Bethesda's Todd Howard recently commented on the on-going debate about The Elder Scrolls 6 and Xbox Series X exclusivity. The fate of that game has dominated most of the Microsoft-Bethesda conversation, and rightfully so. The future of Microsoft's Bethesda acquisition will indubitably have a huge impact on the gaming industry, but there's one more worth re-iterating time and again—Fallout: New Vegas 2.
Under Microsoft, Bethesda is in a unique position with Obsidian Entertainment to define the future of Fallout. Whether that's Fallout 5, Fallout: New Vegas 2, or a spiritual successor to the latter in Fallout: New Orleans, this is something that really wasn't likely 5 years ago. Indeed, by allowing bygones to be bygones and focusing on the future of the franchise, Bethesda and Obsidian can re-make the music that has made many demand a sequel for years
Regardless of what form that takes, it's worth looking at what New Vegas got right. One uniquely mystifying element is that of Ulysses, the courier who refused the player's package, predicting it would get them killed by doing so (and Ulysses was partially right). Lonesome Road's Ulysses, however, is the end of a long journey, connecting the main campaign to its DLC. Before that DLC, though, Fallout: New Vegas captured lightning in a bottle with one character: Joshua Graham, otherwise known as the Burned Man.
Who is Fallout: New Vegas' Burned Man
In the Honest Hearts DLC, players will meet Joshua Graham who connects both the past and the future of the game. Originally coming from a Mormon community, Joshua actually became one of the founders of Caesar's Legion. This about-face may seem jarring, but it was this righteousness and villainy that made Joshua so compelling. Caesar would eventually 'execute' Joshua for failing to capture Hoover Dam, thus lighting Joshua on fire and throwing him into the Grand Canyon.
Miraculously, Joshua survived and made it home where he was seemingly welcomed with open arms. This connects to the biblical Return of the Prodigal Son story, but a legend was born from it. Joshua became burned and marked, later on leading the Dead Horses and becoming a Mojave legend known as the Burned Man: "I have been baptized twice, once in water, once in flame. I will carry the fire of the holy spirit inside until I stand before my Lord for judgement."
Caesar, learning he was potentially alive, forbade anyone to speak of him and sent Assassins after him to no avail. Many seemed to think they were chasing a myth in the Mojave Wasteland, but Joshua would kill them one by one, even commenting that "Caesar would never admit this openly, but he knows I'm alive. I've killed enough of his frumentarii and assassins that have come looking." It seems cold and calculating, but Joshua manages to give it a righteous, god-fearing twist. To him, doing so is just a chore.
But it's not just the past that Joshua Graham connects, as he makes the comment upon meeting the Fallout: New Vegas Courier that they are "not the Courier" he expected. As players would learn, he was expecting Caesar to send Ulysses to kill him, as Ulysses is a rare NPC who is arguably as powerful as the PC. Not only was Joshua aware of Ulysses, he was aware of Ulysses' capabilities and serves as a stepping stone for the player's confrontation with him.
The Strength of Character in Joshua Graham
It's an important lesson, though. Joshua played a role in building up to something bigger, but he also captured the imagination in powerful and sometime frightening ways. The art of the DLC, after all, shows his burned skin and face wrappings—notably, he does not appear as a religious figure. It combines this seeming duality of one who is faithful and one who is dirty at the same time; he served in Caesar's Legion as the only person below Caesar for roughly 30 years, after all.
In recollecting this, it's faith that Joshua believes saved him: "I survived because the fire inside burned brighter than the fire around me. I fell down into that dark chasm, but the flame burned on and on." Names are important, and since the biblical Joshua is a warrior, it makes sense that the post-apocalyptic Joshua is the same but much, much darker.
This strength of character is something that should be carried on in future games. In contrast, as an example, there's no one as compelling in Fallout 4. As the player finds their son, it is shocking that he is older, but it's not compelling. He leads the Institute, the "boogeyman" of the Commonwealth, but he's just another faction. Joshua makes the Dead Horses, the conflict he involves the Courier with, and more feel unique through strength of character.
There's not likely to be any further exploration of the Burned Man in Fallout: New Vegas 2, but making a man out of a myth is something that should not come to an end. There's a lot of ways for it to go, especially as new console generations are around the corner, but the original and its characters should not be forgotten. And while the future of the franchise remains to be seen, there have been wilder Fallout rumors than this beloved game someday seeing new light.
A new Fallout game has not been announced.