Ex Bethesda dev would like to see Fallout 5 in New Orleans, and fewer airships in the Amazon show

There’s something electric about New Orleans. I first fell in love with the city when I was watching The Vampire Diaries’ spinoff show The Originals (I can hear the judgement from here). In many ways, it feels like its own world, oozing style to the sound of smooth jazz; a place where anything is possible. We’ve seen that mysticism explored in shows like American Horror Story: Coven and videogames like the recent South of Midnight. Ex-Bethesda artist Nathan Purkeypile, who worked on Fallout 3 and 4 before becoming lead artist on 76, feels that same allure and wants to see the RPG series head to the Deep South.

After all, Fallout is back in the public eye. The launch of the Amazon Prime show’s second season (which, so far, I’m pretty impressed with) has brought the turbulent adventures of Lucy (Ella Purnell) and The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) back to the forefront of the public consciousness. But, while Fallout 76 continues to clamber out of the ashes and rise like a proverbial rad-infused phoenix, what we really want is any news on the Fallout 5 release date, or any whispers on what’s next for the franchise.

Bethesda, however, remains tight-lipped, so we’ll have to make do with what we’ve got. That’s largely speculation about potential remakes and remasters, and of course Tim Cain’s mysterious return to Obsidian, the creator of Fallout New Vegas. In a new interview with Esports Insider, Purkeypile muses over what Fallout 5 could look like, and he’s got one location in mind.

“I’ve always wanted to see what Fallout would be like in the Deep South,” Purkeypile says. “We’d [sic] had plenty of other areas like the East Coast and the West Coast, but that’s something that hasn’t been touched on, and it also has a lot of culture and interesting places to visit. Fallout 5 in New Orleans? I mean, that would get my vote for sure.”

Imagine a mutated version of South of Midnight’s already terrifying Rougarou, or being stalked through the swamp by a radioactive Two-Toed Tom. That sounds like far too much fun to me, and if you can throw in Klaus and Elijah from The Originals, that’s always going to be a bonus.

But right now all eyes are on the TV show, the events of which will impact what happens in Fallout 5 (at least, that’s what Bethesda director Todd Howard told the BBC). ESI asks Purkeypile for his thoughts on the show, pertinent given that its currently draws from Fallout 3 and 4, and while he’s excited to see his virtual dreams become reality, there’s one thing he’s not keen on.

“It’s wild, actually, how accurate the show is,” he says. “The show is like bolt-for-bolt accurate. It’s a really weird feeling. Like, assets we created for a videogame exist somewhere in the real world on some set. That’s crazy. It definitely seems like they got all the actual 3D models and everything to work from.”

But, in more recent episodes, where the inner conflict of the Commonwealth and the cracks in the Brotherhood of Steel have taken center stage, Purkeypile has found one major issue. “One thing that stood out to me was that there are multiple airships. That was a surprise to me that the Brotherhood can roll up with like five different airships when it seemed like such a huge deal that they had that one in Fallout 4.

“That was a little odd,” he concludes. “I don’t know. Who knows what the lore justifications are for that.”

Purkeypile’s solo-developed project, The Axis Unseen, certainly plays on a lot of the mutation tropes that we see in Fallout, and is five times bigger than Skyrim. It’ll certainly keep you going while we wait for Fallout 5 (or the latest episode of the show, at the very least), but I’m still focused on that New Orleans idea. Bethesda, if you’re reading this, please. Just, please.