Fallout’s aesthetics are inherently American – transplanting it would make it a completely different thing

In a recently published interview with Kinda Funny Games, Bethesda Game Studios director and executive producer Todd Howard said that there are no future plans to take Fallout out of the United States. “My view is, part of the Fallout shtick is on the American naivete,” he says. He then goes on to say that removing the mystery of what’s happening in other countries ruins the intrigue.

While I’m sure that this has disappointed players, considering that there was so much interest in a UK-based Fallout that Fallout London was created, I have to say, I fully agree with him on this point.

Fallout Is Intrinsically American

As my colleague Eric Switzer said in his review of Prime’s recent adaptation of Fallout, the series is perfect for adaptation because of its anthological nature. Every game has different characters, relationships, and storylines, relying on its coherent and iconic aesthetic sensibility to tie them together into a single universe. This works extremely well – Fallout’s world is iconic because of its symbols. We recognise its corporations, its music, and its creatures as being unique to the series’ universe. They’re all also inarguably American.

Fallout, especially the recent television adaptation, capitalises on the kind of ruthless capitalism that is most commonly associated with America. It portrays America as it is – willing to start and finish wars in the name of profit, and far too eager to devolve into fascist practices. Corporations are king, and we see the mark left by pre-war companies and their atompunk aesthetics all over Fallout’s worlds. The iconic, evocative music leans heavily on American jazz.

If you take the America out of Fallout, you don’t really have Fallout anymore. You have a plot and a timeline to fit other countries into, but the aesthetics would be completely different. Considering it’s the aesthetic qualities that make Fallout a coherent series, I understand why Bethesda wouldn’t want to move into exploring other countries. It would mean creating a whole new visual and sonic language to represent Fallout’s world, because there’s no reason for those aesthetics to be shared across borders. It wouldn’t feel the same, nor should it.

Fallout London Isn’t Canon, And That Gives It Freedom

I think it’s cool that Fallout London exists – it’s an interesting experiment, and super cool as a fan-made project. It’s born out of love for the series of games, and I’m unlikely to be as critical of it as a result as the aesthetic and story coherence is irrelevant because it isn’t canon. But if Bethesda had made Fallout London and it had felt anything like other Fallout games, something must have gone very wrong.

Thematically, I’m sure this hypothetical Bethesda-made British Fallout would have thematic and story overlaps. The UK is just as guilty of imperialism as the US, and has injected itself into plenty of modern wars that it shouldn’t have. It has its own very dystopian qualities (Black Mirror, anyone?) and iconic retro aesthetics that have much in common with its former colony. But a one-for-one switch of iconography from one country to another would have felt cheap and pointless. There would have to be just as much cultural meaning behind the weight of every swap, and that’s hard to pull off. That applies to every other country that Fallout might explore.

At that point, if it feels either poorly conceived, tonally incongruent, or less meaningful, why bother? A Todd Howard interview is often rife with statements ripe for online debate, but I don’t think there’s much debate on this one. Modders should go crazy with their own creations, but I don’t want Bethesda to lose Fallout’s special sauce.