Summary
TheFalloutfranchise is steadily growing into a massive post-nuclear universe, including a few recurring features and traditions. WhetherFallout 5is set as a sequel or a prequel in theFalloutgames’ timeline, it still needs to carry the torch and honor the franchise’s history, which means that familiar survivor factions are bound to make recurring appearances. However, when it comes to this,Fallout 5should avoid a troublesome tradition that most of the games before it have repeated.
Specifically,Fallout 5shouldn’t let recurring factions steal the spotlight from any new, local factions exclusive to the game. With how muchFallout 5has to learn from theFalloutgames that came before it, it should copy howFallout 76handles the clash between new and returning factions.
Fallout 5 Can’t Repeat the Fall of Fallout 4’s Minutemen
Most of the local factions inFallout 4’s wasteland, unfortunately, get overshadowed by the recurring factions towards the end of the story. This makes sense because of how established some of these factions are in the series ofstory events in theFalloutfranchise, but that it happens so often in the franchise is a tradition that futureFalloutgames should avoid repeating. The one faction inFallout 4that best exemplifies this tragic tradition is the Minutemen.
Nearly all the Minutemen in theFalloutuniverse are defeated before the events ofFallout 4’s story take place, but players can still join and achieve a leadership role in this faction’s ranks. However, if the player character refuses to side with the Minutemen inFallout 4’s ending, it’s assumed that this faction and its ideals don’t live on through any survivors. This is a striking contrast to the fate of a recurring faction that continues to show up throughout theFalloutfranchise games, theBrotherhood of Steel. Despite players being able to outright eradicate the local Brotherhood of Steel chapters in multipleFalloutgames, this faction continues to steal the spotlight in any game that they show up in.
Fallout 5 Needs its Own Version of Fallout 76’s Cult of the Mothman
Unlike generalized raider groups, the cult of the Mothman is a local specialty, whose leader is a region-exclusivecryptid inFallout 76. The cult of the Mothman faction inFallout 76arguably shows that not only doesFallout 5need its own original factions, but that the franchise is ripe for crossovers with more creatures inspired by local folklore, with a post-apocalyptic twist, and a cult following.
As much as returning creatures likeFallout’s Deathclawsand Yao Guais deserve to return in future games, not including unique, local cryptids for each entry in the franchise is a missed opportunity. Especially considering that new creatures could also introduce a new faction of cult followers,Fallout 5could kill two birds with one stone with this approach, bringing in a new faction at the same time as a new mutated cryptid, or two.
The Recurring Factions in the Fallout Franchise are a Double-Edged Sword
Between recurring factions, like the Enclave, and the Brotherhood of Steel, to the new original factions, like the cult of the Mothman,Fallout 76has one of the biggest varieties of factions of anyFalloutgame so far. At the same time,Fallout 76also offers the most balanced story between each of these factions, without any kind of favoritism towards any one particular faction.
Fallout 76arguably serves as a good example of how future games should handle this balance between new and returning factions, considering that both of these types of factions are in the game. None of this is to say that the recurring factions shouldn’t show up inFallout 5, just that they should no longer take the spotlight away from any original factions that are unique to the local setting of each game.
