Fallout season 2 revives old debates about vehicles in the game series
Season 2 of Fallout is approaching its finale, bringing answers to many fan questions. However, episode 7 unexpectedly revived an old franchise desire – drivable vehicles in future Fallout games.
Warning, spoilers ahead!
In the new episode, Hank MacLean and his daughter Lucy head to shut down the brainwashing machines that Hank placed in the Vault-Tec office in New Vegas. Instead of walking to the servers, he suggests using a golf cart.
Viewers remember that Hank used a cart to travel to lower vault levels for mice in experiments. Having lived through pre-war times, he drives with the ease of riding a bicycle. Lucy nearly crashes into a wall and struggles to distinguish between gas and brake pedals. The amusing scene highlights how father and daughter grew up in completely different worlds.
This scene also reminded fans that drivable vehicles essentially don't exist in Fallout games, aside from decorations for exploring the Wasteland and objects that can be exploded in combat. The closest examples are the Highwayman from Fallout 2 and various jeeps with tanks in Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel. But the former is only used for fast travel, while the latter is one of the rare instances of actual driving in the series.
Both Bethesda and Obsidian have explained the reasons for this. When creating Fallout 3, New Vegas, and Fallout 4, including drivable vehicles was impossible without serious engine problems. There are also lore reasons. Fuel for surviving cars ran out years ago, and most other vehicles, like New California Republic trucks or Brotherhood of Steel vertibirds, run on nuclear power – access to fusion cells in the wasteland is severely limited.
The main argument against drivable vehicles is that their inclusion would undermine the exploratory nature of the franchise. Fans have repeatedly argued that the ability to simply get in a car would break immersion in a world where high-tech automobiles symbolize a past that humanity could have had but lost due to the greed of world leaders.
However, there are opposing views. Vehicles themselves are present in all games – not just wreckage, but functioning means of transport like NCR trucks and the monorail from New Vegas. There's also a boat in the Far Harbor DLC for Fallout 4, and an abandoned monorail in Nuka World. In short, various types of vehicles still exist in Fallout's post-apocalyptic setting, players just can't freely operate them – at least without using mods.
Moreover, adding drivable vehicles doesn't mean they should be easy to obtain. Like the Highwayman in Fallout 2, tasks such as restoring a car to working condition, finding fuel, and creating armor for protection would make obtaining a vehicle a well-earned reward.
From a role-playing perspective, this could be even more interesting. In the series, Lucy struggles to figure out how to operate a golf cart. What if future Fallout games required a certain intelligence level for driving? This would raise the barrier of entry for the mechanic but add depth, turning vehicles into an intriguing feature rather than just a way to move quickly.
There's also the factor of the show itself. Events unfold in a later time period than New Vegas and Fallout 4. Could cold fusion with its infinite energy play a role in the franchise's future beyond the show? Could cars actually find a place in Fallout's future?
Todd Howard has already stated that Fallout 5 will exist in a world where "events from the series happened or are happening." If infinite energy returns, drivable vehicles no longer seem like such a distant idea – because it means Fallout 5 won't be a prequel set in some new region.
