If you’re familiar with Fallout, the start of the series will be no surprise to you. You’re a Vault Dweller in a doomed vault. This particular vault is running out of water, and you need to find a replacement water chip, lest you all die of dehydration. So, with a gun, a few bullets, and a vague idea of where you could start your journey, off you go into the wild blue yonder. Or, realistically, the wild brown yonder, given the nuclear apocalypse that took place a scant 80 years or so ago.
The beginning of the game is simple: find a water chip for your vault. No map marker, no information on who might have it or how you could get your hands on it, just an idea of, “Oh yeah, this vault over here might know where to get one.” And that’s it. You know the general idea of the vault, but no idea if it’s inhabited by irradiated monsters, or if it’s full of happy and helpful people willing to fulfill your mission easily. Nope, figure it out, dude.
Okay, well, let’s go with our only lead. Vault 15 might know something- they might even have a spare water chip. Why don’t we go see? Heading there, see a town in the distance. No time to visit; we have a vault to save.
Arriving at the vault you’re greeted by a shack, and a broken elevator. Trying to repair the elevator goes nowhere, looking for a staircase goes nowhere, what now? The answer isn’t clear, and this is where investigation and experimentation immediately hits you in the face. There’s no quest markers, no one suggesting you try something else, simply nothing. Again, go figure it out dude or the vault dies.
That might sound frustrating to those of us, like myself, who grew up with games that at least gave you something. From the moment you are given the task to the moment you complete it, no one says, “Oh yeah, go here and buy this,” or, “Kill this bad guy and I’ll give you what you’re after.” You just have to figure it out: talking to people, remembering conversation, putting the pieces together yourself. This is partially due to game design, partially due to restraints of the time. Sometimes you should really receive a little bit more information than you do; and others you’re expected to put the pieces together yourself.
The ending is the cherry on top, with one of the best villains in a game to date. From their appearance, disconnected and disturbing manner of speech, world view, even the dungeon they reside in is frankly disgusting. The manner in which you deal with them is unforgettable. You face a multitude of options, including talking the master down, fighting the master, even joining the master. Whatever ends up convincing you, the master is simply perfectly horrible.
Retrospective
Some of these controls feel hostile and foreign to a modern gamer; some of these issues are simply the game asking more from you than contemporary games will. I think the alien-like hostility of the controls and UI fades quickly once you experiment with it. While trying to decipher everything initially feels like a monumental task, once you enter into combat and screw around with your inventory a bit everything clicks together. It’s still rough, but in the same way that any 30-year-old piece of media is. The jokes are rougher as well, camera quality lower, and in this case foreign UI.
One other complaint is the timer on the main quest, you have 150 days from leaving the vault until the vault dies without the water chip. You have ways to extend the timer, and 150 days isn’t particularly short but if you walk around screwing around too much everyone in your vault dies. For a game encouraging exploration, investigation, and generally taking your time doing things, it’s quite restricting and annoying the first time around.
Suffice to say, this game feels amazing for its age. It genuinely feels like a wasteland. The vibes, ambient sounds, desolate towns, quest design, even the camera angle make you feel like you’re wandering around a blasted-out crater that once was California. In some respects, I think the physical design of some things really adds to the flavor of the game. It all feels sorta rustic, aged, and futuristic. It looks like what American 50’s space age optimism would look like if it was nuked to the stone age. While some of the designs and UI are tough to look at and downright alien, I think this game is necessary to play for anyone who’s a fan of RPGs, Fallout, darker storytelling, or just enjoys a challenge in a video game.
It’s a classic.