Fallout: Bakersfield Looks Like a Perfect Revival of…

Over the course of nearly 28 years, the Fallout franchise has changed drastically in terms of its gameplay, graphical design, and RPG mechanics. For instance, the transition from original developer Interplay Productions to Bethesda Game Studios saw Fallout go from a turn-based, pixelated, isometric series to a first/third-person, action-packed franchise. Even Bethesda’s Fallout entries changed from a dark, grimy aesthetic to a more colorful, comedic design seen in Fallout 4 and Fallout 76. However, one Doom mod is striving to blend Interplay’s classic Fallout gameplay and narrative design with Doom and modern Fallout’s first-person direction: Fallout: Bakersfield.

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By Nick Rodriguez

Fallout: Bakersfield Explained

Created by Alexander 'Red888guns' Berezin and Denis Berezin, Fallout: Bakersfield is currently being built using Doom WAD files from id Software’s original 1993 Doom and 1994 Doom 2 and GZDoom, a source port of the original Doom titles featuring updated mapping and scripting for modern hardware and software. Fallout: Bakersfield was initially announced on Berezin’s YouTube channel Saur X in September 2022 with a brief teaser trailer showcasing Fallout 1’s classic isometric gameplay seamlessly transitioning into Doom/Fallout 3 first-person style gameplay. The trailer depicts Fallout 1’s protagonist, the Vault Dweller, eliminating a couple of Ghouls with a pistol, brass knuckles, and a double-barrel shotgun with a HUD based on Doom’s but in the style of Fallout 1’s Pip-Boy 2000 interface.

Fallout: Bakersfield isn't a one-to-one reinvention of Fallout 1 in its entirety but is rather a first-person recreation of one location from the first Fallout title: Bakersfield, home to Vault 12 and otherwise known as Necropolis and the City of the Dead. Vault 12 was designed to intentionally not seal itself when the bombs dropped in 2077 to see how radiation would affect its residents, eventually turning all survivors into Ghouls. In Fallout 1, the Vault Dweller travels to Necropolis to recover Vault 12’s water chip for his home, Vault 13, with the city later being attacked by Super Mutants and forcing surviving Ghouls to flee into the radioactive wasteland.

The Framing and Gameplay of Fallout: Bakersfield’s Official Trailer

Starting in 2023, Berezin began posting blogs, screenshots, and clips of his work on Fallout: Bakersfield on the blog website Bootsy and the portfolio website ArtStation. Here, Berezin explained that his goal with Bakersfield was to “... Transfer the original atmosphere [of Fallout 1] to first-person mode.” Eventually, these updates culminated in Berezin releasing an official trailer for Bakersfield in the same style as Fallout 1’s iconic intro in July 2025. The trailer eventually transitions to the Vault Dweller exploring and attacking hostile Ghouls in Necropolis with a knife, SMG, “Big Frigger” power fist, plasma pistol, flamer, and more before encountering, conversing with, and attacking the Super Mutant Harry.

Fallout: Bakersfield’s Potential Influence on Bethesda

Despite the alluring appeal of Fallout: Bakersfield’s recreation of Fallout 1 in a first-person style, fans will have to wait a bit longer to play the mod on their own as it’s only 60% complete, but Berezin has confirmed that the mod will be released before the end of the decade. However, Fallout: Bakersfield is already proving to be highly popular among Fallout fans, with the mod’s most recent trailer gaining nearly 500,000 views in two days and receiving 47,000 likes. With this much support for Bakersfield, it might cause Bethesda to view the mod and evaluate its rumored direction towards reestablishing older Fallout games for modern audiences.

For several years now, multiple rumors and supposed leaks have claimed that Bethesda has been working on remastering several Fallout titles for modern platforms, namely Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. With the recent release and success of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, remasters of Fallout 3 and New Vegas seem all the more likely, but Fallout: Bakersfield’s popularity could cause Bethesda to potentially invest in remaking Fallout 1 and 2.

Both of Interplay’s original Fallout games are still playable today, but isometric games are fairly niche in the modern gaming world. With many fans praising Bakersfield for its preservation of Fallout’s original aesthetics, Bethesda could remake both Fallout 1 and 2 in first-person while retaining their original grimy look instead of remaking them in Fallout 4’s design.

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