Discussion Disclaimers...
The following is an editorial piece. It is based on my opinions and rambling thoughts about the game and is not a formal analysis, as the next paragraph will lead you to believe I'm sure. I will also only be referring to Fallout 4, Fallout 3 and New Vagas as I don't have a huge amount of time put into the previous Fallout games.
On with the show!
Forgive me for a moment while I indulge myself on this topic. I am just after hopping off of Fallout 4's latest Down-Loadable Content, 'Far Harbour', and a particular thought is haunting my head. "Right", I said with a spring in my voice, "let me ramble about this in text!". So here I am now, prolonging this paragraph to meet some sort of minimum word count that does not exist. Like a fawn in the forest, I will delay no longer, for fear that what I say will fail and falter with regards to my sense making abilities that are presently presented currently right now in this run on sentence.
So lets get into this...
In Fallout 4 the player character is much more capable then in Fallout 3 or New Vagas. Now allow me to make some observations using the Queen's English.
- One can throw grenades without the need to replace their primary weapon.
- One is much faster at reacting, readying and reloading.
- One also has much more game changing and potent drugs at their disposal, such as jet which used to replenish your action points and now it causes everything around you to move in slow motion for a short while.
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| (Fallout 4 - Personal Screenshot) |
The player's new found proficiency with the weapons of the apocalyptic world works in the games narrative. It makes sense because you are an ex soldier, train to deal death and combat communism. Of course you would have a basic understanding of how to properly use most guns, grenades and giant pointy, sharp or blunt things... unless you chose to have a female avatar, in which case you are an ex lawyer... but lawyers are scary, you never know what they are capable of...
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| yup, lawyers are scary... (Fallout 4 - Personal Screenshot) |
With out a doubt, bethesda have put a very satisfying and fluid combat system into their game world. I, among many others, certainly appreciate the change.
My curiosity did what it does best you see, it got curious. So I simply ask, does it take away from the scariness?
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| Well, when you walk the same wilderness as these things... (Concept Art - Angler - Bethesda Softworks) |
The low humming tones of the title's main theme suggests an expansive world just waiting to be explored. I also believe it suggests that while playing this game you will experience fear, but fear that fascinates you. "Gaze at what the world has become", the game would announce, "you know you cannot simply look away". Your morbid curiosity kicks in.
The main game never strictly implied that it would be a horror title, but I distinctly got that impression from the Far Harbour's DLC trailer and indeed the expansion's opening moments. When you first land on the island's dark and foggy shores you are greeted by two inhabitants of a small fishing settlement, "are you lost? This is Far Harbour. We... we don't get many visitors around here".
Just moments later the settlement is attacked! "Man the 'Hull', something is out there" they cry!
Perched on the boundary of the community's home, you sit there patiently. Peering out though the murky air.
Suddenly, "Open the gate, I've got wounded out here"! The frighted survivors rush from the rubble to the settlement walls, "there is no time. Look to the fog, they're coming"!
You wait. Your breathing slowed. Your eyes staring.
"Gulpers!"
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| (Concept Art - Far Harbour - Bethesda Softworks) |
You survive.
Once you have helped annihilate the abominations then you are left to explore the map and after about an hour... the fearful elements go "nah". Not because of the game's level design, art direction or the creatures curling the waters around you. Maybe you are just too good at killing things, and I am not talking about having more bullet spongy enemies or anything. What I mean is what I brought up earlier, perhaps the player is too proficient with combat.
Fallout 3 & Fallout New Vagas had a certain clunkiness to them. Fallout 4's combat is a natural enough evolution to the way those games played. Although... what if that clunkiness added to it's horror elements. After all you would be less capable of dealing with threats.
Dead Money was a piece of DLC for Fallout New Vagas which shares a few similarities with Far Harbour. The star of the show being an ever present and mysterious mist which harms the player.
There are moments ingrained in my head of the times I genuinely felt fear in Dead Money. Such as the time when I set of the gala event. A roar of fireworks rippled through the sky as I stood in a tower, a long way from where I needed to go next. Speakers blaring, I attracted the Ghost People...
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| (Fallout : New Vagas - Dead Money DLC - Ghost Trapper - Bethesda Softworks) |
I became very fond of that tower...
I spent more then a full half an hour confined to that tiny space, convincing myself that I could live the rest of my virtual life up there.
Dead Money was scary... but I did enjoy it!
However in my opinion Fallout often works best as a game that is tailored to your experience.
Dead Money was scary because you were forced to venture alone for considerable chunks of time, during a never ending night and without the soothing sounds of Mr New Vagas to keep you company on the radio.
From the majority of my experience with the franchise, when things got a bit too creepy and I really needed to take the edge off (or else accept life in the tower) I could do that through lore friendly means. You can turn on the radio and sing along to all the shaking that is is going on, wait until day time or even perhaps take a companion with you, so someone has got your back covered!
Sneaking passed the abnormal appendages of a giant amphibian Angler Fish will bring a certain stillness to you're play style regardless. Even at a distance and relatively docile, the sight of the glowing sceptical from their filaments is more then enough to stop you sprinting and silence your breath, with or without a companion.
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| Lurking, Luring... (Fallout 4, Far Harbour DLC - Personal Screenshot) |
Fallout 4 does a good job not letting the fear, that naturally comes with an apocalyptic setting, get too much and if it does the game gives you the tools to make you more comfortable. Fallout wants you to explore it's world at our own pace and make sure you have fun doing that. I believe it succeeds!
In my opinion this makes the game a great example of interactive media.
Likewise...
If you want to emphasise the edge on it's horror elements, turn off the radio, rest until night, roam the world alone and raise the difficulty up to Survival Mode!
Wrapping Things Up...
Yes your character is faster but so are the enemies. A good obvious example of this is how the Super Mutant's favoured pet, the slow crawling Centaur, has been replaced by the 'roid' ravaged Mutant Hound in Fallout 4.
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| "that cute way they shuffle around on all those hands" (Concept Art - Centaur - Bethesda Softworks) |
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| Dawh, don't you just want to take it home with you? (Concept Art - Mutant Hound - Bethesda Softworks) |
Is the games combat too good? No. In my opinion it does not hamper the experience that the developers intended.
If you are looking for them there are many places in the game world that keep you crouched and crawling with your gun close, even after 230 hours of playtime...
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| (Fallout 4 - Personal Screenshot) |
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| (Fallout 4, Far Harbour DLC - Personal Screenshot) |
Was this article pointless? No, having time to think this out has given me an understanding of how the game is designed and an appreciation for the work the must have gone into it!
I, for one, am glad that I went through last 1365 words to arrive at this conclusion. I hope you think so too!
Now, if you'll excuse me, my Fallout 4 itch needs scratching!
We shall 'shlaters',
Richard Naughton.