Fallout London project lead picks where Bethesda should set Fallout 5
With the next Elder Scrolls still shrouded in mystery, attention inevitably drifts to Bethesda’s other juggernaut: Fallout. Speculation over Fallout 5’s setting never really stops, and one voice with a strong take is Dean Carter, project lead on the ambitious Fallout: London mod. His wishlist? Skip the obvious, embrace the unexpected, and rediscover the series’ darker edge.
Carter isn’t keen on Fallout heading to New York. In his view, the city’s been mined to exhaustion across games and media, making it harder for a new Fallout to feel distinct. The metropolis would certainly offer iconic landmarks and dense vertical play, but it’s also an overfamiliar backdrop that risks blending into a crowded field.
Texas tops the wishlist
Instead, Carter points to Texas as a prime candidate. The pitch is simple: the Lone Star State already carries a larger-than-life identity that lends itself perfectly to Fallout’s satirical lens. Think sprawling oil fields and refineries, dusty highways and desert ghost towns, megacity edges and borderland tensions—an environment bursting with cultural touchstones that can be twisted into compelling post-apocalyptic caricature.
He also isn’t eager for a return to New Vegas, as tempting as that fan-favorite might be. Revisiting a beloved setting could be a quick crowd-pleaser, but it risks recycling nostalgia rather than pushing the series forward. A new state—with fresh factions, myths, and regional flavor—offers the clean slate Fallout often thrives on.
A gentle jab at Fallout 76’s worldbuilding
Carter’s argument for Texas goes hand-in-hand with a critique of how recent entries have leaned on familiar staples to establish identity. He appreciates lush world spaces, but feels that when a setting struggles to develop its own cast and culture, established factions get parachuted in to provide recognizability. In his eyes, Texas wouldn’t need that crutch; the place practically writes its own legends.
Back to the series’ roots in tone
Beyond geography, Carter hopes the next mainline game channels the mood that defined the original Fallout. He favors bleak, sardonic humor over slapstick antics—gallows laughs that underscore the cruelty and absurdity of the wasteland rather than defuse it. That tonal balance, he argues, is where Fallout is most potent: brutal, biting, and weird in a way that sticks with you long after the credits roll.
Why Texas could be Fallout’s next great playground
- Big personalities, bigger myths: Texas’ outsized identity gives Bethesda ample room for sharp satire without importing too many legacy elements.
- Natural variety: From deserts and scrublands to coastal stretches and urban sprawl, the state allows for diverse biomes and encounter types.
- Factions with flavor: Oil barons turned warlords, frontier militias, corporate husks clinging to pre-war tech, and survivalist communities—ripe ground for Fallout’s politics and moral gray areas.
- Tech and space relics: Aerospace and energy history provide a believable pre-war footprint, primed for retro-futurist ruins and high-stakes quests.
- Musical identity: Country, rockabilly, and Tejano influences could shape a soundtrack that instantly sets the mood while staying true to Fallout’s vintage flair.
None of this is to claim Bethesda has made a decision, or even that Texas is secretly in the running. But as players daydream about the next nuclear road trip, the case for the Lone Star State is compelling: it’s familiar yet fresh, iconic yet underused, and loaded with the thematic raw material Fallout needs to surprise again.
Wherever Fallout 5 lands, Carter’s wish list boils down to two pillars: pick a location that can carry its own identity without leaning on old crutches, and bring back the sharp, dark humor that made the series unforgettable. If Bethesda hits both marks, the destination might matter less than the journey—but Texas sure sounds like one hell of a starting point.
