Summary
At its core, Fallouthas always been a series about exploring the morality of humanity in the wake of it unleashing its most powerful weapons of mass destruction upon itself, forever changing the land and its populace. Exploring the blasted ruins of America centuries after The Great War in eachFalloutgame reveals the length survivors will go to, in some instances turning to raiding and worse. These aspects of the setting and the questions it poses to players are one of the franchise’s most enduring central themes, and a big reason why it resonates with so many fans.
With thenextFalloutprobably still years awayat this point, it gives developer Bethesda plenty of time to reflect upon past designs and how it can learn from earlier entries to bringFalloutinto the future. One element that was lacking in many ways in the most recent mainline title,Fallout 4, is the ability for fans to have their avatar go down a darker path via more distinctly evil actions and choices. The series has previously offered some interesting ways to do so, and it should return to evil paths in the next installment.
Fallout Needs Viable Options for Evil Characters
When there’s a lack of such encounters and quests, players are usually forced to go out of their way toroleplay evil characters. They can sow chaos by, for example, killing and robbing indiscriminately, but this doesn’t often result in any unique interactions or rewards, and is disconnected from the rest of the story. It creates instances of ludonarrative dissonance, as fans can do so while still siding with the upstanding factions and face no real consequences, making the experience feel disjointed. Bethesda may do well then to more robustly implement evil possibilities with significant repercussions in the nextFallout.
Even prior to Bethesda taking over the IP,Falloutlet fans indulge in some immoral activities. However, a number of these were often more minor and didn’t hugely impact the story or overall state of the world.Fallout 3,though, upped the ante by having some notable choices for evil-leaning characters with more permanent consequences. Chiefly among these was accepting Mr. Burke’s sinister offer to nuke Megaton for Alastair Tenpenny, annihilating the first major hub city most players encounter, and proving that, indeed, “war never changes.”
In comparison,Fallout 4didn’t have many impactful malicious choices like the above. There were a few, with the more important being which major faction to side with, and fans who joined The Institute (depicted as the most immoral, or at least amoral of the bunch) could comfortably call themselves the bad guy.Fallout 4’s DLCsalso added a few more evil choices. Nuka-World lets players become a fully-fledged raider leader, while they can report the secret synth haven of Acadia to the Institute in Far Harbor. Still, there was nothing that really rivaledFallout 3’s moments of villainy, making for some missed opportunities for players who wished for more.
Fallout 4also replacedFO3’s karma meter with a more general reputation system akin toNew Vegas.
How The Next Fallout Could Feature Better Paths for Evil Playthroughs
Bethesda’s latest outing,Starfield, offered even less accommodation for players wanting to embrace their inner villain, with ways to do so being extremely few and far between. While the nature of itsNASA-punk worldis much different thanFallout’s, the studio’s general design philosophy often touts player freedom. Destroying Megaton inFallout 3was perhaps a shocking choice to give players, but wholly fitting toFallout’s morally gray landscape while being a highlight of that freedom.
On top of just including a greater number of quests like The Power of the Atom, Bethesda could more fully incorporate evil playstyles by tweaking other existing mechanics. Bringing backFallout 3’s karma systemand making it more in-depth would go a long way towards making playing an evil character feel substantial and having the world react accordingly. Perhaps how evil players are could determine whether certain important and relevant missions are unlocked. Fans who want to engage in specifically dastardly paths or major story beats would then need to prove themselves by being “evil enough,” with plenty of smaller ways to garner the necessary karma available along the way.
Given the wealth of potentialFallout’s setting offers for evil possibilities and characters, Bethesda should take care that the next entry contains a variety of these types of paths for players to indulge in. Not only would this provide greatcreative roleplaying avenues forFallout, but it would also make multiple playthroughs more appealing, keeping them fresh by allowing fans to make drastically different decisions and experience interesting outcomes that they couldn’t have seen by playing a more saintly character.
Fallout 4
WHERE TO PLAY
Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of Fallout 76 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, invite you to the ambitious open world of Fallout 4. Do whatever you want in a massive Commonwealth with hundreds of locations, characters and quests.As the sole survivor of Vault 111, only you can rebuild and determine the fate of the Wasteland. Join multiple factions vying for power or go it alone - the choices are yours.From a Power Armor-toting soldier to the charismatic smooth-talker, be whoever you want with the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. character system and develop your own playstyle from hundreds of Perks.Experience exciting first- or third-person combat with the dynamic Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, or V.A.T.S., targeting enemies for maximum tactical advantage (and cinematic carnage!) Collect, upgrade and build thousands of items with Fallout 4’s crafting system. Weapons, armor, food and with the right materials, even entire settlements are possible. Welcome home.
