Fallout fans have finally received the news they had long been hoping for: Fallout 4 is on the way. After a short teaser period, Bethesda unveiled a teaser trailer, giving gamers a first glimpse at the next title in the post-apocalyptic RPG series, as well as confirming the setting of the game. Fallout 4 is going to take place in Boston, tying in with rumors that circulated as far back as 2013.
Certain locations in the city have already been pinpointed by geographically-astute gamers, such as the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Hill and the USS Constitution, albeit updated with some fancy post-apocalyptic technology. So far, however, little has been revealed about what role these landmarks will play in Fallout 4. Let's take a look at how Bethesda could use Boston as a setting for another fantastic Fallout experience.
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Follow the Freedom Trail
As any gamer who has played Assassin's Creed 3 will know, Boston played an integral role in the American Revolution, and was a vital location in the fight for independence. The city was the grounds for the Boston Tea Party, as well as the Battle of Bunker Hill, which took place during the Siege of Boston. Boston's complex history has already been suggested as being important to Fallout 4, with the trailer highlighting the statue of Paul Revere, as well as the USS Constitution. Could the city once more be home to a war for independence?
The leaked script certainly suggested that there was more than one faction involved in Fallout 4's plot, with dialogue between the player and a representative from The Commonwealth Minutemen. Fallout 3 fans may also remember a scientist from The Institute hunting down a rogue android with grim rationality. Given Boston's anti-slavery history, with the city holding an important role in the abolitionist movement, players of the game may face friction between opposing groups on the matter of android equality.
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Knowledge is Power
It's a good bet that The Institute will play an important part in Fallout 4. According to the earliest reports of Boston's role in the RPG, Bethesda was scouting out various locations around the city, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MIT has been stated previously as the location of The Institute itself, and the science and technology-focused faction will no doubt provide an important role in Fallout 4's open world.
It may well be, however, that Fallout's Boston contains some other educational institutions. With Harvard on Boston's doorstep, it will be interesting to see whether the world-renowned university also makes an appearance. Indeed, Harvard could even be home to a rival intellectual faction, providing players with two groups to play against one another.
Colleges are not the only places of learning in the city. The JFK Presidential Library cuts a mean figure on Boston's harbour, and given Bethesda's previous penchant for robot ex-Presidents, with a Thomas Jefferson Protrectron appearing in Fallout 3, players may well be treated to an android John F. Kennedy. That is, if the developer decides that JFK fits into Fallout's divergent timeline. We know that Richard Nixon was US President in the Fallout universe, but was the Massachusetts-born Kennedy also successful in his in-game presidential campaign?
Take Me Out To the Ball Game
One of the most interesting locations revealed in the first Fallout 4 trailer was Fenway Park, the home of the Boston Red Sox. The stadium would have been 165 years old when Fallout's nuclear war of 2077 hit, but apparently Fenway Park is made of strong stuff. What's more, the baseball ground appears to have become a town of sorts, offering safe haven from the dangers of the wasteland.
It will be intriguing to see just how Fenway Park fits in to the geography of the ruined landscape of Boston. Sitting just south of the Charles River, the stadium would be a useful central location for a wanderer scavenging the city, looking for adventures and objectives to complete. Fenway Park, or what remains of it, could well provide Fallout 4 players with a Megaton equivalent.
What's more, the stadium could also give ample room for Bethesda to add the series' trademark pop culture references. A town protected by militia similar to The Warriors' Baseball Furies would go down a treat, whilst feral ghouls dressed in ruined baseball uniforms could provide an additional enemy to defeat to enter Fenway Park safely. Who knows - perhaps the Red Sox could even have taken out a sponsorship deal with Nuka Cola before tragedy hit.
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Massachusetts Mutants
One of the most important elements of the Fallout series is the way the game has integrated the wildlife of each area into the mutated fauna on show. Fallout 3's Capital Wasteland included the yao guai, mutated black bears, as well as mirelurks, which played on the Chesapeake bay horseshoe crabs. Meanwhile, the Obsidian-developed Fallout: New Vegas challenged players with the deadly cazador tarantula hawk wasps.
Massachusetts, too, features a wealth of wildlife for Bethesda to mutate. Given that Boston harbor sits on the Atlantic, players may well expect a number of aquatic and amphibious mutants to try to stop them in their path, alongside series staples such as radscorpions and super mutants. Boston Common's ponds could also provide lethal hunting grounds for monsters lurking in the radioactive quagmire.
Players may be able to skip the dangerous ruins above ground through the use of Boston’s Subway tunnels. This could be used in a similar manner to the metro system in Fallout 3, but whether or not Bethesda will again fill these tunnels with ghouls and glowing ones remains to be seen.
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So there we have it - a brief overview of how Boston could build upon the Fallout lore, and which locations could prove to have a pivotal role in the game's story. Those looking forward to more news about the title may not have long to wait: E3 2015 is just around the corner, and Fallout 4 is even rumored to have a 2015 release.
What do you make of Fallout 4's Boston location? Do you think the city will be a good fit for the RPG series? Are there any landmarks you would like to see Bethesda cover? Let us know in the comments below.