Fallout 5 and future games in the series will mostly be set in the United States, Todd Howard has confirmed.
The Fallout series has historically explored alternate versions of post-apocalyptic cities in the US, and it's long been a lingering question whether it would ever diverge from that precedent and take players to different parts of the world. Well, that question now has a pretty definitive answer: no. Not in the foreseeable future, at least.
Speaking to Kinda Funny (good spot, PC Gamer), Howard tied a good chunk of Fallout's identity to what he described as "the Americana naivete," presumably referring to the series' satirical treatment of consumerism and America's exceptionalist outlook.
"My view is—part of the Fallout shtick is on the 'Americana naivete'. And so for us right now it's okay to sort of acknowledge those other areas. But our plan is to predominantly keep it in the US."
That's just one part of the equation, though. Howard also said he wants to keep the series in the US because he prefers to keep far-off lands shrouded in mystery.
"In any world, I don't feel the need to answer. It's okay to leave mysteries or questions … I think those are good things," he said. "Everybody kind of wants to go to these other specific lands. I'm known for saying [that] the worst thing you can do to mysterious lands is to remove the mystery. Keep the mysterious lands mysterious."
Of course, fans looking for a little more variety have the "game-size" Fallout 4 conversion mod, Fallout London, to look forward to. This was supposed to come out on April 23, but was delayed without a new release date while the developers wait on fixes for some mod-breaking issues with Fallout 4's latest patch.
