Fallout Amazon Series Needs To Go Where The Games Never Have
As a fan of the Fallout games, I have few complaints about Amazon’s hit series. But while I don’t doubt the show’s writers had their reasons for doing so, I can’t help but wish it hadn’t been set in California. Half of the canonical games unfold in or near the west coast, and Amazon’s series could have used the opportunity to let us see as of yet undiscovered parts of the former United States of America.
At Least Half Of Fallout Takes Place In Pacific Standard Time
This may sound surprising or straight up untrue considering the more recent releases in the franchise. Both Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 take place in the East Coast, while the MMORPG Fallout 76 is set in West Virginia.
But when you rewind back to the beginning, there’s a lot more set out west. Both the first game and Fallout 2 are largely set in California, and 2010’s Fallout: New Vegas alternates between Nevada, California, and Arizona.
There Is So Much More Of The Wasteland To See
When you consider the canon status of 2001’s Fallout Tactics and 2004’s Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel isn’t very clear, while at the same time remembering all the various DLC to the other games–Fallout players have gotten to see post-apocalyptic versions of California, Oregon, Nevada, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Utah, Massachusetts, Maine, and New Jersey.
That’s eleven states and the District of Columbia. There is so much more of Fallout’s wasteland to explore, even if we stick to the continental Untied States.
We’ve seen none of southeast. No Florida, Georgia, or Alabama. You’ve got to imagine Bethesda could do something special with a post-apocalyptic New Orleans.
Most of the center of the country is completely unexplored in Fallout–honestly so much of it is unexplored, by the players at least, that it’s really stretching things to call it the “center.”
Starting in the east, the furthest west we’ve gone is West Virginia. Starting in the west, the furthest east we’ve gone is Utah. That’s leaving a big, honking empty space between.
There’s Something There
You might wonder whether or not there even is anything between Utah and West Virginia. After all certain areas in the Fallout universe, such as New York City, are believed by some to be nothing more than big craters.
But we know different characters have traveled between the coasts, so there must be something–towns and the like for people to resupply–between the east and west.
When the Sole Survivor journeys through the memories of Kellogg in Fallout 4, for example, you learn that the killer was living in San Francisco before eventually making his way east to the Commonwealth. Kellogg’s a tough guy, sure, but he’s not going on foot from California to Massachusetts without somewhere to rest his bald head occasionally.
Big Cities
One likely reason the Fallout games–and now the series–has stuck to the coasts is because that’s where the biggest, most well known cities are. But there are plenty of iconic locales we still haven’t seen. Chicago, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Atlanta, and of course all of Texas.
How about New Mexico. I, for one, would find it interesting in the Fallout universe to visit the land where the atomic bombs were born.
Maybe In Future Seasons?
The end of Fallout Season 1 showed us Hank (Kyle MacLachlan) was on his way to New Vegas, so clearly the show doesn’t plan to stay in one state. Hopefully that means sooner or later Amazon’s hit show will have a chance to discover new wasteland territory.
