On the surface, the Fallout series mightn't seem particularly optimistic, taking place in a post-nuclear wasteland, as it does. Todd Howard, Bethesda boss and director of two entries in the franchise so far, believes they're ultimately quite inspiring, in their own way.
He explained his logic during an interview with GameCentral. "Fallout 4 is quite a hopeful story, and I think that’s a thread underneath it all," he says. "Through it, every character, what will they do to survive? Do you agree with them or not agree with them? There's good in everybody, and there's perception of bad, depending on who's telling the story."
I'm not sure I necessarily agree Fallout 4 is hopeful, per se, but he has a point on the matter of perspective. The Institute, the Brotherhood of Steel, the Minutemen; every faction believes theirs is the best way to thrive in the wasteland, and there's an argument underpinning each side, making the final choice of where your allegiances lie so valuable. The same is true for each installment, where the ending depends on your choices.
"There is a thread of, 'Hey, civilization's going to come back up and we're all going to survive this,'" Howard states. "Or, you could look at it as a player or a viewer and say, 'Well, maybe you are surviving, maybe that is your world, maybe that is it.'"
The Fallout games have evolved considerably over the 30 years since the first came out. What started as classic, choice-driven RPGs are now expensive, first-person adventures, all held together by the ongoing post-nuclear timeline and the myriad groups trying to find some semblance of structure in a world seemingly devoid of it.
Howard himself directed the last two mainline games, Fallout 3 and Fallout 4, and served as executive producer on the MMO Fallout 76, while another company, Obsidian, developed Fallout: New Vegas. He and Bethesda are working on Fallout 5 at the moment, but that won’t be arriving any time soon, with The Elder Scrolls 6 to finish first.
Good thing Amazon's Fallout TV show is here to fill the gap. Fallout season 2 premieres on Amazon Prime Video on December 17.
