Fallout

About

Fallout is a role-playing video game series originally created by Interplay Entertainment and Black Isle Studios and currently developed by Bethesda Softworks. The games take place in a retro-futuristic 22nd and 23rd century in North America where humanity is trying to survive in a world devastated by the effects of full nuclear war. Its story and artwork are heavily influenced by the post-World War II nuclear paranoia of the 1950s.

Gameplay

In each game, the player assumes the role of a survivor living in a post-apocalyptic United States. The player must also utilize several skills (Science, Repair, Energy Weapons, etc.) and attributes (SPECIAL) that can be improved to tailor the game to the character’s play style. The player is equipped with a “PIP-Boy” wrist-computer that can be used to access quests, inventory and player statistics. Battles in first two games are turn-based with the player using an point system to complete attacks and other actions during battle. The latter games in the series relies on 1st to 3rd person action rather than turn based action. Fallout and Fallout 2 feature 2D isometric graphics, while Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas use a 3D graphics engine.

History

The original Fallout game was released on September 30, 1997 as the spiritual successor to the cult 1988 game Wasteland. On September 30th, 1998, the sequel Fallout 2 was released, which contained an improved game engine and the ability to control the moods of party members. In the coming years, the spin-off games Fallout: Tactics (2001) and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (2004) were released. Bethesda Softworks began developing Fallout 3 in 2004 to run on their Gamebryo engine, the same engine used in The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. On October 28th, 2008, Fallout 3 was released, which takes place 36 years after the events of Fallout 2 in Washington, DC. On October 19th, 2010, the game Fallout New Vegas was released, which takes place in post-apocalyptic Nevada, California and Arizona.

Fallout 4

On January 9th, 2013, the voice actor Erik Todd Dellums, known for voicing the character Three Dog in Fallout 3, posted a tweet hinting that his character may return in an upcoming sequel:

On January 10th, Redditor GNR_Informant submitted a post to the /r/gaming^[14] subreddit, claiming that an upcoming Fallout game will take place in Boston, Massachusetts and will have a more “cyberpunk” aesthetic. On the following day, GNR_Information confessed that his claims were fabricated.^[15] On July 12th, the gaming news blog IGN^[16] published an article claiming that Fallout 4 was “currently in development at Bethesda.”

TheSurvivor2299.com Hoax

On November 14th, 2013, Redditor ButcherDX suggested in an /r/Fallout^[9] post that Bethesda may have begun promoting the release of Fallout 4 with thesurvivor2299.com, a blank webpage embedded with an audio file signaling “11.12.2013” in morse code. On the same day, Redditor Jozoz submitted a post about the mysterious site to the /r/Games^[10] subreddit, adding that the page had been updated with a timer counting down to December 11th, 2013 (shown below).

In the comments section, many Redditors expressed doubts towards the site’s relevance to Fallout 4, with Redditor salromano pointing out that all of Bethesda’s other domains were registered through a different service and another who suggested that it may be a promotional website for the VGX video game award show. Also on November 14th, NeoGAF Forums^[11] member scytheavatar posted a thread speculating that the domain was registered by someone in Poland. On November 15th, the video game news blog Rock Paper Shotgun^[7] posted an article about thesurvivor2299.com, noting that Bethesda had refused to comment about on its existence. On the same day, a Twitter account for the website was launched with the handle @12072299, or December 7th, 2299, adding even more mystery to the website.

On November 26th, the video game news blog Kotaku^[12] published an article speculating that the website may be a hoax. On December 5th, Bethesda’s marketing VP Pete Hines issued a statement via Twitter that the company would not be revealing any new products at the upcoming VGX awards.

On the following day, thesurvivor2299.com was updated with a confession that the site was an elaborate hoax and thanked members of the /r/Fallout subreddit. Also on December 6th, Bethesda posted a tweet^[13] advising fans to “assume all rumors and speculation are false” unless posted on an “official channel.”

On December 7th, Redditor DCHoaxer submitted an “ask me anything” (AMA) post to the /r/Fallout^[8] subreddit, in which he claimed to have orchestrated the hoax. In the first four days, the post garnered more than 6,900 up votes and 2,900 comments.

Countdown Timer

On the June 2nd, 2015, Bethesda’s official Fallout website was updated with a mysterious countdown timer set to expire at 10 a.m. (EST) on June 3rd, sparking yet another flurry of speculations and anticipation among the fans for a possible announcement of the long-awaited sequel to Fallout 3.

Reception

Each game in the series has been released to critical acclaim. As of December 2013 on Metacritic, Fallout has a score of 89, Fallout 2 has a score of 86, Fallout 3 has a score of 91 and Fallout: New Vegas has a score of 82.

Related Memes

Vault Boy

Vault Boy is an image macro series inspired by Fallout 3, which features a superimposed head of the Vault-Tec corporation mascot Vault-Tec, which was contracted by the United States government before the Great War to design and produce the vault system in the Fallout franchise. The captions either describe humorous actions that a typical Fallout 3 player may perform or jokes about the game itself.

Tunnel Snakes Rule!

Tunnel Snakes Rule! is a catchphrase from the game Fallout 3, which is uttered by the leader of a gang of greasers in Vault 101.

Speech Check Comments

“Speech check comments” are YouTube comments written in the style of the speech check system in Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, which is used to determine if a player has enough skill to complete a task.

War… War Never Changes

“War… War never changes” is the motto of the Fallout series. In the Intro of every major fallout game the narrator (Ron Perlman) discusses the events that led up to the current Fallout game and how these events happened. His first line states that even though civilisations means of warfare have changed as time passes, the ends always remain the same.

Search Interest

External References