Bethesda Details Major Fallout Roadmap With Two Remasters, Fallout 5
If you don't know, Obsidian was founded by veterans of Interplay and Black Isle Studios, the teams responsible for the original Fallout games, and it's still home to numerous developers with deep roots in the franchise. Of course, Obsidian also developed Fallout: New Vegas, a game that a solid portion of series fans would describe as the best in the series, or at least the best 3D Fallout game. Bethesda isn't saying exactly what this new project is, but after years of rumors and wishful thinking about another Obsidian-made Fallout, simply confirming that one exists is a headline in itself.
Bethesda also formally confirmed that remasters of both Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas are in development. These have been rumored ever since Microsoft's FTC court battle inadvertently exposed a mountain of internal planning documents, but this is the first official acknowledgment that both projects are real and in progress. There's no release window attached to either remaster, however, so don't expect to revisit the Capital Wasteland or the Mojave anytime soon. We also expect that these two remasters will be based on the same technology as last year's Elder Scrolls Oblivion remaster, so expect plenty of franken-engine jank ahead.
As for the next numbered entry, Bethesda says Fallout 5 has entered pre-production. That's certainly welcome news for fans, although "pre-production" is about as far away from "coming soon" as a game can get while still technically existing. Bethesda says that its focus remains squarely on The Elder Scrolls VI, so even the most optimistic estimates likely put Fallout 5 several years down the road.
Besides the single-player offline games, well, there's also new content on the way for Fallout 76. A new expansion slated for next year will explore the origins of the Enclave installation familiar to players of Fallout 3; it's simply titled "Raven Rock" for now. Bethesda also teased an "unscripted Fallout Shelter television project." What exactly that means, Bethesda didn't say, but in television parlance "unscripted" generally translates to some form of reality programming. Make of that what you will.
Outside of Fallout, Bethesda confirmed that Starfield is apparently still very much alive despite persistent rumors to the contrary. The studio says the space RPG will receive additional story content, gameplay improvements, and new Starborn-focused content next year, suggesting that support for the game is actually continuing into a third year rather than winding down. The blog post also takes a moment to celebrate that over 40 percent of Starfield players have used the company's Creations system, and reiterates its commitment to expanding its creator ecosystem. That's unlikely to sway longtime critics of paid mods, but Bethesda clearly sees official user-created content as a major pillar of its games going forward.
Finally, Bethesda confirmed that The Elder Scrolls VI and Fallout 5 are being built on "Creation Engine 3," putting to rest any lingering hopes that the studio might be making a wholesale move to Id Tech, Unreal Engine, or any other third-party technology stack that might save us from the hell of loading screens that is Creation Engine's most lasting legacy. That was my biggest problem with Starfield, personally, and it's hard to imagine that fans will take The Elder Scrolls VI seriously if it arrives with decidedly Xbox 360-era game design like Starfield's, where simply entering a building requires an area transition.
Really, the message from BGS reads less like a traditional roadmap and more like reassurance for concerned fans. Between Xbox's recent restructuring, the unexpected cultural success of Amazon's Fallout television series, and growing frustration over how long Bethesda's flagship RPGs take to materialize, fans have understandably been concerned about the future of BGS. Now we have some answers, even if most of them come with the implicit understanding that "eventually" is doing an awful lot of heavy lifting.
