While a Fallout: New Vegas sequel seems unlikely at the moment, the future is still fairly bright for fans of the game. It was developed by Obsidian, which is now under Microsoft just like the Bethesda studio that made the other Fallout games. Players may not be able to get the sequel they want, but there are still plenty of things players can look forward to from the same developer.

There may not be a sequel, but the mods for Fallout: New Vegas continue to thrive. One of the biggest ones was canceled, but there are still plenty more. However, mods are not the only thing that could make fans of the series happy, as there are big things coming to the Obsidian studio soon.

Fallout: New Vegas’s Writer Is Back At Obsidian

The Return Of The Original Writer To The Studio Is Great News

The original lead writer of Fallout: New Vegas, John Gonzalez, has come back to Obsidian. While he claims on LinkedIn and shared by Shinobi602 on X that it is not for a direct sequel, the fact that he is back is good news for the studio and bad news for Guerilla Games, which he left.

After Fallout: New Vegas, John was the Lead Narrative Designer on Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, before taking on the Narrative Director role for both Horizon: Zero Dawn and Horizon: Forbidden West.

While it appears he is not going to return for the next Horizon game, he has reed the Obsidian studio. While he has not said what he is planning to do at Obsidian, he did say that he had an opportunity he could not resist, which is an exciting teaser for something big to come. It may not be the sequel people were hoping for, but having the same writer sets up a bigger chance for a spiritual sequel that has the same vibes.

Avowed & Outer Worlds 2 Could Be Good Successors

Two Big RPGs With The Potential For Big Success

Both Avowed & Outer Worlds 2 are due to come out this year, with Avowed coming to Game in February. Both look like fun RPGs that could be spiritual successors to Fallout: New Vegas. The first Outer Worlds game didn’t quite hit the mark, but it was a fun game that, if improved in the sequel, could be fashioned into something great. Even though it might not have been perfect, Outer Worlds still encomed a lot of the elements from the Fallout franchise. It had decent companions, a decent loot system, and enough quests to keep you busy for a long time.

Improving on this, bringing the story up to par, and incorporating the lessons learned from the first one would give fans something that could rival Fallout: New Vegas. Getting the right mix of things is important, but the team headed into this sequel with previous knowledge. From what has been seen in the trailers so far, it looks like a major upgrade and one that will take on the challenge.

Meanwhile, Avowed is coming out on Game , allowing a wider audience to play it and to get a decent player base upon release. It takes place in the Pillars of Eternity franchise, but it is a brand-new game with a strong fantasy theme. While it may not have the same theme as the Fallout games, a lot of the hallmark characteristics are there. It has a varied combat system, companions that will you, and branching choices to make things interesting.

While it hasn’t yet come out to prove how good it is, the early previews and the gameplay trailer look promising enough to get fans talking. However, two big games coming out this year is a good sign that the studio is healthy and ready to keep making good games for a long time to come.

Obsidian’s Future Still Looks Bright

Promising Considerations That Lead Down A Good Path

With a new Creative Director in John Gonzalez and two big games on the docket, Obsidian’s future looks quite bright. The studio is alive and well, with plenty of new things on the horizon and an exciting project to come. While Fallout: New Vegas doesn’t seem like it may ever get a sequel from Obsidian, there’s plenty coming out of the studio for fans to enjoy.

It could be a lot worse, as many other studios that did similar things as Obsidian were never revived. BioWare, for example, underperformed significantly when Dragon Age: The Veilguard was released, and they hadn’t released a new original game for a long time before that. There have also been a number of large layoffs, which is unfortunately common. To the contrary, Obsidian has just made a big hire, and they have had two fairly decent successes.

Grounded, which came out in stages after releasing in early access, ended up with favorable reviews and several big awards. By the end of December 2022, just a few months after its official release, it had over 15 million players. Conversely, Pentiment, which was one of the most underrated games with a lot of decisions to make, had great writing and good reviews as well, despite being quite different from Obsidian’s other games.

While neither of these games were close to Fallout: New Vegas, they were successful and had a large following. The writing was solid in both, and they were two original games that showed the studio was willing to develop new and unique things. It proves that the studio is at the very least healthy, and this should make players optimistic that a good spiritual successor will come out one day soon. While it could be one of the two big RPGs coming out this year, it could be the new project that John Gonzalez is working on.

It is also important to that much of the positive reception Fallout: New Vegas got came in the years following the game’s release. The game released with some glitches and the story wasn’t as well received initially as some of Bethesda’s entries in the franchise. That being said, even if Avowed or Outer Worlds 2 seem subpar at first, it is still very likely the players will end up with fond memories of them and the legacies will end up being positive. If that did happen, Fallout: New Vegas would have an even more clear successor than was thought.

Source: LinkedIn/John Gonzalez; X/Shinobi602