Connect with us

Editorials

Fallout 5 Release Date & Features: 10 Things to Know

Published

on

Fallout 5 won’t arrive on shelves for a long time, but here’s a very early look at what we know right now about the next Fallout game from Bethesda.

In 2015, Bethesda released the long-awaited Fallout 4. In 2018, the company released Fallout 76, an online RPG set in the Fallout universe.

Both games are still attracting new players in 2024 which is a good thing given that the next Fallout game is many years away.

Bethesda’s confirmed plans to release another Fallout game, presumably called Fallout 5, but the company hasn’t offered up much in the way of information since studio head Todd Howard made the proclamation. We know why that’s the case and we’ll explain in detail later on in this guide.

Right now we’re working with very little information, but we know gamers have questions so we’ve put together a early guide covering the most important things to know about Fallout 5 right now.

Our guide will take you through the potential Fallout 5 release date, launch date, consoles, and more.

Fallout 5 Trailer

In 2018, Bethesda released a trailer confirming Elder Scrolls 6, a follow-up to the company’s massive Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. The trailer didn’t reveal much.

Thus far, Fallout 5 hasn’t received the same treatment and it’s unclear if it will.

Fallout 5 Announcement

Again, Todd Howard has said its Bethesda’s intention to make another Fallout game down the road. Unfortunately, we may not hear about it for a long, long time.

Speaking to IGN, Howard says the company’s plan is to start working on Fallout 5 after Elder Scrolls 6. Elder Scrolls 6 is currently in pre-production without a firm launch date.

Right now, it looks like Elder Scrolls 6 could be revealed in 2025, 2028, or somewhere in between. As for Fallout 5, we’ll be lucky if we get an announcement this decade.

Fallout 5 announcement

Howard told IGN back in 2021 that the company has “one-pager on Fallout 5, what we want to do.” This is a high-level outline and nothing more.

According to Xbox’s Phil Spencer, the Elder Scrolls 6 is likely “five plus years away.” He made the comment during testimony at the Microsoft FTC trial. If that winds up being true, Fallout 5 may not get revealed until the 2030’s.

Also of note: Todd Howard says Elder Scrolls 6 may be the last Elder Scrolls game he works. This makes sense given how long it takes to make these games and how long Bethesda supports them post-launch.

Fallout 5 Release Date

Like Starfield, we should get a preliminary Fallout 5 release date well in advance. Of course, that doesn’t mean the company will stick with that date as Bethesda often delays games to add further polish.

Todd Howard has said we may not see the Elder Scrolls 6 release date until 2026. And that’s the earliest timeframe.

The Fallout 5 release date will arrive sometime after that. 2028? 2030? Your guess is as good as ours.

Fallout 5 Consoles

As of right now, Starfield is exclusive to the Xbox and Windows PC. That could change in the months ahead, it seems.

Microsoft is planning to bring some of its games to PlayStation. The first four titles are Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, Sea of Thieves, and Grounded. We should see more in the future, but Microsoft hasn’t confirmed.

The move doesn’t confirm anything, but it certainly opens the door for a Fallout 5 release on PlayStation.

 

Given Fallout 5’s potential release window, there’s no guarantee the game will launch on Microsoft’s Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S either. It probably won’t.

Documents suggest Sony is planning to release PS6 sometime after 2027. If that’s accurate, we’d expect Microsoft to release a new Xbox around that time as well.

In fact, documents that emerged from Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard trial state that the company indeed expects to release a next-gen console in 2028. Microsoft expects Sony to launch its own console in 2028 as well.

So given that the Fallout 5 release date will land after Elder Scrolls 6’s release, it will likely be exclusive to next-gen platforms.

Fallout 5 Pre-Orders

It almost goes without saying, but don’t buy any Fallout 5 pre-orders from places promising early access to the game. They are scams, plain and simple.

Fallout 5 pre-orders will go live when Bethesda showcases the game in full. In other words, don’t expect it to go on sale at retailers for many years.

Fallout 5 Price

Right now, the going rate for a AAA game on Xbox Series X and other platforms is $69.99. That could obviously change by the time Fallout 5 arrives, but that’s what to expect right now.

If Bethesda releases additional bundles, and there’s no reason to believe it won’t, you can expect those bundles to cost more than that.

Fallout 5 Setting

Fallout 5’s location hasn’t been confirmed, but there is quite a bit of speculation out there already.

Fallout 5 setting

For the unfamiliar, Fallout games take place in apocalyptic versions of real locations in the United States. Here are the settings from Bethesda’s previous Fallout games:

  • Fallout 76 – Appalachia aka West Virginia.
  • Fallout 4 – The Commonwealth aka Massachusetts.
  • Fallout 3 – Washington D.C.
  • Fallout New Vegas – Arizona, California, Nevada.

As for Fallout 5’s setting, there’s been speculation that we could see the series shift to New Orleans. This is based on trademark filing for Fallout New Orleans that was spotted back in 2016. Nothing has come of it thus far and it could simply be misdirection.

Chicago is mentioned in previous Fallout games while Alaska was included in DLC for Fallout 3. While these locations are certainly possibilities, they’re purely speculative.

Fallout 5 Features

Again, as far as we know, Fallout 5 isn’t even in pre-production so there’s simply no way to tell you what kind of features it will have.

Bethesda is using a new engine for Starfield, dubbed Creation Engine 2, and it’s the same engine that will be used for Elder Scrolls 6. It’s unclear if it will be used for Fallout 5.

That being said, you can expect at least some of the mechanics from Starfield and Elder Scrolls 6 to make it into Fallout 5. And given that this will be a Fallout game, look for the company to keep, and improve, some of the features found in Fallout 4 and Fallout 76.

In an interview with German publication GameStar, Todd Howard said the plan is to keep the company’s future games single-player focused.

That doesn’t mean there won’t be multiplayer elements, but it looks like they’ll be designed with single-player in mind.

Fallout 5 Mods

Mods have been the lifeblood for games like Fallout 4 and Fallout New Vegas so there’s a very good chance Fallout 5 will have mod support.

Fallout 5 mods

Howard told IGN that, much like Skyrim, Elder Scrolls 6 is being designed with replay-ability in mind. He says that it needs to be made in such a way that people will be playing it for a decade or more.

The same goes for Fallout 5 and mods will play a big part in that.

Fallout 5 PC Requirements

If you’re planning to play Fallout 5 on a Windows PC, note we won’t get the game’s minimum and recommended requirements until we’re close to the release date.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.