Fallout (video game)

Fallout is a role-playing video game. The player begins Fallout by selecting one of three characters to play as the Vault Dweller, or alternatively, they can create one with custom attributes.[2] The Vault Dweller's primary statistics are governed by the system called SPECIAL; they are strength, perception, endurance, charisma, intelligence, agility, and luck.[3] Strength determines the weight of the weapons the Vault Dweller can carry and the damage of melee weapons. Perception determines the amount of detail of objects the Vault Dweller will notice upon examination, along with how far they can shoot weapons. Endurance affects the Vault Dweller's hit points and resistance against status effects. Charisma determines how well the Vault Dweller can communicate with others without resorting to violence. Intelligence affects the number of dialogue choices available, along with the number of skills the Vault Dweller can learn. Agility adjusts many combat statistics including the number of actions the Vault Dweller can perform per one combat turn. Luck determines the likelihood of various events happening.[4] By default, the primary statistics are set at a value of five. The values can be adjusted from one to ten, provided the sum of the statistics do not exceed 35.[5]

Two other statistics that can be changed upon character creation are skills and traits.[6] Skills are the learned abilities that the Vault Dweller can have. The initial value of each skill is determined by the primary statistics. The Vault Dweller has 18 skills. Three can be tagged during creation to give them +20%.[7] Traits are character qualities that have both a positive and a negative effect. The player can pick up to two traits during character creation[8] out of a possible 16.[9] During gameplay, the Vault Dweller can gather experience points through various actions. After reaching a certain number of experience points, the Vault Dweller will level up, and the player can increase their skills by a limited number of points.[6] Every three levels, the player can assign a special ability, or "perk", to the Vault Dweller which can aid them in their journey through the wasteland.[10]

An example of dialogue between characters in Fallout

The gameplay in Fallout centers around the game world, visiting locations and interacting with the local inhabitants. Occasionally, inhabitants will be immersed in dilemmas, which the Vault Dweller may choose to solve to acquire experience points.[6][11] Fallout often allows the Vault Dweller to complete tasks in multiple ways. While almost every quest can be completed through diplomatic, combative, or stealthy methods; some quests also allow solutions that are unconventional or contrary to the original task.[12] Based on how the Vault Dweller completed their quests, they can either earn or lose karma points, which affects how the inhabitants treat the Vault Dweller.[8] The Vault Dweller's actions or inaction dictate what future story or gameplay opportunities are available,[13] and ultimately dictate the ending of the game.[6]

The amount of dialogue each character gives is variable in nature; some characters say predetermined short messages while others give lengthy dialogue and conversations. Many characters with significance will have 3D models during conversations[8][10] known as "talking heads".[14] The Vault Dweller can barter with other characters through either trading goods or buying them using caps.[15] Four companion characters can be recruited by the player to accompany the Vault Dweller in exploration and combat, though they can not be directly controlled by the player.[8]

Combat in Fallout is turn-based. The game uses an action-point system, wherein each turn, multiple actions may be performed by each character until all their action points have been used.[16] Different actions consume different numbers of points, and the maximal number of points that can be spent is determined by the Vault Dweller's agility and modifying elements such as perks.[17] The Vault Dweller may equip up to two weapons, and the player can switch between them at the click of a button.[18] The Vault Dweller has a diverse range of guns they can acquire and use.[11] Melee (hand-to-hand) weapons typically offer multiple attack types, such as "swing" and "thrust" for knives. If the Vault Dweller does not have a weapon equipped, they can punch or kick.[19]

Fallout takes place in a post-apocalyptic future, in the aftermath of a global nuclear war. In the 21st century, a series of conflicts break out all around the globe over dwindling resources such as petroleum. Examples include the country China invading Alaska from the United States, the annexation of Canada by the United States, and the disunification of the countries in the European Commonwealth.[20] After years of conflict, on October 23, 2077,[21] a global nuclear war occurs. In less than two hours, most major cities are destroyed. The effects of the war do not fade for the next hundred years, and as a consequence, human society collapses, leaving only survivor settlements barely able to eke out a living in the barren wasteland,[22] while a few live through the occurrence in underground fallout shelters known as Vaults. One of these, Vault 13, is the protagonist's home in Southern California,[23] where the game begins in 2161, 84 years after the war.

The player controls a Vault resident sent into the Wasteland to save their vault. The player can create a custom protagonist or choose to be one of three pre-generated characters:

• Albert Cole, a negotiator and charismatic leader, whose background is somewhat in the legal system;
• Natalia Dubrovhsky, a talented acrobat and intelligent and resourceful granddaughter of a Russian diplomat in the pre-War Soviet consulate in Los Angeles;
• Max Stone, the largest person in the Vault, known for his strength and stamina, but lacking intelligence due to childhood brain damage.

Each of the three characters presents either a diplomatic, deceptive, or combative approach to the game.[10] Games set later in the Fallout series refer to the player character as "the Vault Dweller". Official canon states that the Vault Dweller was male, but his name is unspecified.[24]

The Vault Dweller is allowed to recruit four companions to aid them in their quest – Ian, a guard in Shady Sands; Tycho, a desert ranger in Junktown; Dogmeat, a dog in Junktown; and Katja, a member of the Followers of the Apocalypse, living in the remains of Los Angeles (now known as the Angels' Boneyard). Other characters in the game include Vault Boy, the mascot of Vault-Tec[25] — the manufacturer of the Vaults and the "Pip-Boy 2000", a portable wristwatch-like computer;[26] Killian Darkwater, the mayor and shopkeeper of Junktown;[16][27] and the Master, the leader of the Super Mutants.[28]

In Vault 13, the Water Chip, a computer chip responsible for the water recycling and pumping machinery of the Vault, malfunctions.[29] With 150 days left before the Vault's water reserves run dry, the Vault Overseer tasks the protagonist, the Vault Dweller, with finding a replacement. They are given the Pip-Boy 2000 that keeps track of map-making, objectives, and bookkeeping. Armed with the Pip-Boy 2000 and meager equipment, the Vault Dweller is sent off on the quest. The Vault Dweller travels to Vault 15, the closest known Vault that may be able to provide help, but finds it collapsed into ruins and abandoned;[30] one of the survivors migrated to a settlement called Shady Sands, which the Vault Dweller can visit.[31][32] The Vault Dweller travels south to Junktown, a town involved in a conflict between local sheriff Killian Darkwater and criminal Gizmo. Further south the Vault Dweller finds The Hub, a bustling merchant city with available jobs for the Vault Dweller.[27] The Vault Dweller has the option to hire water caravans to aid Vault 13 and extend their estimated survival by 100 days. The Vault Dweller travels to Necropolis, a city of mutated humans called ghouls who are under occupation by large mutated humans, dubbed Super Mutants. Under the city, the Vault Dweller finds Vault 12 and recovers a water chip.

Upon returning with the chip, the Vault is saved, but the Overseer is concerned about the Vault Dweller's reports of the Super Mutants. Believing the mutations are too widespread and extreme to be natural, and that they pose a threat to the Vault, the Overseer charges the Vault Dweller to find the source of the mutations and stop them.[33] Information that is picked up throughout the wasteland reveals that humans are being captured and being turned into Super Mutants by getting exposed to the Forced Evolutionary Virus (F.E.V.).[34][35] They are being led by someone named the Master who wants to turn every human into a Super Mutant to establish "unity" among Earth.[36] The cult-like Children of the Cathedral operating around the Wasteland are a front created by the Super Mutants' Master, who is using the Children to preach his message to the wastelanders and get them to submit to him peacefully.[37][38]

In order to stop the mutations, the Vault Dweller has to kill the Master and destroy the vats containing the F.E.V. They can choose which one to do first.[15] To kill the Master, the Vault Dweller travels to the Cathedral of the Children and finds a prototype Vault beneath it, from which the Master commands his Super Mutant army. The Vault Dweller infiltrates the Vault and can either convince the Master that his plan will fail, kill him directly, or set off an explosion that destroys the cathedral.[28] To destroy the vats, the Vault Dweller travels to their location: Mariposa Military Base. The Vault Dweller destroys the base and stops the creation of more Super Mutants. At the end, a slideshow plays showing the impact the Vault Dweller had on the societies they had met.[39] The Vault Dweller returns to the Vault and is greeted at the entrance by the Overseer. The Overseer is happy that the Vault's safety is secured, but fears the Vault Dweller's experiences have changed them, and that hero worship of them in the Vault may encourage others to leave. For the greater good of the Vault and to preserve its isolation, the Vault Dweller is exiled into the wasteland.[40]

POV-Ray render mimicking Fallout's oblique projection and hexagonal grid

Fallout started out as a game engine that Tim Cain was working on during his spare time from other projects in Interplay. It was based on the tabletop role-playing game GURPS, and development started after Cain convinced Fargo to allow development for a role-playing game based on GURPS.[53][54] Interplay Productions announced that they acquired the license to GURPS in 1994.[55] Because of the lack of resources, early development was rough.[56] Cain worked on the engine and most of its design by himself initially before the increase in team members.[3] The first prototype of Fallout was finished during 1994.[57]

The team considered making the game first-person and 3D at one point. They scrapped the idea because the models would not have had the desired amount of detail.[47][58] The view was changed to oblique projection, which gives a trimetric perspective.[58] Fallout was designed to be open-world and non-linear.[59] It was purposely balanced so that, while the side quests are optional to progressing the main story, characters who did not improve their skills and experience by completing side quests would be too weak to finish the game.[55] Fallout also originally had a time limit of 500 days before the game ended. Taylor added this to keep the player focused on the main story line. It proved to be controversial and was removed in a patched version of Fallout.[28][3]

The game was nearly canceled after Interplay acquired the licenses to the Forgotten Realms and Planescape Dungeons & Dragons franchises, but Cain convinced Interplay to let him finish the work on his project. Later, after the success of Diablo, which was released in late 1996, Cain successfully resisted the pressure to convert the game to multiplayer and real-time based.[42] In March 1997, the license for GURPS was dropped due to creative differences between Interplay and Steve Jackson Games, the creator of GURPS.[60] The license was dropped by Interplay. According to Interplay, this was due to Steve Jackson Games objecting to the excessive amounts of violence and gore included in the game, among other things.[42][61] Interplay was forced to change the already implemented GURPS system to the internally developed SPECIAL system;[60] with Taylor given a week to design it and Cain a further week to code it.[42][62] Afterwards, before releasing the game, the team fixed some of the bugs present in Fallout,[3] with many of the QA members of Interplay coming on weekends to work on Fallout without pay.[63][42]

Leonard Boyarsky (pictured 2017) was the art director of Fallout.

Prior to the license termination, the engine for Fallout was based primarily on GURPS, which contained multiple possible settings to play with. Fantasy and time traveling settings were considered for the engine before the development team decided on a post-apocalyptic setting for Fallout.[28][42][64] Cain decided that the game would be a "top-down experience", with every element being used to immerse the player into the game.[42] He believed that the player should experience the game along with the player character.[47] Taylor wrote a document called Vision Statement, which was about what the video game was trying to accomplish.[65] Cain described the document as an inspiration for the development team, and a "a major reason why the game came together at all.[42]

Fallout was a spiritual successor to Wasteland,[3] with almost everyone who had worked on Fallout having previously played Wasteland.[66] After the team decided on the post-apocalyptic setting for the game, they wanted to develop it as a sequel to Wasteland for the game. However, they were unable to secure the license from Electronic Arts, and Fallout became a stand-alone game.[28] The retrofuturistic art style of Fallout drew inspiration from literature and media released during the late Atomic Age of the 1950s, especially Forbidden Planet and the optimistic cold war posters at the time, which Boyarsky reportedly loved.[42][67][28]

The concept of the vaults was influenced by the science fiction movie, A Boy and His Dog.[42] Cain said that the team "all loved X-COM" and that the original version of Fallout featured combat very similar to the battles in the game prior to the gaining the GURPS license.[68] The gaming media of the time also commented on the strong similarity to X-COM.[55] Cain also admired Star Control II for its open and near-unlimited exploration, which became an inspiration for the open-ended design of Fallout.[69] Fallout featured many pop culture references. The team had a rule that they would only make a pop culture reference if it could make sense to someone unfamiliar with the original source material. For example, the name for the Slayer perk was a reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, though the name makes sense on a general level because the perk turns all attacks to critical hits, matching the name.[70]

The sprites in Fallout were highly detailed and took up a lot of the memory of the game.[71] Various actors were hired to voice 21 non-player characters (NPCs); along with Ron Perlman hired to voice the narrator.[3] The talking NPCs when talked to would display talking heads, which was the idea of Boyarsky and most of which were created by Scott Redenhizer. Each one took eight weeks to create and were expensive.[72] To create the detailed talking heads of the NPCs, a sculptor made heads of clay, which the artists studied to determine which parts should be most heavily animated. The heads were digitized using a Faro Space Arm and VertiSketch, with LightWave 3D used for geometric corrections, while the texture maps were created in Adobe Photoshop.[55]

The characters were purposely given moral ambiguity, with no clear right or wrong choice during each event. This was made so the player could take whatever choice suited them best.[73] An example of which would be the endgame encounter with the antagonist, the Master, which featured multiple solutions.[28][74] At one point in Fallout's development, in Junktown, if the player aided local sheriff Killian Darkwater in killing the criminal Gizmo, Killian would take his pursuit of the law much too far, to the point of tyranny, and force Junktown to stagnate. However, if the player killed Killian for Gizmo, then Gizmo would help Junktown prosper for his own benefit. The game's publisher did not like this bit of moral ambiguity and had the outcomes changed to an alternate state, where aiding Killian results in a more palatable ending.[51] The game's somber prologue, which includes the series catchphrase "War. War never changes", was written by Cain, and was the second version to be written after Cain and assistant producer Fred Hatch were dissatisfied with the original version.[28]

Vault Boy was created as a parody of films and literature made during the 1950s.[47][75] The companions were not in the original framework of Fallout and at the time conceptualized, there wasn't enough time to program them into the game. They were instead added in through automated scripts of programming. As a result, the companions were riddled with glitches, including their tendency to shoot the Vault Dweller when they are in the way of an enemy. Dogmeat was the first companion added.[76] Dogmeat was not designed to survive the entire game, but players have proven that it is possible for Dogmeat to survive the game.[47] Another companion, Tycho, was a reference to the desert rangers from Wasteland.[3]

The promotion and advertising for Fallout was headed by Boyarsky and art director Jason D. Anderson, although there was at least one unofficial advertisement of the game that was released in magazines.[77] Fallout did not have a trailer created to promote it.[78] A demo for Fallout was released in April 1997.[79][80] According to Taylor, there was discussion among the development team about creating a demo for Fallout. The reason the demo was created and released was because "[they] just wanted people to play [their] game!"[81] In order to immerse the player into the game world, the packaging was made to resemble a lunch box one would find in the world, and the game manual was designed to resemble a survival guide.[42]

Fallout was released on October 10, 1997, in North America for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows.[82][83] Version 1.1 was released on November 13, 1997. It fixed many bugs from the original release and greatly extended the 500-day time limit. The game was released for the Mac OS on December 11, 1997.[83][84][85] The European version was released later at an unspecified date as version 1.2, which removed children from the game to make it eligible for release in Europe.[86][84] The Mac OS X version was released worldwide by MacPlay in July 2002.[1] The game was given out for free on Steam, a video game digital distribution service, on September 30, 2017, to mark its 20th anniversary.[87][88] The game, along with its two follow-ups, Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel, were sold together as part of the Fallout Trilogy.[89] Fallout was later included in Fallout Anthology on September and October 2015[90] and Fallout Legacy Collection in October 2019.[91]

Fallout was commercially successful.[97] However, it was not a breakout hit upon release, especially compared to the other role-playing video games Baldur's Gate and Diablo;[27] it failed to meet expectations in sales.[98] Despite its initial lackluster sales at the time, it did achieve a fan following,[99] and it did sell enough copies for a sequel to be produced.[27] In the United States, it debuted at No. 12 on PC Data's computer game sales rankings for October 1997.[100][101] A writer for CNET Gamecenter noted that the game was part of a trend of role-playing successes that month, alongside Ultima Online and Lands of Lore 2: Guardians of Destiny. He remarked, "If October's list is any indication, RPGs are back."[100] Fallout totaled 53,777 sales in the United States by the end of 1997.[102]

Worldwide, over 100,000 units of the game had been shipped by December 1997,[103] and Erik Bethke later reported sales of "a little more than 120,000 units" after a year on shelves.[104] By March 2000, 144,000 copies of the game had been sold in the United States alone. GameSpot's writer Desslock called these "very good sales, especially since the overall [worldwide] figures are likely double those amounts".[105] Conversely, Fallout was unpopular in the United Kingdom: the game and its sequel totaled just over 50,000 combined lifetime sales in the region.[99] According to Fargo, sales of Fallout ultimately reached 600,000 copies.[106]

Fallout was met with a very favorable critical reception; receiving an aggregate score of 89/100 from Metacritic.[92] Many reviewers considered it one of the best role-playing video games at the time.[lower-alpha 3] March Stepnik of PC PowerPlay opined that Fallout would revive the genre,[96] and Dan Elektro of GamePro said that Interplay successfully created a "real role-playing game".[107] Jason from The Electric Playground said, "I can't think of another game that comes even close to Fallout's excellent character generation and skill system, great story, and classy delivery."[15]

Fallout was praised for its character creation system.[107] Elektro found it to be the best part of Fallout.[107] Desslock of GameSpot felt that "the variety of characters that can be created and the truly different experiences that each type of character can have should satisfy even hard-core RPG players."[8] Robert Mayer of Computer Games Strategy Plus praised Fallout for having a character system that allowed different builds to do equally well in the game.[11] PC Gamer's Andy Butcher disagreed, saying that the game "tends to be quite combat heavy, and solving the game with a less robust character, while possible, is much tougher."[2] Jason found that "all of Fallout's skills can be used to some advantage, and WILL alter gameplay."[15] The karma system in Fallout was also highly praised.[94][6][11]

The post-apocalyptic setting was praised for being innovative for a role-playing game, and its non-linear plot was commended.[15][11] Just Adventure's Ray Ivey stated that many role-playing games had mostly fantasy-based settings, and that Fallout "kisses those tired old scenarios goodbye."[6] Butcher said "the look and sound of the game" combined with the "moody and ambient music" delivered a believable environment,[2] and Mayer found the mix of satire and grit to be well-executed.[11] Some critcs commended the opening cinematic introducing the backstory and plot;[11][16] Jason considered it "the most haunting opening movie" he had seen.[15] Next Generation noted that the original quest of finding the water chip divided into multiple subquests that the reviewer believed came together in a consistent matter.[94] However, Jeff Green of Computer Gaming World found the dialogue unable to account for the player's unpredictability resulting in out-of-order dialogue.[16] Ivey considered the ending to be among the best in video games.[6]

The combat in Fallout was generally well-received. It appealed to Ivey and Games Domain's Christian Schock due to its tactical nature.[6][108] Mayer said that fans of turn-based RPGs would be in a "near-Nirvana" when it came to combat due to the variety of weapons there are.[11] Green said that the combat being turn-based "might bore or disappoint Diablo fans, but will be welcome to most hard-core RPGers". However, Green criticized both the unrealistic nature of the battles and the computer-controlled companions as they had a tendency to get in the Vault Dweller's way during combat or shooting the Vault Dweller's back.[16] Todd Vaughn of PC Gamer said, "When you’re fighting alone in Fallout, the turn-based combat is a great asset, but if you hire non-player characters to join you in battle, be prepared for a little frustration."[95]

Fallout as continued to garner appraisal retrospectively. Like the contemporaries, critics considered the setting refreshing for a role-playing game.[10][93][27] Some critics also considered the game to be innovative in general.[93][27][109] Keza MacDonald of Eurogamer called the game, along with Fallout 2, "bastions of Western RPG".[99] Although the Escapist's Sarah Leboeuf thought the game didn't age well, she nonetheless found the gameplay "intriguing, sometimes addictive".[110] GamesRadar+ also found Fallout worth returning to despite being outdated.[111] Opinion on Fallout's quality compared to other games has been divided among critics. GamesRadar+ and SVG.com ranked it low among the series,[111][112] IGN ranked it in the middle,[113] and Kotaku and Paste Magazine ranked it high.[114][115]

The Master has received acclaim from critics and players as among the best villainous characters in video game history.[116][117][118][119][114] The encounter between the Vault Dweller and the Master was considered by GamesRadar+ to be "one of the most striking storytelling devices of its era",[120] and IGN praised it as one of the most memorable moments in the Fallout series.[121] PC Gamer praised the optional boss fight with the Master as among the best in PC gaming.[122]

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Fallout for its "Personal Computer: Role Playing Game of the Year" and "Outstanding Achievement in Sound and Music" awards.[123][124] Similarly, the Computer Game Developers Conference nominated Fallout for its "Best Adventure/RPG" Spotlight Award.[125] Fallout received GameSpot's "Best Role-Playing Game" and "Best Ending" prize; and was nominated for GameSpot's "Game of the Year".[39] It also won Computer Games Magazine's "Role-Playing Game of the Year" award.[126] The game has been inducted into "Hall of Fame" or equivalent of Computer Gaming World, GameSpot, GameSpy, and IGN, among others;[127][128][129][130] and has been listed as among the greatest video games of all time.[131][128][132] In March 2012, Fallout was exhibited as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's "The Art of Video Games" exhibition under the category of "adventure" games (along with Fallout 3).[132][133] Fallout has also been ranked as one of the best PC games of all time by PC Gamer[134][135][136] and IGN.[137][138] IGN also ranked Fallout among the best role-playing video games.[139]

Fallout was followed by a series of sequels and spin-offs, the genres of which were often different from the original game. Cain did not work on any sequels and spin-offs beyond brainstorming ideas for Fallout 2.[156] He left Interplay with Boyasrsky and Anderson to form Troika Games during the development of Fallout 2.[47] Interplay owned the rights to Fallout until around 2007 when Bethesda Softworks purchased the rights to the series. There first game in the series to be developed by them was Fallout 3.[157] At the time of release, the original Fallout was not a global sensation; the first game in the series to sell incredibly well was Fallout 3.[109] The series as a whole has become critically acclaimed and influential among developers, and is one of the most popular series in the video game industry.[158][159][160] The Vault Boy character went on to become an iconic mascot of the Fallout franchise.[3][47]

Fallout 2 was developed by the RPG division of Interplay, which was renamed to Black Isle Studios around the time. It was released on October 29, 1998 to positive reviews.[98][161] A tactical-based spin-off named Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel was developed by Micro Forté and was released on March 15, 2001, also to positive reviews.[156][162] Interplay started developing Fallout 3 around this time, back then code named Van Buren, though they ended up outsourcing much of the development to Titus Interactive. Troubled production led to Van Buren's cancellation.[98] Interplay released the action role-playing spin-off, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, in 2004 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It was a commercial and critical failure,[157]

After Bethesda's purchase of the series, they developed Fallout 3 into an open-world action role-playing game. It was released in October 2008 and became incredibly successful, both critically and commercially.[163][156] Later, Bethesda paired up with Obsidian Entertainment to create Fallout: New Vegas, which was released in October 2010.[164] It became a cult video game after its release.[156] Bethesda worked on a direct sequel to Fallout 3 and released it as Fallout 4 on November 10, 2015,[165] where was relatively well received.[156] A free-to-play simulation video game named Fallout Shelter was released by Bethesda on June 14, 2015[166] to mixed reviews.[167] Afterwards, Bethesda worked on an online action role-playing game called Fallout 76. It was released on November 14, 2018[168] to negative reviews at the time.[169]

In 2002, Chris Avellone published his research of the lore of Fallout and Fallout 2. The project was known as Fallout Bible and compilations of documents of his research into the lore were released as issues throughout 2002.[170] However, ever since Bethesda's acquisition of the Fallout franchise, a lot of Fallout Bible has become non-canon.[21] Mark Morgan, the composer for Fallout, released a remastered soundtrack album for Fallout on May 10, 2010, for free.[171][172] A TV series adaptation of Fallout was announced in July 2020, being executively produced by Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan.[173] In 2022, Amazon greenlit the series for production for their video-on-demand streaming service Amazon Prime Video.[174]