Fallout

Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game

RPG

Black Isle Studio, 1997

Set in 2161, after the apocalyptic nuclear ‘Great War’ of 2077, Fallout sees a survivor of the war emerge from one of the Vaults (giant underground shelters) in search of a ‘water chip’ to save the rest of the vault inhabitants, on the behest of the Vault Overseer. Without the Water Chip, the vault’s water supply will soon disappear. What sets Fallout apart from the majority of RPGs (and videogames in general) is the ending; on return to the vault from whence the hero (Vault Dweller) began his journey, he is cast out, rejected, by the Overseer.

Another unusual feature employed by Fallout’s narrative is the use of two major story arcs. Upon acquiring the Water Chip, the Vault Dweller learns of a ‘Super Mutant Army’, created using pre-war technology (a ‘Forced Evolutionary Virus’), and must eliminate the threat from these Super Mutants. The player can destroy the Super Mutant army first, but this is not the typical path through the story. The Super Mutant army was created by ‘The Master’, who is also in control of a cult, known as the ‘Children of the Cathedral’.

Although the story of Fallout may appear to be open-ended, it is in fact rather linear. The player can visit the game’s locations in practically any order he chooses, but the storyline is progressed only through the visitation of towns in the order desired by the game designers (through use of a complex finite state machine).

Notable Literary Parallels

Mad Max

The setting of Fallout is similar in many ways to the setting of the 1979 post apocalyptic film Mad Max, and a leather jacket with the name ‘Max’ written on the label is a clear reference.

Notable Character Archetypes

The Hero / Outcast - Vault Dweller

There is no apparent difference between the Vault Dweller and any of the other Vault 13 inhabitants. Indeed, everyone in the vault drew straws to determine who would leave (“I always thought of Fallout's story of drawing straws was something the Overseer thought of. ‘Look, someone has to go outside, and they may die out there, so let's draw straws’. Someone, probably not the Overseer since he wouldn't have gone outside no matter what, demanded that EVERYONE draw a straw in order to be truly fair. But to be honest, the vault dwellers were simply terrified of going outside, and terrified people do not always make the wisest decisions.” - Tim Cain (Lead Programmer) speaking on the DAC forum. The Vault Dweller was chosen by chance, which is why his ordeals in the wastes are arduous; only born kings have an easy task of finding the Ultimate Boon (see The Ultimate Boon). At the end of the game, the Vault Dweller metamorphoses into the Outcast archetype, being banished to the wastes by the Overseer.

The Shadow / Devil Figure - The Master

The Master built up an army of Super-Mutants using the pre-war FEV virus to mutate human subjects. He craves power over all others. At one point in the game he offers the Vault Dweller the chance to join him, ending the game with a cut-scene showing Super Mutants overrunning Vault 13. The Vault Dweller refusing this offer is a way of integrating the Shadow into the Self.

The Father / Herald - Vault 13 Overseer

The most apparent fatherly aspect of the Overseer is that he has the power to both reward and punish the Vault Dweller. This is expanded on later in the study (see Atonement With the Father). He delivers the portent of the vault’s fate; informing the Vault Dweller about the broken water chip.

The Ego / Id - Killian Darkwater / Gizmo

Not far into the game, the Vault Dweller reaches Junktown, surrounded by a protective wall of scrapped cars, piled up high, with one well guarded entrance. The high security and efficient running of the town is due to the vigilance and competence of its mayor, Killian Darkwater. Another notable member of Junktown is Gizmo, the local gangster and general villain. The Vault Dweller becomes embroiled in a power struggle between these two characters (and psyche aspects), and the player chooses which to help, resulting in one of the character’s downfalls.

The Sidekick – Dogmeat / Ian

In Junktown, the Vault Dweller can meet a dog, named Dogmeat. By either befriending the dog (feeding it), or wearing a leather jacket which reminded the dog of its previous owner (a reference to the film Mad Max), Dogmeat would join the player’s party. He follows the typical Sidekick archetype, much like Star Wars’ Chewbacca, or Robin Hood’s Little John - Powerful, trustworthy, but uncivilised. Ian is met before Dogmeat, in Shady Sands. He is infamous for shooting the Vault Dweller and other NPCs in firefights accidentally.

The Departure

The Call to Adventure- 10

The Overseer sends the Vault Dweller on a quest to retrieve the Water Chip. This is rather typical in videogame narrative: the player is asked, ordered, or otherwise inclined to embark on a journey to retrieve artefact X for reason Y. Clear cut Call to Adventure.

Refusal of the Call - 1

Although the Vault Dweller never refuses the call, the player himself is likely to feel reluctance to continue; the Overseer advises the Vault Dweller that he can acquire a water chip from the neighbouring Vault 15, but on arrival, he finds it destroyed, with no water chips. The player now has the impression that he must scour the entire world map in search of one of these tiny computer chips.

Supernatural Aid - N/A

The Crossing of the First Threshold - 8 (Out of sequence)

Occurs immediately after the call to adventure, as the player exits Vault 13 and enters the post-apocalyptic world. No guardian present, but the shift between safety and danger is apparent almost immediately.

The Belly of the Whale - 7

The first town that the player (probably) encounters is Shady Sands, in which the town leader Aradesh implores the Vault Dweller to rescue his daughter Tandi, who is being held in a bandit camp near Shady Sands. The Vault Dweller, upon entering the bandit camp and attacking the bandits therein, plunges into the dog-eat-dog Fallout universe.

Initiation

The Road of Trials - 6

Like many videogame narratives, the Road of Trials in Fallout spans almost the entire game. Difficulty spikes, side quests, and environmental dangers (such as attacks from bandits and animals) persistently harass the Vault Dweller.

The Meeting with the Goddess - N/A

Woman as the Temptress - N/A

Atonement with the Father - 10

Returning the water chip to the Overseer and saving the population of Vault 13 from death is the Vault Dweller’s atonement. He gains respect and adoration from the Father figure. However, upon completion of the Super Mutant army story arc, the Overseer casts out the Vault Dweller, symbolising the oft dual nature of the Father. Gods such as Zeus, or the Hebrew god-pair Yahweh (a storm-god) and El (a solar) can use the same power for creation or destruction - “the grace that pours into the universe through the sun door is the same as the energy of the bolt that annihilates” - Campbell, 1949. The Vault Dweller is rewarded for one epic deed, yet castrated for another. The real reason for the Overseer’s decision to reject the Vault Dweller is that he believed the other vault inhabitants would want to follow in his heroic footsteps and leave the vault, and all along he had been under instructions to keep them sealed in the vault for two hundred years as part of an elaborate plan. Vault 13’s population, however, learn of this conspiracy and execute the Overseer and follow the Vault Dweller into the wastes (this is not known until the release of Fallout 2).

Apotheosis - 7

After returning the water chip and atoning with the Overseer, the player himself has a feeling of wholeness and divinity: he has clashed with the many terrors and dangers of the world and triumphed. The Vault Dweller’s Apotheosis can be seen as a physical manifestation after the second story arc. In Fallout canon, the Vault Dweller and his followers leave Vault 13 and create a new village called Arroyo. This symbolises the Vault Dweller’s spiritual detachment from the Overseer.

The Ultimate Boon - 10 (Out of sequence)

The water chip represents Fallout’s ultimate boon: the Vault Dweller’s retrieving it saving the vault inhabitants from impending doom. The difficulty in obtaining the boon is for two reasons. One is a practical issue: an easily obtainable water chip would make for an unchallenging and boring game. On a deeper level, the difficulty in reaching the boon is due to the Hero being an ordinary man, not a born king. In the west of Ireland, there is a story of the Prince of Lonesome Island. He was sent to retrieve three bottles of water from Tubber Tintye, the flaming fairy well. He met a Supernatural Aid (an aunt) who provided him with a horse, which he rode to the castle of Tubber Tintye. He came to the room of the Queen of Tubber, and took thee bottles of water from the well in her chamber before sleeping for six days, eating, and returning on the same horse. This is typical of a born king finding his boon. The Vault Dweller is no born king, and had to strive for his boon; scouring the radiated wastelands.

Return

Refusal of the Return - N/A

The Magic Flight - 1

The Vault Dweller must navigate back across the wastes with the water chip upon retrieving it. Once both the Super Mutants and The Master have been defeated, the player is automatically returned to Vault 13 for a cut-scene (more of a time-saving rather than narrative device).

Rescue from Without - N/A

The Crossing of the Return Threshold - 8

The Vault Dweller returning to Vault 13 with the water chip. Also, the Vault Dweller returning to Vault 13 in a cut-scene at the end of the game.

Master of the Two Worlds - 8

After returning the water chip to the Overseer, the Vault-Dweller is looked upon as a hero by the other vault inhabitants. The player can return to, and leave, vault 13 at will. However, at the end of the ‘Super Mutant Army’ story arc, the Vault Dweller is shunned by the Vault Overseer, being told that he has “changed too much” and that he would be a bad example to the others.

Freedom to Live - 8

In a play on the Freedom to Live stage, the Vault Dweller, shunned by the Overseer, is condemned to roam the apocalyptic wastes. This is where Fallout’s narrative deviates from the more traditional videogame ending, which almost always centre on the main (player) character’s hero status. This narrative device, though a divergence from the traditional videogame structure, is in no way a deviation from the Campbellian Hero’s Journey. Indeed, Campbell illustrates two possible endings to a myth.

Conclusion

Fallout would follow the Campbellian Hero’s Journey very closely if the second story arc of the Super Mutant army was not present. Although creating the intriguing and unusual dichotomised Father figure, it dislodges other Campbellian elements (such as two crossings of the Return Threshold). The reversal of the Freedom to Live stage is a bold move on the part of Black Isle. The game’s ending fits in perfectly with Campbellian design, but strays far from videogame convention.