10 Locations For Obsidian's Next Fallout Game

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Fallout 10 Locations for Obsidian Fallout Game Featured

Published Aug 4, 2026, 7:30 PM EDT

Ewan is an experienced gamer with more than two decades of gaming under his belt, across consoles, handhelds, and PC. He's written for a variety of digital publications, including DualShockers, GameRant, The Mary Sue, and We Got This Covered.

It turns out Fallout games are a little like buses: you spend an eternity waiting for one, and then multiple come at once! As fans across the globe anxiously await Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas remasters — and of course, Fallout 5 — the news that fan-favorite studio Obsidian has been tasked with crafting a new Fallout game has already fueled endless internet speculation.

With a new Fallout game comes a whole new slice of post-apocalyptic America to explore, so naturally, we're all already obsessing over where, exactly, Obsidian's new Fallout game will be set. Bethesda's historically stuck to the East Coast, and Obsidian's New Vegas stuck to the West, but it doesn't have to stay that way. Even so, there are some locations just crying out for Obsidian's political and ideological take on Fallout where the studio can create compelling new societies rising from the ashes of a civilization long gone.

10 New Vegas

New Vegas 2: New Vegas Boogaloo

I'm not totally sold on New Vegas for Obsidian's new Fallout game, since it's kind of retreading already well-trodden ground. That said, it's an obvious angle Obsidian could take for this game, and fan speculation always includes it. It would allow them to explore the consequences of New Vegas a few years on, which could be cool.

Although I'll be honest — I don't think it's at all likely the game will be set in New Vegas. I could be wrong, obviously, but it feels like no one really wants that. The Amazon Fallout series is already exploring New Vegas, so anything they want to write will be affected by that. I doubt Obsidian wants to have to tread so carefully. Still, they have existing lore and factions, a clear affection for the region, and prior success here, so it's not a totally ridiculous idea even if I think it's a bit boring.

9 Seattle

The Corporate Apocalypse Comes Home

In Fallout, corporations and corporate greed ran unchecked, contributing to the end of the world. That's a pretty big deal. The real-world Seattle is a major tech hub, with big companies like Amazon right in its downtown. An Obsidian Fallout set in and around the city would be an excellent opportunity to explore the unchecked power of corporations pre-war.

It would also be a good chance to explore all sorts of cool post-apocalyptic premises, such as tech cults, corporate remnants, environmental factions, and communities fighting over old-world infrastructure and lost technological MacGuffins. Corporate satire, ideological friction, and incisive social commentary could give a Seattle-based Fallout game everything it needs to pack a powerful punch. The Pacific Northwest setting would contrast nicely against the dusty nuclear Mojave, too, providing it with a unique visual identity.

8 Detroit

The Post-War War Machine

Look, we've all heard the jokes about Detroit. Many fans will tell you it's already basically a Fallout city, even without nuclear winter. This isn't me doing that; I genuinely think Detroit would be an excellent location for Obsidian to explore. In Fallout, Detroit was a city plagued by gang warfare even before the bombs fell, but we know it was also a major manufacturing hub.

Various terminal entries and background info reveal the tensions between human workers and robotic automation across pre-war America. The contrast between the haves and the have-nots is already strong, but in the post-war breakdown of society, all the rules go out the window. That leaves a location uniquely well-suited to Obsidian's complex faction-based approach, with opportunities to explore industrial decline, automation, corporate exploitation, and the relationships between workers and machines.

7 St. Louis

The Gateway to the Wasteland

St. Louis isn't the most obvious choice, but hear me out. Historically, St. Louis was a major center of trade and transportation thanks to its strategic position. Today, that's not really a benefit to St. Louis — we've got planes, trains, and automobiles — but in Fallout's post-apocalyptic setting, it's once again situated in the perfect location to prosper.

An Obsidian Fallout game based here could revolve around factions fighting for control over the Mississippi River, or it could involve a strong and growing St. Louis exerting power over its hinterland. Obsidian could deliver river-based trading factions, communities built around transport routes, pre-war remnants, and all kinds of conflicts. I think St. Louis could be a fascinating pick, personally.

6 Portland

Keep Portland Weird

Portland is an interesting location for a Fallout game — especially one by Obsidian — since it's got such a strong identity and image. The city's modern identity is strongly associated with environmentalism, counterculture, and alternative communities. This is ripe for a Fallout twist, with exaggerations, satirical portrayals, and a touch of the absurd.

It has the potential to be a rich, evocative setting featuring factions, character types, and ideologies we haven't really seen in Fallout before. Its visual identity would be pretty compelling, too, with opportunities for all sorts of mutated flora and fauna. We don't have much existing information about Portland, so it could go any number of directions. However, it's unclear exactly where Amazon's Fallout is going to go — they've teased some stuff up north — so maybe Portland isn't on the table. It'd be cool, though.

5 Houston

Oil, Rockets, and the End of America

Fallout is no stranger to space, and Houston has a massive space center just outside. The space industry, oil, and the port create a fascinating conflux of industries that provide a unique type of Fallout setting. The series has always excelled when it explores the obsessions of pre-war America with a satirical wink at modern society; Houston is particularly well-suited to this.

In pre-war America, resource wars were a major factor in the setting's failing geopolitical order, and space exploration was seen as a means of escaping its consequences. Houston would give Obsidian free rein to explore these conflicts in a Texas-based setting that doesn't just rehash New Vegas. For me, it's an underrated option with massive potential for interesting factions and stories.

4 The Great Lakes

Fallout's Forgotten Frontier

The Great Lakes are an unexplored region in a Fallout context, but I think it has massive potential for an Obsidian Fallout game. Amazon's Fallout touches on the pre-war annexation of Canada, but a Great Lakes Fallout game could go deeper. Paired with Obsidian's political and ideological approach, we could learn more about what happened at America's frontier and in its annexed territories before the bombs fell — and how that led to whatever undoubtedly messy situation they find themselves in during the game.

The geography of this region is also richly evocative and not quite like anything we've seen yet in Fallout. The lakes could really dominate the map, opening up new gameplay possibilities, while the rich industrial history provides an excellent backdrop for Fallout's iconic ruins and urban exploration. The region could realistically include Chicago, the Canadian border, or locations such as Milwaukee and Cleveland.

3 Denver

The Rocky Mountain Wasteland

Zion in New Vegas with a beautiful new skybox.

Denver feels like it could almost be a spiritual successor to New Vegas. It's a frontier setting that isn't the Mojave, and it's already connected to both Fallout and Obsidian history via Black Isle Studios and the ill-fated Fallout: Van Buren. It also offers an excellent way to explore some of the implications of New Vegas without setting the game in New Vegas itself.

We could see the return of Caesar's Legion, and this time in lands it actually administers. The story could explore surviving military groups, anti-Legion resistance, tribal societies, and conflicts rooted in the setting's modern geopolitics. I'd be very interested in seeing something like this from Obsidian, because it would let them build on their prior successes without it being a rehash. And the Denver region with its mountain backdrop would be a gorgeous setting, even as a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

2 Albuquerque

Atom Bomb, Baby

Fallout New Vegas Bitter Springs Massacre

New Mexico feels like an obvious route for Obsidian to go, since it's got some of the same DNA as New Vegas but shifts the location far enough away that it can stand on its own. It's an effective bridge between New Vegas and an entirely new story.

New Vegas told us that Caesar's Legion swept through New Mexico, razing settlements and taking slaves. That's a pretty interesting foundation for an Obsidian game, since it draws on their existing lore while allowing for something completely new. We could explore what happens when Caesar's Legion gets access to pre-war nuclear technology; factions could include anti-Legion resistance, scientists, military remnants, or tribal groups.

1 New Orleans

Fat Tuesday with a Fat Man

Fallout 3 Point Lookout Riverboat Landing

For me, New Orleans is an incredibly exciting prospect for Obsidian's next Fallout game. Okay, it's nothing like New Vegas. It's not even like Bethesda's East Coast settings. It would be a swamp-based setting filled with flooded streets, bayous, isolated communities, and river trade routes. We've seen some stuff like that in Fallout before, but nothing on the scale of New Orleans. It would tread new ground.

But New Orleans is rich in culture, too. It's filled with competing identities, traditions, and diverse communities that, in the context of Fallout, lend themselves perfectly to Obsidian's faction-based approach to ideological conflict. New Orleans is a setting with layered history, immediately evocative traditions, and complex physical and human geography. And who wouldn't want a post-apocalyptic Mardi Gras?