Fallout 4 appears to be under development and it’s heading to Boston, according to leaked casting documents (via Kotaku). The leaked materials are casting notes for a project code-named “Institute.” There’s no specific reference made to Fallout in any of the text, but there are nods to familiar locations and settings. There’s even a bit of dialogue text at the top of one document that reads, “War. War never changes.” That’s the well-known line that Ron Perlman delivered in the intro to the original Fallout, and then again at the start of Fallout 3. Interestingly, the script calls for the player to read the familiar intro.
The casting documents are confirmed to be real, and if that isn’t enough evidence, the casting director on this mysterious Institute project is the same one Bethesda used for Skyrim and Dishonored. There’s a fair amount of material to look at, but since some if it might qualify as spoilers, and since it’s Kotaku’s tipster to begin with, we recommend you check out the original story if you want to see the leaked materials firsthand.
This is the latest, and most conclusive, evidence that we’ve seen of Fallout 4 being real. The most recent hint, an apparent countdown website, turned out to be a hoax. Prior to that, in 2012 Bethesda sent location scouts out to MIT and Boston proper to gather reference materials. This led to speculation that the next Fallout would be set in Boston. And hey! Look at that! The next Fallout appears to be set in Boston!
Bethesda has no comment, and likely won’t until Fallout 4 – if that is its official name! – is formally revealed.