Of Bethesda’s three big RPG franchises, Fallout is the one that has been experimented on the most. The original games were top-down exploration RPGs with turn-based combat. Once Bethesda got ahold of the series following the original developers, they turned it into a first-person shooter RPG.
Even before Bethesda jumped in, there was a Diablo-like clone as well as a tactical RPG based on Fallout. Yes, the series has certainly experimented on a lot of genres already, but there are so many other opportunities out there. All Bethesda has to do is ask for some help from some fellow developers who would assuredly be pumped to make a spinoff in this epic franchise.
8 Blizzard
Blizzard is officially part of Microsoft’s suite of Xbox studios, so why shouldn’t they get their hands on Fallout? Many fans may not remember this but there was a top-down looter RPG in the series called Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel.
It was developed by Interplay Entertainment who also began the Fallout franchise before Bethesda took over. It wasn’t hugely popular but it was trying to do the Diablo thing but for consoles. Blizzard could probably do a better job at this concept now since they too are a console developer now.
7 Bluepoint Games
Bluepoint Games are masters at what they do whether they are remastering classic games for a new console or completely remaking them. They worked on Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, the remakes of Demon’s Souls and Shadow of the Colossus, and many others. This entry for Fallout isn’t technically a new game so much as it is an idea for a collection.
The classic Interplay Fallout games are hidden on PC, but they could be ported to consoles in a remastered collection. Alternatively, Bluepoint Games could remake the first two games into the more modern style that started with Fallout 3. Either way, it’s safe to assume they would hit the collection or remakes out of the park.
6 Creative Assembly
Creative Assembly is mostly known for creating RTS games like Total War. An RTS game set in the Fallout universe would be interesting but that’s not what Bethesda should team up with Creative Assembly to make. They should instead ask them to develop another horror game like Alien: Isolation.
Besides the terrifying aliens that stalked players, some androids could scare the bejesus out of them. Fallout is filled with Androids too, so maybe the game could be set in a Vault wherein the entire game is about trying to escape while things, like Androids, try to kill the player.
5 Firaxis Games
Firaxis Games is best known for the X-COM games which are a series of strategy RPGs with tough difficulty spikes. Players can create a squad of soldiers and head into infested areas to help rid the earth of alien scum. Fallout could work well in this genre with that same template.
Interestingly enough, there already was a strategy game based on the Fallout franchise via Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel although it wasn’t quite like X-COM. It was developed by Micro Forte who is a relatively unknown studio in today’s world, so Firaxis Games is a better choice.
4 Obsidian Entertainment
Fallout 3 was a big deal because it took the franchise in a new direction. It was a shooter along with an open-world game. Following that success, Bethesda commissioned Obsidian Entertainment to make a spinoff called Fallout: New Vegas.
Many fans argue about which of these two games is the better RPG. Well, it’s time for that debate to reignite after Obsidian Entertainment puts out another spinoff to rival both Fallout 4 and Fallout 76. They are currently hard at work creating a sequel to their own franchise, The Outer Worlds, but maybe this could be Obsidian Entertainment’s project after that.
3 Rare
It’s been a while since Rare made a platformer like Banjo-Kazooie let alone a 2D one if ever. They have been too busy with making updates on Sea of Thieves, which has been relatively successful for them despite the rough launch. Well, it’s time Rare moved away from Sea of Thieves to create something new, or at least a small team should be put on this task.
Fallout: A Lore Dive Into Ghouls
From feral to intelligent and pre-war to recent, many ghouls have been Fallout games since the first title in 1997.
It could be a fun exercise for them if they made a smaller platformer and not one based on their own IP. They should instead make a 2D platformer starring the Fallout mascot, Vault Boy, to create some company synergy. Since Rare is owned by Microsoft, it should have already been a done deal by now.
2 Telltale
Telltale probably has enough on its plate as is. They currently have The Expanse along with the sequel to The Wolf Among Us and several other projects. Still, it’s not impossible and they could make a narrative-based Fallout game someday.
They did surprise everyone with Tales from the Borderlands and the Fallout game could have a similar vibe as both sort of take place in apocalyptic-like landscapes. Of Bethesda’s big properties, Fallout makes the most sense for a Telltale adaptation.
1 Treyarch
It’s quite astounding that there haven’t been more games touching on the before times of the bombs dropping in the Fallout universe. The big conflict that led to the bombs being dropped was called The Sino-American War and it lasted for eleven years between 2066-77. It was a war between the U.S. And China and Treyarch could do a good job recreating this conflict as a first-person shooter.
Frankly, any of Call of Duty’s developers would work too like Infinity Ward, Raven Software, or Sledgehammer Games. And if a prequel doesn’t sound interesting for Bethesda to green light then the shooter could take place after the apocalypse and focus on the conflict between the Brotherhood of Steel and the New California Republic.