Fallout 5: Here are 10 adjustments Bethesda should make for an improved experience

Recent months have been full of bad news for the games industry, but sometimes a little light shines through, like when Bethesda confirmed last week that Fallout 5 is in preproduction. Since then, it’s been a little difficult to think about much else. We’re too busy imagining what the next installment in the series might look like, in a more perfect world. On that note, here are 10 things we want to see from Fallout 5, whenever it arrives.

1 A silent protagonist

Video games often feel like books or movies, and there’s no use in complaining about something so many people clearly love. Still, some games should follow design philosophies that prioritize letting players drop into the starring role. To self-insert, even. The Fallout games certainly are one such case. And while Fallout 4 featured excellent voice work, we wouldn’t complain for one second if Bethesda were to leave speaking roles to the NPCs and companions the next time around. Let us pretend we are the ones wandering the wasteland, please, not watching from the audience or filming everything.

2 Set somewhere outside America

The Fallout games have famously explored various regions within a retro-futuristic, alternate history version of America in distress. And that has been fine, but there are other countries to consider. Entire continents, even. In the case of a nuclear war, they probably wouldn’t fare any better than North America. Their long histories and traditions would also provide interesting subject matter. Imagine Paris or England, Germany or China. How about Egypt or Brazil? The possibilities aren’t endless, but they’re close enough, and Fallout hasn’t paid nearly enough attention to the rest of the world thus far.

3 A less derivative plot with broader themes

People suck, but in times of great turmoil, loss, and sacrifice, with humanity on the brink of extinction, it’s only natural to go right on being awful to one another rather than changing for the greater good. Sound familiar? Admittedly, actual nuclear calamity would put life in simpler terms than you or I can fully appreciate. But that doesn’t mean fiction about it can’t explore the grim possibilities with a little more nuance. If you think about some of the great moments the medium has provided in the past, shades of gray have been key ingredients. Let’s see a little more of that from Fallout.

4 More diverse dialog options

Speaking of nuance, Fallout 4’s approach to dialogue could do with some spring cleaning. That game presented us with four responses to most dialog prompts. Two of those were versions of “yes” (one with added sarcasm), and two were versions of “no.” What’s the point in going with four choices as the default if they don’t push the character exchanges in new directions? When we pick one option over the other, it would also be nice to have a clearer idea about the different possible outcomes. The sarcasm shouldn’t go away, of course, but it would be nice to see conversations in Fallout 5 achieve more than they have in past entries.

5 Improved skill development

Traditional RPGs let their characters develop new skills over the course of an adventure, which Fallout presents as perks. Unlocking new perks in Fallout 4 was compelling in the extreme, allowing players to engage with the damaged world on their terms. However, there’s room for improvement. If you blast a bunch of enemies and use that experience to level up your ability to speak eloquently, there’s a bit of a disconnect, don’t you think? The Elder Scrolls games already adopt a superior approach, in that the way you play the game impacts how you can develop your character. Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds and its sequel also include flaws as a progression mechanic, which offset a negative trait with a positive one. (For instance, thieving players can trigger the Kleptomaniac flaw, which makes them automatically steal everything in their line of sight. It’s chaotic, but you can sell your ill-gotten goods to vendors for twice the usual price.) There’s no reason Fallout couldn’t do something similar, with exciting results.

6 Choices that genuinely matter

In Fallout 4, you might decide whether to intervene and save some innocent potential allies from threatening raiders. That’s neat. But a lot of the bigger events (including the initial disaster, of course) are out of your control. It’s a bit like buying yogurt at a specialty shop. You pick your yogurt and the toppings, but you’re still having yogurt with toppings. Bethesda already explored something along these lines with Starfield, where you can make an enemy of a character (finally facing off against him and killing him in space combat) or keep him as a friend and eventually add him to your crew. It would be a treat to see more scenarios that explore what happens when you color outside the lines, and which provide far-reaching consequences.

7 Streamlined base building

One of the more tedious aspects of Fallout 4 is its base building. Early on, you found Sanctuary and threw up a few structures and planted a garden. Maybe you set up a few sentries. But after that, did you look forward to upgrading your settlement and customizing everything to suit your style? Perhaps not. It’s simply too frustrating to turn the resources – all gathered from scavenging and buying junk from merchants – into a wall, or a chair, or a turret. First, there’s the matter of finding those necessary parts. The bigger issue is that even after you acquire them, it’s difficult to even set up a wall or floor that lines up with the building’s foundation. And buying prefab buildings isn’t very satisfying. Starfield had similar issues, which doesn’t bode well for Fallout 5. Still, it’s fun to imagine how a new installment might benefit from a more intuitive interface.

8 More combat-free solutions

If you like fighting all your enemies, Fallout 4 was your game. You could head in with tricked-out knuckles, or tricked-out guns, and you could use those tools to talk your adversaries into dying gruesomely. There weren’t a lot of problems a little violence couldn’t solve. Which makes sense, Fallout 4 being a video game and all, but the developers went to the trouble of adding some neat alternatives, such as talking your way out of difficult situations, or stealthily sneaking past guards. It would be nice to see the next installment push more aggressively in that direction. A passive approach to conflict can remain difficult, but more options and scenarios built around being a sneak or a fraud would surely not go astray.

9 Less emphasis on gunplay

Melee weapons should work a little better in the Fallout universe, and maybe even prove useful outside encounters with mutated bugs and mongrels. Certainly, you can run into any battle you like with your fists encased in spiked metal, even as your foes wield pipe guns. But should you? Not really. And honestly, swinging your fists at foes as they dodge out of the way doesn’t feel terrific. One might even say it feels like a big missed opportunity.

10 Better gunplay mechanics

Bethesda can make games where shooting guns feels good, but Fallout hasn’t been the franchise that proves it. Given its deep RPG roots, that makes sense. But Starfield shows there are ways to make the shooting feel more natural. In Fallout 4, it wasn’t uncommon to aim directly at an enemy and still miss, even from fairly close range. The V.A.T.S. system did a lot of the heavy lifting, allowing you to target weak points and make headshots. And while that’s fun and very much part of the brand, the mechanic relies less on skill and more on stats. There’s a happy medium in there somewhere, and Fallout 5 should make a renewed effort to find it.

There’s no denying it: Fallout 4 did a lot of things right. Its sequel could apply the same template with only minor tweaks and it would absolutely be worth playing. But this is a chance to do some things a little better, not by making massive changes, but by leaning into what’s already there and following where it leads. We still want to recognize Fallout 5 as part of a series we already enjoy, but we’d also like for it to be better than ever before.