Highlights
- Fallout’s retro-futuristic style showcases 1950s-inspired tech, shaping unique game worlds beyond the ’50s aesthetic.
- Real-life locations like Goodsprings, Zion National Park, and DC Metro System come to life in Fallout games.
- From the National Mall’s ruined landmarks to the Museum of Witchcraft, Fallout 4 offers eerie and iconic settings.
One of the things that make the Fallout franchise so fun is its hyper-stylized take on the real world. Contrary to popular belief, Fallout is not simply “the 50s all the time,” but rather what people living in 1950s America believed the future would look like. As such, its “retro futuristic” level of technology in many ways is still well above the real-world.
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This particular style of sci-fi shapes the look of the series in a unique way, with many famous locations in real life being affected as they are translated into the game world. Players can easily visit these locations rather easily, and even compare them to their real-life counterparts. Here is a list of just some of these famous locations that one may find throughout the Fallout series.
6 Goodsprings
A Classic Starter Town With A Fanbase Of Its Very Own
Not only will it surprise many Fallout fans to learn that Goodsprings is a real town in Nevada, but that it actively celebrates Fallout and the role the town has played in the series. Fallout related tourism is a big part of the local economy here, with tons of Fallout-themed merchandise available to purchase.
Not only this but since 2022, the town has hosted the Fallout: New Vegas Day event once a year, where they welcome Fallout fans everywhere to visit the town. The event has grown to a few thousand attendees each year. Many of the town’s actual stores made their way into the game, such as the Pioneer Saloon and General Store. Some of the town’s inhabitants also appeared as characters in New Vegas, most notably Easy Pete.
5 Zion National Park
An American Treasure Brought To Life In Fallout
Zion is perhaps Fallout: New Vegas’ most beautiful location. Having been spared the Fallout from the great war, it is nearly perfectly preserved, teaming with plant life, and home to a variety of animal species. Zion featured, at the time, the most vertical world design in any Fallout game, which did well to hide how small the actual playable area was.
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The map is based on the real Zion National Park in Utah, which was established in 1919. The name Zion comes from the Mormons who had settled in the area, something that New Vegas references with Mormon characters like Joshua Graham and Daniel. Prior to its establishment as a National Park, it had been known as Mukuntuweap National Monument.
4 DC Metro System
When Problem-Solving Leads to Something Iconic
The winding and dilapidated metro tunnels of Fallout 3 are one of its most distinctive features. The technical reason for them is that the game engine couldn’t handle an open DC area, so it had to be sectioned off in its own cell. Thus, the only way to get there would be through the dark and maze-like metros.
This ended up being an amazing idea, as they are some of the game’s most atmospheric areas. Not only this, their design is rather faithful to their real life counterparts in real life. The large curved ceiling and distinctive concrete pattern are one-for-one, as is the placement of many escalators and platforms. Many of the metro tunnels are blocked by debris from the war in-game, so traversal is a bit trickier than in real life.
3 National Mall
See The Ultimate Ruin of America Laid Bare
One of Fallout 3’s most visually poignant locations has to be the blasted-out ruins of the National Mall in the heart of Washington D.C. It is home not only to famous monuments to American history such as the Washington Monument, but governmental buildings like the National Archives and the Capitol Building; all of which are overrun with raiders, super mutants and all manner of wasteland abomination.
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The land itself, once decorated with cherry blossoms and crystal clear reflecting pools, has become a twisted and scarred husk of its former self, irradiated and marred by trenchworks.
2 Museum of Witchcraft
Even The Witches Are Afraid Of This Place
Fallout 4 being set in Boston meant that it was bound to feature some locations relating to the Salem witch trials in some capacity. In this case, the game takes the Salem Witch Museum and makes it a boss lair for a Deathclaw. It is located in roughly the same area as the real museum, to the southwest of the town of Salem.
The in-game version is very faithful to its real-life counterpart on the outside but differs quite a bit on the inside. The interior, aside from being derelict and decayed, is much more claustrophobic, likely to instill a sense of unease in the player as they wander its seemingly empty halls and rooms.
1 USS Constitution
Will This Old Girl See One Last Voyage Into The Sunset?
One of Fallout 4’s most wacky locations is the landlocked USS Constitution, an 18th century warship turned museum in real life. In the game, however, the vessel is manned by robots seeking to restore it with rocket engines and put it back in the ocean. Now, this idea goes about as well as is to be expected, but the quest involved is one of the more eventful and memorable ones in all of Fallout 4.
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The USS Constitution was an advanced ship for its time and served on active duty from 1797 to 1881, well past the introduction of steel-hulled ships. The leader of the robots in-game, Captain Ironsides, is a reference to the ship’s historical nickname of Old Ironsides.
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