Fallout 5 is a long way off, but it's on its way eventually. Todd Howard confirmed as much in 2021, revealing that Bethesda has a "one-pager" outlining the basic concept for the new game. One thing that Bethesda is probably thinking about is the game's setting. Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, and Fallout 4 all featured a single city that dominated a large part of the map, and many assume that Fallout 5 will be the same.
A big part of what makes the Bethesda Fallout games significant is the inclusion of real-world landmarks. Whether it's the Washington Monument in Fallout 3, the Welcome to Las Vegas sign in New Vegas, or Fenway Park in Fallout 4, each game has at least one iconic landmark that most players will remember, and there are numerous other real-life locations to stumble across. However, while Bethesda often tries to keep them authentic, one location in Fallout 4 shows why the studio shouldn't shy away from taking a few liberties.
Fallout 4's Malden Center Station
Fallout games feature a mix of real-world and fictional landmarks. Fallout 4's Diamond City and The Castle are notable examples, being built out of Fenway Park and the early nineteenth-century stronghold Fort Independence. Players can also visit the actual locations of Spectacle Island, Walden Pond, the Old and New State Houses, the Bunker Hill Monument, and the Old North Church, all looking more or less like they should. There is also the USS Constitution, which, while heavily modified by its robot crew, is a reasonable approximation of the oldest ship in the US Navy.
On the other hand, other places would be almost unrecognizable compared to their real-life counterparts. The most memorable of these is Malden Center Station. The actual location is an above-ground elevated train station in the city of Malden, Massachusetts, a few miles north of Boston Harbor. However, Bethesda redesigned this municipal train station into one of the most atmospheric locations in Fallout 4.
Unlike its real-life counterpart, Fallout 4's version of Malden Center is an underground subway station. As the headquarters of Helter Skelter's raider gang, the Sole Survivor arrives to find the station in chaos. The station is under attack by Institute Synths, who have occupied the upper level of the station. However, the battle still rages below, with synths and raiders fighting in the dimly lit tunnels. It's a unique dungeon that opens with players exploring the eerie corpse-laden halls, followed by a chaotic firefight deep underground. This unique atmosphere would likely be impossible in an open-air elevated train station like the real Malden Center.
Malden Center is not the only case of Fallout games taking liberties with real-life locations. For example, the real-life Washington Monument lacks the metal skeleton seen in Fallout 3. Meanwhile, Fallout: New Vegas' Lucky 38 only bears a passing resemblance to the tower of Las Vegas' Strat Casino. Cities in the Fallout universe also have a lot more art-deco statues than the typical American city.
Of course, there are good reasons for Fallout 5 to keep its landmarks authentic. Part of it is that Fallout, like the historical settings of Assassin's Creed, lets players engage in a bit of virtual tourism, letting players see locations they might have heard of but never visited. It also helps to ground the pretty fanatical world of Fallout in something approximating reality while contrasting with the setting's futurism.
However, smaller locations like Malden Center give Bethesda an excellent opportunity for creative liberties. Most Americans at least know of Fenway Park and Bunker Hill, while historical sites like the USS Constitution and Fort Independence are major Boston landmarks. Meanwhile, few people outside Massachusetts know what Malden Center is, and even fewer care if it’s accurately represented. Bethesda should keep this in mind when laying out Fallout 5's map, keeping major landmarks authentic but taking liberties with less significant locations.
Fallout 5 has been confirmed.