Fallout: New Vegas is one of the most beloved entries in the satirical dystopian RPG franchise. The game was developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Bethesda back in 2010. Now, with both Bethesda and Obsidian being purchased by Microsoft (or in the process thereof) in the years since the game's release, some fans have become hopeful that a sequel could be on the way despite the considerable controversy surrounding the studios' original collaboration.

If a sequel to Fallout: New Vegas is on the way, there’s one major change it could bring to the table which would significantly broaden the roleplaying opportunities available to fans of the franchise. Simply put, Fallout: New Vegas 2 needs to include playable mutants.

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There are a few reasons to suspect that Fallout: New Vegas 2 could be in development, though Bethesda has not confirmed it. Leaker Tyler McVicker, who has reliably leaked titles in development in the past, claimed last month to have “a lot” of information about Fallout: New Vegas 2. McVicker went on to claim that he suspected that Fallout: New Vegas 2 would come in “the latter half of this decade.”

One of the biggest perceived roadblocks to Fallout: New Vegas 2’s development is the controversy over the original New Vegas’ release. When Fallout: New Vegas received an 84 on Metacritic, Obsidian missed out on a bonus from Bethesda that required an 85 on Metacritic.

McVicker claims that Obsidian “likely won’t have anything to do with” Fallout: New Vegas 2, however. If true this could make New Vegas 2's development more likely, especially with Obsidian busy developing IPs like The Outer Worlds and Avowed which seem specifically designed to target a similar spot in the RPG market.

In short, there is no confirmation that Fallout: New Vegas 2 is in the works. However, if Bethesda doesn’t outsource the IP to a third-party developer at some point in the next decade, it’s unlikely the studio will have time to develop a new Fallout game between Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6. This could make a Fallout: New Vegas sequel a pragmatic move, as well as one that would harken back to fan-favorite installments in the franchise as opposed to recent disappointments like Fallout 76.

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If Fallout: New Vegas 2 is in development, players need to be able to play as mutants like Ghouls and Super Mutants. The Elder Scrolls series already has multiple race options which help diversify its roleplaying opportunities, but that hasn't made it ways to Fallout.

There’s some argument to be made that the experience of Fallout’s mutants, particularly Ghouls, could be too different from players to encourage immersive roleplaying. Ghouls live for hundreds of years, and many ghouls seen in Fallout are survivors of the Great War of 2077 itself. However, The Elder Scrolls games already allow gamers to play as races with immense natural lifespans to little effect on their immersion.

Adding different species options to Fallout: New Vegas 2 would help course correct from a recent shortcoming of the franchise. Fallout 4 gave the player character a very specific backstory which, while increasing the depth of the game’s main story, drastically limited the range of roleplaying opportunities available to them.

By adding mutant species as playable options in Fallout: New Vegas 2, the game would increase player freedom without prescribing a player story. Indeed, if the world’s NPCs were reactive to the player’s race, Fallout: New Vegas 2 could see the series significantly improve its depth without doing so at the cost of the player’s ability to choose their character’s backstory. On the contrary, adding playable mutants would improve the world’s depth while giving the player greater freedom to choose who their character is.

Fallout: New Vegas 2 is an opportunity for experimentation. If the game really is in development, it will come at a crossroads in the franchise’s history. Fallout 4 was a success despite its flaws, but even Todd Howard recently admitted that Fallout 76 “let a lot of people down.” If Bethesda hangs on to the IP, it’s likely the next Bethesda Fallout game could be over 10 years away, and if another developer isn’t given the opportunity to experiment with the franchise in the meantime, the studio could struggle to adapt the Fallout formula to the RPG market of the 2030s after a decade of silence.

The next Fallout game will need to present never-before-seen roleplaying opportunities. Adding mutant species as playable character races is one of the more clearly marketable ways to do that. Nonetheless, whichever studio ends up developing Fallout: New Vegas 2, the developer will need to ensure that the game doesn’t stop there when it comes to expanding roleplaying opportunities. However, fans who have seen Ghouls, Super Mutants, and Fallout’s other mutant races as mainstays of the Fallout franchise over the years would likely be happy to see them finally integrated as playable options in the next game.

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

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