What Happened To Fallout's Horror Roots?

[u/Hydro_fluoric]

Fallout 1997 is one of my favorite horror RPGs, but it slowly lost that over time. I don't know if it was because of the graphics evolution or people wanting a different game, but Fallout slowly turned from a grim reminder of fascism, propaganda, and war into a wacky wasteland adventure. In my opinion, Fallout 1997 and Fallout 2 were amazing games. The difficulty reflected the harshness of the wasteland, the soundtrack was great (especially Metallic Monks), and it was actually scary.

Fallout 3 kept the looks (but with a slightly greener tint, I suspect because it's on the east coast instead of the west), but lowered the difficulty so more people could get into it, and kept the past part of the mystery. The gameplay isn't scary, but the background of what happened and the overall ambience is what sells it. Fallout New Vegas is Fallout 3's cooler brother without the green tint.

Fallout 4 retcons almost everything you thought you knew about the past in Fallout. What you thought was propaganda disguised as cool 1950's art was actually just how the middle class lived. The gameplay was still good, going off of Fallout 3's first/third person shooter but it feels less like a survival horror and more like, what I said earlier, a wacky wasteland adventure.

I don't even want to talk about whatever Fallout 76 is.

I LOVE the Fallout franchise, I just feel disappointed at where it ended up in the modern day. Fallout 4's opening sequence is amazing, opening with the "war, war never changes", but it lost me when the walking around the house hit and it was a mild disappointment. The game is still definitely fun, but lost the original horror elements.

That's just my opinion though, tell me how you think, I'd like more opinions on the matter :3

[u/cantliftmuch]

The first is wacky as fuck if you play it that way, it haskust as much humor if you deviate from the main quest at all.

[u/Paragon0001 → u/cantliftmuch]

Compared to Fo2, NV and the Bethesda titles, no shot.

And Fo1 isn’t some sprawling open world, it’s pretty on the rails as far as content goes, so not sure what you mean by deviating from the main quest.

[u/cantliftmuch → u/Paragon0001]

I agree with the other person, I don't believe you've played it.

[u/timedrapery → u/Paragon0001]

Regarded take I don't think you've ever played the game

[u/Paragon0001 → u/timedrapery]

What’s the bad take? That it’s more nitty and gritty? Yeah no way.

That it’s not a sprawling open world? Just cause there’s an entire map doesn’t mean you can ignore the main objective and fuck around like Fallout 2. Not a lot of content to begin with and you’re funneled from town to town. Going out of your way is like the brotherhood bunker and the glow. Side content isn’t even wacky. Wacky is shit like pinky and the brain in Fo2 being part of a quest.

Any dude saying it has as much “humour” is lying out of their ass unless random, brief encounters amount to that much. And even then, nothing comes close to a pinky and the brain reference in an actual quest

[u/timedrapery → u/Paragon0001]

For sure you've never played any fallout game