Like many of you, right now I am addicted to Fallout 4. I already have over 100 hours of gameplay into this life destroying game and still I have difficulty putting it down. Hell it is so good, porn sites have a significant drop in views. Porn sites! Anyway, I am not going to review this game. During presentations Fallout often comes up. People then ask: 'Is Fallout Steampunk?'
For those not familiar with Fallout. Is a Roleplaying game that started on PC in 1997, created by Interplay Studio's. The stories are set in a post apocalyptic setting destroy by nuclear fire. But this is not your typical wasteland simulator.
The Fallout franchise is an odd beast when it comes to genre. It's both Alternate History and Science Fiction. This timeline changes after the Second World War, were American society focuses on nuclear power rather than digitization. Things like the transister (that allows for minituarisation) don't excist, but Cadillac's are powered by nuclear mini-reactors.
In 2077 the USA still looks like a futuristic version of the 1950. Every nuclear-age family has household robots and holotape players. However, a 10 year lasting war in Alaska against the Chinese over the last remaining natural resources just ended, and the losers (probably) didn't take it well. Nobody knows who launched the first missiles, but the result would be the same. Global annihilation.
Two centuries later, humanity still hasn't recovered, but has made a home within the ruines of the Old World that gives them shelter against radioactive storms and dangerous mutants roaming the wastes. However, it aren't these radioactive beasts that are the biggest threat. Like history teaches us, over and over again. War.... War never changes.
One of the themes throughout the Fallout games is that, despite all the challenges this new world provided for the remnants of humanity, like foodshortage and rampaging mutants, it are your fellow humans you have to be aware of.. Rather they are desperate tribes, turned to raiding and cannibalism, or surviving organizations from the Old World that want to restore civilization in their own image in secrecy. They are a greater threat to the settlers of the Fallout universe than any other.
cyberpunk. In Fallout 4 main plot even has this Film Noir fibe to it. This is both expressed verbally as visually, why Fallout is so loved by so many players.
The first thing players will notice is the American Dream style design of the Old World (2077), with Art Deco decorations, Populux household-machines and Googie-Architecture, typically associates with the 1950's. Some factions however have this sleek
Cyberpunk design going on, that contrasts with the DIY, or
tribal appearance of the common wasteland settlements and fortifications in the New World (2277).
The story's of the Fallout universe exploit the conflicts between the old and the new, tradition and progress, high-tech and low-tech very well. The survivors of the Great War realize that it was technology that destroyed civilization, however they also use Old World tech to improve they chances of survival. Between the scavenged equipment of raiders you often find 10mm pistols and other Old World weapons next to DIY-piperifles and some settlements manages the recycle an old reactor to power their defenses and use old terminals containing knowledge of Old World scientists. Some locations are still patrolled by pre-war robots as well, guarding it against enemies that don't exist anymore. If this description doesn't scream Steampunk, I don't know what does. But does it make it so?
Steampunk was a play on the word Cyberpunk. Books like The Difference Engine or describes as Cyberpunk in the past. Steampunk explores the what-if scenario's were technology has made an irreversible impact on history as 'we' know it. Fallout certainly has that, in a way. Unlike typical Steampunk, Fallout is set in the future of such an Alternate History. It's design however does scream Steampunk, although some would call it Decopunk or Atompunk. But I am sure we can all agree that the design is Retrofuturistic mixed in with a great amount of DIY. Fallout is also known for it;s historical and cultural references. But, to name a few, in Fallout 1 you can find a Nixon Doll. In Fallout 2 you will encounter the Cult of Hubology . In New Vegas you can find a gang called the Kings, inspired by The King himself. The Brotherhood of Steel has a lot of elements of the Knightly Orders and then there is the Roman inspired Caesar's Legion. That is not including all the historical landmarks and buildings you can visit in the ruins of Washington DC, Boston, Pittsburgh, and neighboring cities.
Fallout also has it's own version of the Cold War and the postwar fear of communism. Everywhere you find old propaganda posters against communists and the Chinese. During fallout 3, and onward, you also discover the treatment of Chino-American citizens, which is really reminiscent of the treatment of Japanese citizens during WW2. And of course public service announcements about nuclear bombs and atomic fallout.
But here is an interesting fact. The idea for the first Fallout game, came from the Mad Max movies. A lone wanderer in the Wasteland created after a Nuclear War over the last resources. The leather armor in the Fallout games is actually based on Max's own Armour.
You may have also noticed I haven't talked about the protagonists of the Fallout games. The Vault Dweller, The Chosen One, The Lone Wanderer, The Courier and in Fallout 4 The Sole Survivor. These characters are like Max. Not that interesting themselves, but their actions changed the world of Fallout. They helped new Factions come into being and ruined others. It are these changes that make the lore of this universe. The Vaultdweller and those that follow is his or her footsteps are there for us to explore the setting. Fallout is one of those few titles that actually succeed in making the setting this immersive that the development of the protagonist ain't that important. The player is the protagonist. Often the player starts in a Vault, similar to our own reality, to get acquainted with the world before throwing the player into the wastes themselves were they will be confronted by mutants and raiders. What is new to the Vaultdweller is new to us, what makes it such a powerful moment when the vaultdoor closes behind you.
The world you enter is filled with secrets, waiting to be discovered by you, the player. Not only will you discover the bounties of this brave new world. You can uncover this alternate history, what the people of the past were like and the true purpose of the Vaults.
The Fallout universe it probably is one of the best known, and well done, Alternate History settings out there. The Pipboy, Dogmeat and it's the quote: "War... War never changes" are staples of gaming culture. Not only did they not make an obvious choice like, 'The Russians and Americans start a World War approach'. They chose an aesthetic, explain why the world looks the way it does and how this would effect history as we know it. It is also unique in the way that it is the future of an alternate timeline. And that is the conclusion of this article. Fallout is unique. It's sources of inspiration ranges from history, popculture to Steampunk. Not bad for a game that actually began with the idea to make a Mad Max type gameworld.
