When I was a child, I dreamed of a game where you could do anything. Gamepads had few buttons but keyboards had so many! Why couldn’t someone make a game where every button did something?
What my child mind didn’t realise is that it’s not the number of buttons that matters, it’s the functions you’re capable of performing. If you imagine something, can you somehow achieve it? Fallout wasn’t exactly this… but it felt pretty damn close.
I didn’t get to play tabletop role-playing games as a kid. I saw references to games like Dungeons & Dragons (1974) in other media, and the idea of playing a game of pretend with rules to add stakes fascinated me. I couldn’t imagine how this freedom could be translated to a video game. Even the RPGs I was familiar with were largely combat-driven with a single ending to work towards. Fallout‘s non-linearity was about to hit me like an atom bomb.
Not to say Fallout was the first; even its predecessor by the same developers, Wasteland (1988), was similar in a lot of ways. However, Fallout succeeded at making it accessible (the game can be played entirely with a mouse) and laying everything out clearly. Good luck finding Bobby’s dog in Wasteland, but you can clear the radscoprion cave in Fallout without reaching for a guide.
That said, Fallout is far from perfect. Some character traits are far more useful than others, with some being downright useless. There are numerous glitches and inconveniences, not least of all being your AI companions spraying your back with bullets or blocking doorways. There are some ways to softlock yourself into unwinnable situations, but I’ll be damned if I don’t forgive it anyway, because there’s so much it does right.
Fallout takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, but this is no ordinary apocalypse, it’s a flavoured apocalypse. This is a zeerust future as imagined by the 1950’s, a future where the microprocessor was never invented and mid-century culture never moved on. Deeply influenced by Cold War nuclear anxiety, Fallout juxtaposes the optimism of the era with the grim truth that civilization has ended, evoking hauntology like no video game before it.
Fallout takes place in the year 2161, almost a hundred years after a nuclear war devastated the world. Some people (yourself included) have spent this time inside large, underground fallout shelters called Vaults. However, when your Vault’s water equipment starts to fail, the Vault Overseer tasks you with finding a replacement “Water Chip” for its computers. This sends you into the world above, where nobody from your sheltered community has ever set foot.
Cleverly, the game does not assume your history or your interest in its objective. This gives you the freedom to roleplay any kind of character you want. You could ignore the objective altogether, enjoying your newfound freedom and leaving your old home to rot. Indeed, there is nothing telling you that you have to play the good guy.
But as with all good role-playing adventures, your actions still have consequences. You could kill anyone who crosses you, but how will their community respond? You could also try to make friends, which is an important thing to have in such a dangerous world, but you could just as easily be duped.
Fallout was originally designed as a GURPS (Generic Universal Role Playing System) game but its owners, Steve Jackson Games, grew uncomfortable with the game’s graphic violence and moral ambiguity. The developers quickly threw together a new system: SPECIAL, which stands for each of the game’s core statistics: Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility and Luck. Isn’t that just so darn clever? Necessity really is the mother of invention.
Creating a character takes a touch of imagination as there are only two character models (male and female) with no further options for appearance. After selecting your core attributes, skills and optional traits, you’re dropped into Fallout’s hexagonal world. Staying true to its tabletop heritage, exploration is freeform outside of combat but battles shift to a turn-based system. A wide range of melee weapons and firearms are at your disposal, and you can either attack generally or aim for specific body parts.
Broadly speaking, the game has three methods to tackling its problems: speech, skills and combat. Almost all quests (and there are numerous to find) have outcomes which cater to these methods. At the time, I was genuinely shocked that you could complete the game non-violently. It’s unfortunate that the franchise’s current IP holders don’t value the same agency which Fallout provided.
For example (spoilers for a 30 year old game), the Water Chip can be found in the ruins of Bakersfield, California, nicknamed the “Necropolis” because it’s inhabited by people so irradiated that they resemble walking corpses. Outsiders call them “ghouls”. Taking it means condemning them to same fate which befell your Vault. There are several ways to approach this:
- Speech: You can bluff or negotiate your way through the city, convincing aggressors to let you pass.
- Skill: You can Sneak your way in or use Repair to rig a mutually beneficial solution.
- Combat: You can simply kill all of the Necropolis’s residents, take the Chip and leave.
⚠️ SPOILER WARNING ⚠️
Most Fallout games (at least the ones with significant player freedom) split their main story into two parts: first, you’re given a quest which thrusts you into the world, encouraging exploration. After learning about the various people and places, a looming threat becomes apparent. This threat is always significant enough that you will be caught up in it no matter what you do. Fallout‘s main quest begins with the recovery of the Water Chip and ends with the threat of Super Mutants.
Super Mutants are the invention of a fellow named The Master. He has engineered a new breed of humanity better suited for surviving in this new era, and intends to convert everyone against their will. The game has a time limit, both for recovering the Water Chip and dealing with The Master, but subsequent patches removed the latter. Just like before, there are multiple ways to approach this: you could attack him directly, rig an explosive beneath his lair, or persuade him with moral argument or hard evidence. How many video games let you convince the bad guy to give up?
But that doesn’t stop Super Mutants from being made. Yup, you can defeat the game’s “final boss” and still have to handle that — heck, you can do everything before even finding the Water Chip. You could beeline it to the game’s final act as soon as you begin, finishing the whole quest in a matter of minutes. As of writing, the current record for beating Fallout with a “good” ending is about 6 minutes, while a “bad” ending is about 2 minutes.
END OF SPOILERS
The game’s ending system is particularly intriguing: not only does it provide an epilogue for how you resolved the main quest, but also reveals the fate of each location you’ve visited. Whether good or bad, the narrator will read the consequences of your actions. This is choice-based gameplay at its finest.
Despite the bleakness that surrounds it, it’s hard not to fall in love with the world of Fallout. It’s full of memorable, distinctive elements. Many of the ideas introduced in this first game have now become widely recognised gaming icons, like Nuka-Cola, Power Armour and the series mascot, Vault Boy.
I personally became enamoured with the companions, not least of all Dogmeat — a reference to an insult given to the titular dog from A Boy and His Dog (1969) — who will certainly perish during your adventure, as he is loyal to a fault.
Besides the aforementioned novella, the most obvious inspiration is Mad Max 2 (1981), from which the leather armour is directly lifted. There is also a significant bit of A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959) in there. The list of inspirations behind Fallout is enormous and could be an article unto itself. Maybe I should write about the history of post-apocalyptic fiction one day.
Despite its immediate impact on CRPGs, the Fallout series fell quiet after one sequel, Fallout 2 (1998), and a handful of spin-offs. Its developers, Black Isle Studios, all scattered once Interplay closed its doors. Veterans of the early Fallout series would go on to create some of the most memorable RPGs of all time, like Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura (2001), Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines (2004) and The Outer Worlds (2019).
And now get ready because I’m gonna bitch about Bethesda’s Fallout. Yeah, I’m one of those people.
In 2008, I waited eagerly for Bethesda’s third instalment after acquiring the IP. I could excuse the changes in presentation, as long as it stayed true to the principles of the series… well, it was a critical and commercial success, but it wasn’t my Fallout. I dislike speaking harshly of people, yet I can’t help but feel that Emil Pagliarulo was profoundly ill-suited to write for this franchise. Fallout 3 (2008) stumbles in several key areas of RPG writing, most notably by imposing a fixed backstory and steering the player along a predetermined path. It’s unfortunate because beneath those flaws lies a genuinely enjoyable game.
“I bet he’s a New Vegas fanboy.” Hell yeah I am.
The greatest evidence of Bethesda’s misdirection lies in Fallout: New Vegas (2010), a game written and directed by former Black Isle members with permission from Bethesda. Back again is the player agency, now in even greater form, and not the least bit hampered by Fallout 3‘s drastically different gameplay foundation. Fallout: New Vegas remains my favourite video game and I hoped Bethesda would take its lessons to heart when creating Fallout 4 (2015). Sadly, history repeated itself — Fallout 4 offered another solid gameplay system, but an even weaker world and story.
I know it’s a thing to rag on Bethesda’s Fallout games, but the disservice done to the incredible worldbuilding of the earlier entries is hard to overlook. There is some hope to be had, though: while the multiplayer-focused Fallout 76 (2018) had a troubled launch, it has evolved into a game that, in my opinion, points the series in a more promising direction. I hope I don’t eat those words.
I’d like to end this with a tribute to the minds who brought this wonderful world to life and filled it with unforgettable ideas: Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky, Jason D. Anderson, Josh Sawyer, Chris Avellone, John Gonzalez and far too many more to name — thank you all for filling this nerd’s heart with joy.
Check out Tim’s YouTube channel here.