Highlights
- Bethesda should avoid making moral alignment a requirement to fully enjoy future Fallout DLCs, like it was with Nuka-World.
- The impact of moral choices on gameplay should be balanced to ensure both good and bad paths offer equally rewarding storylines in Fallout games.
- Anticipation for Fallout 5 is high, but Bethesda should learn from past mistakes, like locking paid content behind moral choices.
There has been a bit of a lull in the Fallout franchise lately, but with the impending arrival of the live-action adaptation for Amazon Prime and continued evolution of Fallout 76, the series still has a bright future ahead of it. Fallout has become one of the most popular franchises in gaming, and as hope for Fallout 5 continues to grow, Bethesda will want to steer clear of previous mistakes.
The release of Fallout 4 back in 2015 saw the franchise getting one of its biggest installments yet, and future expansions released for the game brought forth a variety of fun new missions. Nuka-World was one of the best DLCs added to the game, but one major mistake made with the expansion should be avoided in future Fallout games.
Fallout Feels Like It’s Still One Step Away From a Beloved Elder Scrolls Feature
While the Fallout and The Elder Scrolls franchises share many similarities, one feature of TeS in particular deserves to become a staple of Fallout.
The Next Fallout Can’t Repeat A Nuka-World Mistake
Nuka-World added an exciting new story to the base version of Fallout 4, as players are brought to the Nuka-World amusement park where they become the leader of three groups of Raiders. The basic story of Nuka-World is that players are tasked with assigning specific sections of the amusement park to these three Raiders gangs, then aiming for the Commonwealth. However, if players wish to play the entirety of Fallout 4 as a good guy, this gets in the way of truly experiencing Nuka-World’s story.
Future Fallout DLCs Shouldn’t Punish Players For Moral Alignment
One of the biggest issues with Nuka-World is that if players want to play the game as a good guy, the true essence of the DLC is completely missed. Even choosing the technically “good” path offered in the DLC contradicts what a good guy would actually do. Playing as a good guy in Nuka-World ultimately makes the DLC a waste, since some players can completely miss the more interesting parts of the story, and Bethesda should avoid making these same mistakes when developing future expansions for the next Fallout game.
When players arrive at Nuka-World, it’s possible not to join the Raiders. However, if this is the path chosen, then players must kill the Raiders, and that’s not exactly good guy behavior. Of course, there are moments in Fallout 4 when there’s not really any choice but to engage in combat, but showing up to a Raider base just to eliminate them makes the player the aggressor. Being given the choice to join or kill the Raiders in Nuka-World gives gamers wishing to play as a good guy a lose-lose situation. However, killing Raiders also frees the slaves in the Nuka-Town market, so there is at least an incredibly good deed in eradicating the Raiders. This means that wiping out the Raiders is the noble choice overall, and Fallout is known for its moral gray areas, but choosing the immoral path offers far more story and rewards. Players shouldn’t be punished for wanting to do the right thing, and this is the biggest problem with Nuka-World.
The Future of Fallout
There currently isn’t any concrete information when it comes to Fallout 5, but there is a lot of anticipation surrounding the eventual reveal of the next game in the franchise. The Fallout series has given life to one of the most compelling worlds in gaming, and seeing the story continue would be great. However, when Bethesda seeks to expand the next Fallout game, it may be best to not gatekeep stories, content like raider camps, and useful rewards based on a player’s morality. Of course, a player can do multiple playthroughs, but not every gamer is interested in taking that approach. All players should be able to enjoy a DLC’s content, and barring some fans from new storylines because of moral choices is something to avoid repeating.
