The Fallout series has taken players through the post-apocalyptic remains of Washington D.C., Las Vegas, California, Boston, and the hills of West Virginia, but there are still so many places it hasn't gone. You can’t lie on Miami Beach and get a (radioactive) tan, visit the top of Seattle’s Space Needle, or enjoy the pre-Bethesda Fallouts in full 3D glory. But modders are working to change that.
If you’re a veteran of the Vegas strip, blew up Megaton, and even met all of Fallout 76’s Wastelanders, you're in for a long wait for another Fallout game. Even now that Starfield is out, Bethesda's next big game is The Elder Scrolls 6. Unless another studio is secretly enlisted to take on the next Fallout game, it's at least half a decade away away.
Thankfully, the modding community has ambitions beyond funny randomizer mods and guns that fire baseballs (though those are good, too). These expansive mods promise dramatic changes to existing games, including total conversions with their own stories, environments, quests, factions, and music. There are lots of new adventures to look forward to in The Wasteland, and we’ve highlighted the most ambitious ones below.
Fallout: London
Time in development: 5 years
Release date: July 25, 2024
We've seen lots of the United States in the Fallout games, but what about the rest of the world? Fallout: London takes us to the charred remains of jolly old England where we'll explore Buckingham Palace, visit a few tube stations, and see how the UK is faring in the post-apocalypse. Past videos highlighted factions that include King Arthur cosplayers and straight-up fascists, and transportation including everything from bicycles to elephants.
With the full release, the ambitious project has seen some Bethesda-style bumpiness, but there is help ahead, since there will be a Fallout London patch soon.
Fallout: Cascadia
Time in development: 7+ years
Estimated release date: None
Fallout: Cascadia is a total conversion mod for Fallout 4 set in post-war Seattle. It aims to have new weapons, factions, armor, characters, and its own branching main story. Fallout: Cascadia will take place in 2329, around 40 years after the events of Fallout 4 and over 200 years after Fallout 76. The development team is promising a world "almost twice the size of Fallout 4."
Unfortunately, there’s no set release date for Fallout: Cascadia, and development news has been pretty quiet recently—the last content showcase was back in 2021. Still, the mod’s social media pages are still active and a few 2024 posts suggest work is still underway. Sections of Des Moines, Seattle, Mercer Island, Kent, and Redmond have been added to the game, as well as some original weapons and armor. Fallout: Cascadia even has its own instrumental score.
Even though you can’t play Fallout: Cascadia yet, the team has been releasing some content in the form of independent mods for Fallout 4, including NCR armor and updated Miniguns.
Fallout: Miami
Time in development: 5+ years
Estimated release date: None
Fallout: Miami takes us to the southern US, set in the "Vacation Wasteland" of what used to be Miami Beach. It will feature two primary factions: the "nomadic, automobile-worshiping" Nuclear Patriots and the Fallout franchise’s favorite baddies, the Enclave. The mod will also have its own ambient soundtrack.
There’s no release date for Fallout Miami yet, but just like with Fallout Cascadia, the team is releasing some smaller components as independent mods (like the quad-barrel shotgun). In a similar vein, a standalone tie-in mod quest for Fallout 4 released in 2022 as Miami Misadventures - Episode 1.
Unlike some other total conversion mods, Fallout Miami continues the story of the Sole Survivor from Fallout 4, making it more similar to an official DLC.
Fallout 4: New Vegas
Time in development: 6+ years
Estimated release date: None
Fallout 4: New Vegas isn't exactly a new adventure—it's a re-imagining of Fallout: New Vegas in Fallout 4. Simply porting the content of New Vegas to Fallout 4’s newer engine would already be ambitious, but the mod's team is also re-creating most of the game's art and assets from scratch.
Back in 2023 we caught a few glimpses of the Fallout 4: New Vegas team's ongoing work with the release of a preview teaser showcasing the Wattz Recharger weapons. Hopefully we'll see more progress in 2024. Still, we don't have a clear estimate from Fallout 4: New Vegas's creators about how far along the project is. Judging by the development time of these other ambitious mods, though, don't expect it to be soon.
Capital Wasteland
Time in development: 4+ years
Estimated release date: None
Capital Wasteland is another remaster project, aiming to bring most of Fallout 3’s environments and content to Fallout 4. It might just be the most ambitious Fallout mod currently in development, as the team plans to re-record all of Fallout 3’s approximately 45,000 voice lines, mostly to avoid legal issues with Bethesda. Capital Wasteland also plans to recreate some of Fallout 3’s DLC, including Point Lookout.
There’s no release date yet for the entire mod, but the development team has released almost 20 smaller mods for various weapons, creatures, companions, and workshop items. However, the mod team hasn't released any new progress videos since 2022, and the project's social media account has been silent for a couple of years as well. Fingers crossed it's still in the works.
OG Fallout lead Tim Cain explains just how much thought went into the timeline, and why canned beans were key: 'Post-apocalypse, but not so far post- that everything's collapsed and everyone's dead'
This mod puts Wordle on all the hacking terminals in Fallout: New Vegas, and even gives you XP for guessing the words right
