Since its inception, the Fallout franchise has cloaked itself in the retro-futurist Americana of the mid-20th century. That’s changing, thanks to modders like the team behind the Fallout: New Vegas overhaul Fallout: Nuevo Mexico.
Nuevo Mexico isn’t the only project taking the franchise outside the United States. In April, the highly anticipated Fallout 4 mod, Fallout: London, will take the familiar imagery of Ghouls and Mutants across the pond. But looking at New Vegas’ exploration of the greater world of the franchise also means looking closer to home. Neuvo Mexico project lead Zapshock and writer Montana recently spoke to The Best War Games about what setting their story in the American Southwest and Mexico brings to the franchise, and how they put their fingers on the pulse of post-apocalypse Mexico.
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Creating Mexico in Fallout
The name Nuevo Mexico is a multi-layered one because the game explores the Four Corners Commonwealth, including the state of New Mexico, in the future of Fallout. However, it also tells the story of post-Great War Mexico, a parallel to how New Vegas looks at Los Vegas. There wasn’t much lore for the team to pull from, with most of the franchise’s description of Mexico coming from the New Vegas character Raul Alfonso Tejada, better known as Raul the Ghoul. Raul’s backstory takes place largely in Mexico, and his recounting of his past describes Mexico City as an irradiated ruin. But there was other lore the team could look to for the border wastes, as Zapshock explained.
We looked to Van Buren lore and the Fallout Bible. It’s not canon, but a lot of people see it as canon...It mentions that the US invaded Mexico and didn't annex it like it did Canada, but it did want the oil there. They had some sort of presence there, and we wanted to connect that in the area that we have
That invasion would be part of the Resource Wars, a series of 21st Century conflicts in the Fallout timeline that included battles in Tel Aviv, Anchorage, and even the Sea of Tranquility on the Moon in efforts to secure oil and uranium for various nations running dry. Those wars led inexorably to The Great War in 2077, which destroyed the world in a nuclear exchange that lasted only hours.
The Challenges of Mexico Lore in Fallout
Based on that, the creators had ideas of what post-war Mexico might look like, and it wouldn’t be entirely free of the influence of America. Iconic Fallout products like Nuka-Cola would naturally have a global presence, but less legendary products and companies from the American southwest likely had a place in Mexican society at the time of the Great War as well. That gave the team an idea of what the future had in store for the areas they wanted to explore, but there still wasn’t a lot to go on. As Montana explained, the team considered the present-day state of northern Mexico as well. For instance, a major player in the border wastes will be Cartels. That reality also shapes the game’s tone.
We also have a cartel faction that we can’t explore much here because it involves Mexico and spoilers so yeah, no, sorry. We have a cartel here. You guys are going to see it in the next trailer. They're going to play a very important role, especially since they have a very strong leader I feel.
Some of the challenges Nuevo Mexico has faced are familiar to mod projects seeking to expand outside the places the games have so far explored, and chief among them for Zapshock and Montana was the need to create art assets that would give players a feeling authentic to Mexico. The fact that there are fewer modders around making assets for the older New Vegas rather than Fallout 4 compounds that challenge.
They worked with their art director BDoodles, who has professional industry credits on games like Wasteland 3 and is herself of Mexican descent. With her, the team created the unique look and feel of Mexico. Montana and Zapshock praised her work in bringing their concepts into something visual and real, creating the sense of place critical to a good Bethesda-like game.
New story details and trailers will be released from the Nuevo Mexico team throughout 2024.
Fallout: New Vegas
- Released
- October 19, 2010
WHERE TO PLAY
Welcome to Vegas. New Vegas.
It’s the kind of town where you dig your own grave prior to being shot in the head and left for dead…and that’s before things really get ugly. It’s a town of dreamers and desperados being torn apart by warring factions vying for complete control of this desert oasis. It’s a place where the right kind of person with the right kind of weaponry can really make a name for themselves, and make more than an enemy or two along the way.
As you battle your way across the heat-blasted Mojave Wasteland, the colossal Hoover Dam, and the neon drenched Vegas Strip, you’ll be introduced to a colorful cast of characters, power-hungry factions, special weapons, mutated creatures and much more. Choose sides in the upcoming war or declare “winner takes all” and crown yourself the King of New Vegas in this follow-up to the 2008 videogame of the year, Fallout 3.
Enjoy your stay.
