Fallout: New Vegas 2 dreams may be slowly fading into the background after the Microsoft-Bethesda acquisition news broke, where fans were eager for it to be possible. To reiterate, Microsoft's purchase of Bethesda will be settled sometime in 2021, which means that both Bethesda and Obsidian Entertainment have the backing of Microsoft. If the Xbox brand owner could get Bethesda and Obsidian to let bygones be bygones after some bad blood that has, by most accounts, already been left in the past, then the two giants could bring back Fallout: New Vegas.

After all, there are many who would love either a proper or spiritual successor to Fallout: New Vegas, a game that followed in its footsteps, made players a Courier like in New Vegas, and explored a story similar to but not like Fallout 3 and Fallout 4. Given how long it has been since the original New Vegas, though, Bethesda and Obsidian obviously couldn't rely on the past, but in the game universe as well, neither could the various factions of Fallout: New Vegas.

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Fallout: New Vegas Direct Sequel

fallout new vegas war never change

For many reasons, a direct sequel seems like the unlikeliest scenario. Many hope that it's actually Fallout: New Orleans, as that setting screams and begs for a Fallout game, but that's neither here nor there. One major contributor to this is how the story has moved time forward, leaving relic-like factions in the dust. The NCR, Caesar's Legion, Brotherhood of Steel, and Mr. House were all relics to the past, and while players can indeed choose one, they change it by moving them forward. The Battle for Hoover Dam is as much as a point in time as it is a point in narrative development; until there was a victor, it was a mountain that would never be climbed.

Those that get left behind by the player are inevitably stuck in the past. The New California Republic is trying to expand and reclaim the former glory of a pre-Great War government, despite the world having clearly left that behind. Caesar's Legion itself is a relic to the barbary and bandits that rules many wastelands, but New Vegas itself is civilized enough that there's no returning to that. The Brotherhood of Steel can't accept that it's obsession with old world technology and outdated hierarchy prevent it from doing what technology does, moving forward, while Mr. House himself is literally just a relic trying to preserve a very specific New Vegas.

Reverting these factions back in a direct sequel would undo their development, which, while technically a lack thereof, undermines the overall plot and purpose of the New Vegas Courier and the Battle for the Hoover Dam.

Fallout: New Vegas Spiritual Successor

Fallout New Orleans

A spiritual successor to the fan-favorite Fallout: New Vegas could keep its familiar elements—a New World trying to move on, a Courier, and another force in direct opposition—but expand without being trapped by the past as well. To use the popular New Orleans setting as an example, not only could it introduce new factions for the popular occult inspirations of the setting, but it could also include post-Great War Cajun survivalists. Whatever it introduced, it could pair with a new sub-faction of the NCR, Brotherhood of Steel, or other (or other new) for a conflict that was new but familiar.

Of course, what it does if it ever exists and where it is set is only a matter of speculation, but the possibility of Fallout: New Vegas 2 is in a better place than it's ever been. Fans can hope, wait, and see if somewhere, someday, something new manifests.

Fallout: New Vegas 2 is not known to be in development.

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