moment gameplay was still essentially the same asFallout 4’s. A complete change in genre for a single spin-off title might be exactly what fans need to get back into the series once more.
Looking Back at Fallout’s Roots For the Future
TheFalloutandElder Scrollsseries have gone together hand-in-hand sinceFallout 3was released in 2008. Because of the similarities that the two series share,Fallout is frequently described as “The Elder Scrolls, but with guns,” andThe Elder Scrollsas “Fallout, but high fantasy.” As both franchises have continued receiving new entries, those comparisons have stayed relatively the same. However, now thatBethesda is adding a new franchise to its repertoire withStarfield, having three franchises that are extremely similar (only separated by setting) might make the games and their formulas feel stale.
One route that Bethesda might consider to combat that issue would be to change the focus so that there’s some sort of diversity across their franchises in terms of gameplay or genre.Falloutalready seems to be going in a different directionas exampled byFallout 76, so the series seems like the perfect fit to receive a changeup. Change might come best by looking to the series' roots for inspiration, but more specifically by looking atFallout Tactics.
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As mentioned above, making a newFallout Tacticsgame could be the change of pace that the series might need. Allowing theFalloutseries as a whole to be a place for Bethesda to experiment, in terms of gameplay and genre, might do the studio and its games some good.Tacticsis a great place to start as it’s already pretty similar to the combat-focused gameplay of recentFalloutentries with the only key difference being its turn-based nature. That in itself, however, isn’t even that far off from the V.A.T.S. system thatFallout 3,4, andNew Vegashave used, so it seems like the turn-based route is agood direction for the series to head withFallout 5.
It’s currently unclear what direction Bethesda is looking to take theFalloutfranchise in. It seems unlikely that any news aboutFallout 5or any other possible spin-off titles is coming soon, asBethesda is focused primarily onStarfieldand, following its launch, will focus onThe Elder Scrolls 6. Now that Bethesda has merged with Microsoft, it’s possible that Obsidian Entertainment, the studio behindFallout: NewVegas,might work on another entry to follow upNew Vegas.However, hopefully the near future ofFalloutis spin-offs, as it seems like the series needs something of a breath of fresh air.
