I've always wondered what it'd be like if we got a Fallout game set outside America. The post-apocalyptic world obviously doesn't stop at the borders of the Pre-War United States. One of the Interplay games had a Russian character IIRC, while New Vegas had British (Dean Domino) and Mexican (Raul) characters. Raul talks about his life back in Mexico before and immediately after the Great War during his quest, Old School Ghoul. He states that Mexico City wasn't hit as bad as D.C. but still bombed to hell. Dean was trapped in the Sierra Madre after a failed attempt to loot the vault and fuck Frederick Sinclair over.

Now, where would we set this game? My favorite possibilities for such a Fallout game:

1. China. It's obvious that America would have nuked them to hell, too. China could have its own new societies arise from the nuclear ashes. We could have one faction that copies the old imperial dynasties. Mongolia proper and Inner Mongolia would obviously have their own authentic version of the Great Khans, assuming horses managed to survive the bombs. You'd obviously have Communists around, with a NCR-like entity making a stab at reviving Chairman Mao's vision. Perhaps a copy of the Nationalists as envisioned by Sun Yat-sen and Jiang Jieshi/Chiang Kai-shek.*

2. South Asia. India and Pakistan have had their own share of nuclear squabbles. I could see both countries bombing each other during the Great War. America, China, and the USSR obviously weren't the only nuclear-capable nations. In our own timeline, India and Pakistan both have nukes; I could see that happening in the Fallout timeline,too. This assumes that India was still decolonized in the same messy way it was IRL, partition and all. We could see attempts at reviving one or more pre-Raj kingdoms and empires. Being nuclear powers, I'm sure India and Pakistan would have their own versions of Vault-Tec. It also helps that northern India has a fuckload of mountainsides to dig into.

3. Europe. I'd like to see what's left of Europe 200+ years after the bombs fell. At the very least, I think Switzerland would fare relatively well because of all the mountains they have. They're already crazy prepared for any invasion NOW, and they're neutral! Would Swiss neutrality have so much as survived the Resource Wars? Meanwhile, we could have an authentic version of Caesar's Legion in Italy, recreating the Roman Empire. France could have copies of the Basque, Celtic (i.e., Gauls and Bretons), and other old societies. Britain and Ireland might degenerate into small tribes and city-states. The Nordic nations might try recreating the old Kalmar Union, being a post-apocalyptic nation with social welfare, minimalist design, and death metal. Germany? Ruined and probably regressed into tribes and raiders, though someone might resurrect old Prussia.

*Both are just dialect differences (i.e., Mandarin vs. Cantonese).

I always thought that the setting of the United States was essential to Fallout. At most, a detour into Canada or Mexico would be playing it safe but the series has committed so much into establishing the setting and characters of a post-nuclear America. I don't think that I'd like to see a fallout game set outside of North America.

With that being said of the three options you gave, Europe probably makes the most sense considering the similarity it has to the United States. Also, I can't think of any sources off the top of my head but I always thought China was completely destroyed in the Great War to a degree that makes America look untouched? Not completley sure about that. With regards to South India, I just don't think it'd be that interesting. Also, the real-world politics of that geographic area are probably too touchy to be touched for a video game.

Honestly, in all likelihood it would probably be Canada. And to be honest, that wouldn't be too bad. There would probably be a lot of resentment of America due to the occupation, and vaults could probably be weaved into the story. Furthermore, if it were to be set somewhere is Quebec then we could see a mix of French-Canadians and Canadians, making for an interesting storyline (perhaps a new Napoleonic Empire?).

However, I personally would like to see Europe. Specifically, London. It would make sense for a spinoff, and since it's set in an English speaking country it would be easy to create a plot. Plus, we could see a lot more about the 'Resource Wars' and 'European Union'. I think that the various districts of London could be divided up into factions, and the main antagonists could be an enclave-like group; for example, Neo-Royals who want to restore the Monarchy and survived in bunkers underground Buckingham Palace etc. However, I'm biased as I'm from England.

I doubt we will ever see a new country though, but I have hope. Bethesda is running out of new plots for America, and the factions that we all know and love seem to be being milked for content.

Definitely would love to see the game set in England. Also, I always hoped for at least a DLC bringing us to China. But, @thegreataimbottio might be right, maybe it was obliterated.

Europe would be great since there are many countries in such a relatively small area, it would be very interesting to see the different factions and how they evolved in their area.

I would definitely like a Fallout setting in Mexico, Canada and China so that they could expand more on the lore such as what happened to people annexed by the US in Canada after the war, the NCR x Mexico war and the fate of the US troops that was fighting in China.

A Fallout setting in the UK would also be awesome so that we could also see what happened to the European countries after the bombs dropped.

I'm not sure a Fallout game set outside the U.S would be something any developers would touch, and I think that is due to the heavily Americanised 50's style that carries on in the Fallout universe. The advancement, or lack of advancement from nuclear energy mixed with The Jetson's version of the future wouldn't translate outside the U.S.

Vault Tec are also exclusive to the U.S as they are a branch of the government that are funded by the decendants of the enclave we see in the earlier games, the true American government remnants put in place an almost infinite budget to further Vault Tec's ever mysterious objectives and experiments. We all know now that it wasn't the Vaults that only survived the great war, people did manage to survive and it is hard to argue that America was any better or worse off than any other country in terms of the bombs that landed. America would be one of the most devastated countries in the world after the great war, the other countries around the world were just as badly affected.

Assuming that the world isn't still devastated, a Fallout set in a different setting wouldn't feel like a Fallout game. Fallout 4 didn't feel like a Fallout game and that is set near Fallout 3. The media reception of a game that did take a chance in terms of it's setting, after disappointing an already passionate audience, I just don't think it would go down well whatsoever, with anyone. In terms of creating any sort of media, it is good to say to yourself "Who is this for?" and I'm not sure who a non-American fallout would be for. Fallout fanboy's would hate it and it probably wouldn't be a massive commercial success in terms of gamers outside the scope of who a Bethesda game would bring in (Primarily RPG players), which only hurts the Falout brand as a whole. It's hard to get people excited about a Fallout battle royale when your single player games don't sell and neither does your MMO's.

The game has always been focused on the US side of things. How the bombs changed the country, and how it developed after. Like mentioned above, Raul is from Mexico, which is next to the US. One thing people often forget is how hard it really is to travel great distances. You see this in mods alot; a character is from the east coast or whatever. Walking across the US or even driving takes a long ass time.

I don't think it would be a fallout game if set in China, Canada or Europe. (Unpopular opinion here: I can't think of a more dull setting for a fallout game than the UK or London.) I think fallout should stick to the US and maybe surrounding border areas.

Canada would be nice, after all, it's been annexed in the Fallout universe. China, maybe, so we can get a look at what the enemy territories looked like outside of the couple of chinese remnants we encounter. Mexico, dunno, I have a feeling that this would be a little too similar to FNV, just with more jungle.

As for Europe, I don't see that working. According to the lore, as far as I remember, Europe is pretty much a radioactive hellhole due to the battle over the last oil spots in the middle east and the fallout from all countries basically gang banging each other over it.

@stoobygacks I think it's unfair to call London the dullest place for a fallout setting. It would be far more interesting and enjoyable than some settings, such as Appalachia...

how about a game set in Ireland? as we had Moriarty in fallout 3, as kate in F04/ like how did they travel to america in the post waste?
it would even bring some of the mythology to the game, like a dunwich branch that is hunted by a Banshee, or a quest to hunt down the loch-nest monster, which would be some mutated waste abomination like a deathclaw/mirelurk hybrid oh god >_<

What about a spin-off of sorts set in the conflict between China and the US? we could see many scenarios like the battle of Anchorage or the Gobi and Yangtze campaigns, with the early stages of the T-45 Power Armor being in the latter and the Winterized variant of the T-51b in the first, and maybe stick some lore in it regarding what happened to other parts of the world such as Europe, South America and so on.

Though i'm all for a Fallout set outside the US, i mean, aren't you guys tired of Bethesda beating the poor fucking dying horse of always using the same 'skeleton' in every title, ya know, the vault dweller protagonist with allways having the flashy (now annoying to me) Vault Boi, the Super Mutants, the obligatory new set of Power Armor pulled out of nowhere in every game, something always bothered me of war movies was that most of the time we were always seeing the same side of the war, the Allies for example, so a movie like Enemy At The Gates was a breath of fresh air.
I'm well aware that many of the things i mentioned are part of what fallout has been known for, but i'm just saying gives us some originality for fucks sake!


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But, i don't even hold much hopes for the future of the franchise, seeing how Beth is not willing to learn from their mistakes (or at least aknowledge and own up to them) either by being radio silent in social media or downplay all their fuck ups in interviews or on stage showcases, but hey, who knows, Todd and Pete might get fired one of these days we can actually get some competent people up there to make a less corporate product, somethig substancial that the fans can enjoy at release and in the future look back at it with affection and nostalgia.

@The Rabid Dog to be fair, those are only problems with Bethesda's Fallout games, and they've only made two which came out eight years apart from each other. Fallout 1, 2, and NV had very similar settings but still managed to vary up their stories. While I agree that the way Bethesda handles things like the vaults, BoS, and super mutants isn't very creative but to me, the game taking place in America is integral to the series. You brought up how seeing the same perspective over and over again gets boring and I completely agree, but I think that taking the series outside of North America to resolve this problem would be like making a movie set in the Korean War to solve the problem of only seeing the Allied perspective in WWII (To use your Enemy at the Gates analogy). But in the end, I'd be fine with seeing spinoffs take place outside of the North America but I think that the "numbered" main entries in the series should stay in North America. There's sooo much to explore in the vast space between the American Southwest and New England that hasn't been touched. I think there's still plenty of room for games in there.

@thegreataimbottio Yes indeed, i was thinking the same when i wrote the comment, speaking about main numbered titles maybe not exactly outside the US, but in the far south like Texas or Mexico or hell, even Canada sounds good to me, i'm just saying that the Vaults/SuperMutants/BoS formula has gotten old, and from Beth's perspective the US setting demands to have these in order for the game to be a 'Fallout', something new and refreshing would be very interesting, and a change of setting might do the work, idk.

I would think that if fallout games venture outside USA, they would take place in Canada. Somewhere close to the border, too. The full annexation of Canada happened shortly before the Great War, meaning it would preserve some part of its cultural identity. Yet setting its close to the border of USA would mean there would be some significant American influence as well. IIRC, Fallout: Cascadia includes a red leafs - Canadian Resistance faction and I’m interested how they gonna play it out. There is also a mod in development that adds London.

Myself I would love to see Mexico, though. Maybe a game taking place in both USA and Mexico, something like Tijuana - San Diego area.

Like most others I would love to see Canada. Fallout likes to mock the tropes of a countries media and Canada has a strong national identity they could have a ton of fun with, even with America annexing them. Give me Fallout: Ronto.

well i would definitely enjoy a fallout set in a post apocalyptic Italy with all that "Atomic 50's" design. Just imagine gangs of well dressed raiders cruising with hovering Vespa's across the ruins of Rome!

TheCrimsonBuckr wrote:

how about a game set in Ireland? as we had Moriarty in fallout 3, as kate in F04/ like how did they travel to america in the post waste?
it would even bring some of the mythology to the game, like a dunwich branch that is hunted by a Banshee, or a quest to hunt down the loch-nest monster, which would be some mutated waste abomination like a deathclaw/mirelurk hybrid oh god >_<  

Loch Ness Monster? That's SCOTLAND.

Then you have the nations of Africa. OT's South Africa was a nuclear power at one point. North Africa would have been hotly contested for the oil during the Resource Wars. Then you have the Horn of Africa, which is situated along the convergence of the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. That's an important trade route. Again, there's also the oil. And you have all the mineral wealth of Sub-Saharan Africa, which also would have led to fighting during the Resource Wars. Let's not forget that Africa is HUGE and home to many, many cultures and languages. And for all we know, decolonization could have happened differently. The European powers colonized everywhere in Africa that wasn't Liberia or Ethiopia. Liberia was an American colony and went independent early on. Italy TRIED to colonize Ethiopia but ended up with a failed invasion on their hands; Mussolini also shot himself in the foot by allying with Hitler and getting involved in the Spanish Civil War. After World War II devastated Europe, the colonial powers couldn't hold onto their colonies anymore and they lost control of Africa. But the decolonization was a mess. Ethnic groups were often separated from each other, while tribes and peoples that were often historically hostile to one another were put in the same new country. That's why the borders of African countries look so clunky and odd.

Ethiopia could see a revival of the old Abyssinian Empire, and perhaps be a Christian holdout like the New Canaanites of Utah. Being Ethiopia, expect Orthodox Christianity instead; they were the second nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion (Armenia was first). The country is known for its megalithic churches, particularly the ones at Lalibela, a UNESCO World Heritage site. I could see little Eritrea integrated into this new Abyssinia as well. Somalia could have returned to clans and tribes, though Somaliland proper could still turn out pretty well off. That part of Somalia is already safer than the rest of the country IRL.

South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Botswana? I could see an equivalent of NCR, perhaps even a revival of ye olden Great Zimbabwe. The Khoisan tribes (the ones with the click languages) could almost certainly survive a nuclear apocalypse, given how many of them still maintain their old hunter-gatherer ways. Botswana could see one or more biker-like tribes; they have their own metal scene now so that could greatly influence said factions. Just like the Kings in New Vegas, you could have a gang of Motörhead cosplayers and tribute bands. As South Africa was nuclear, they could have their own equivalent of Vault-Tec. I don't mean Vault-Tec having branches in other countries. I'm talking about other countries starting their own companies that do the same thing. As for the raiders, I could see some of them running around with cricket bats (they don't have baseball in South Africa). In fact, the cricket bats and other equipment would be prevalent across just about all the ex-British colonies.

The member states of the East African Community? Again, you have that connection to the Indian Ocean, meaning all kinds of trade with whatever's left of southern Eurasia and the rest of Africa. IRL, they're the potential precursor to a proposed East African Federation. If this goes through, then South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya would all become one country. This now gets me wondering if this EAF would arise in the Fallout timeline. In any case, we could see recreations of pre-colonial kingdoms, maybe a feud among them to unify East Africa under one banner. As long as Uganda ends up in the mix, you know someone is going to know da wae.

West and Central Africa could see resurrections of old Benin, the Mali Empire, and other pre-colonial regimes. I could see Nigeria faring relatively well. On top of the indigenous languages, you'd have English spoken in some places, French in others, and Spanish in Equatorial Guinea.

North Africa? I think Egypt could see some new pharaohs rise to power. The Maghreb would likely be Berber and Arab tribes except for oases and coastal regions. These areas would be much more settled. This is the Sahara we're talking about. We might see ruins of oil wells and rigs, maybe solar farms a la HELIOS One. Look at the Sahara. It's desert and they don't get much rain. It's the perfect place for solar farms.

Across the board, you'd have raider tribes, mercs, intellectual factions in the vein of the Followers, traders, and other smaller factions. If post-apocalyptic America can have this stuff, so can post-apocalyptic Africa. Something similar to the Jet Road might crop up.