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According to Disco Elysium lead writer and designer Robert Kurvitz, Fallout has stood the test of time since its monumental 1997 release as one of the best RPGs – with some of the best post-apocalyptic worldbuilding.
Speaking to author Marijam Did in a recent stream, Kurvitz explains how significant Fallout is to Eastern European gamers and developers in particular before Did plays its opening – an opening Kurvitz dubs "the perfect beginning." He describes the old RPG as an "incredibly important game in Eastern Europe" where it was "tremendously and totally adored," detailing how Fallout "showed them that video games can be a total work of art."
As the two move into Fallout's character creator, one Kurvitz calls "the best thing on Earth," the Disco Elysium lead admits he was "mystified" by the menu when he first played. It's one of many features that make the game so unique for its time – but its worldbuilding is where Fallout truly shines. The dark, post-apocalyptic setting comes up while answering viewers' questions, when Kurvitz is asked what Karl Marx's favorite Fallout entry would be.
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He says it would be the "second Fallout, definitely" – but that's because the first leans more into establishing a convincing environment marked by destruction whereas the sequel focuses on "trade and social economics and about all of these settlements influencing each other." The original Fallout is a "mood piece," as Kurvitz puts it. "The first Fallout is like a perfect mood capsule that's almost Biblical in its annihilation," he explains.
"Humanity is truly on its knees. It makes other post-apocalyptic worldbuilding seem like an amusement park – except maybe Threads or some of the really darker TV series." It sounds like high praise from the Disco Elysium director, and it speaks to Fallout's influence decades on. While the 1997 smash hit likely isn't for everyone, especially those more accustomed to Bethesda's more recent shooters, it arguably still stands as one of the best Fallout games yet.
