Fallout is an interesting case of tripping into a material analysis despite itself.
I think part of the reason modern Fallout games don't resonate is because of a shift in focus in Fallout 2.
☢️ Disclaimer ☢️ I'm about to critique Fallout and all of its runty children, but it comes from a deep place of love. Proceed cautiously...
The greatness of the original Fallout was it's relentless juxtaposition. Wandering around its world deeply reminded me of Percy Shelly's poem Ozymandius. The incredibly kitszch pre-war civilization was muted because you would only catch glimpses and fragments in the ruins surrounded by the Wasteland. You could say the old world haunted the world and people. The bleakness of the setting gave a sympathy to even the "bad" guys, especially when many player choices revolved around the best of bad options and unintended side-effects. The people living in that world embodied a critique of the entire ideology that created the blasted-out world. The game embodied a ghost story.
Where its own analysis falls over is a shift away from Ozymandius and into more familiar tropes typical of post-apocalyptic/fall-of-civilization fiction. The focus shifted away from the juxtaposition and towards an analysis of the people that lived in those ruins. We no longer see the games as a critique of Hubris, but a critique of their world, and (increasingly) a critique of the post-war inhabitants. The pre-war civilization went from haunting to set dressing. It's easy to point to Bethesda for this phenomenon, but (if we're being really honest with ourselves) the problem started in Fallout 2. The game became a franchise, and its own lore began to eclipse the general irony. In the original Fallout the pre-war culture was as alien to the world's inhabitants as it was to ours. Part of what made it work was the very little that was revealed in the bombed-out ruins. Now we have a fairly liberal (yes, even in FO2 and FNV) takes on the human condition, while the player has an encyclopedic knowledge of the pre-war world.
In a very real sense, where does the franchise go from here? Truthfully, nearly all post-apocalypse/fall-of-civilization fiction falls into this trap. Zombie fiction suffers from this phenomenon the most. In Fallout's case, returning to the haunted nature of the old world might breathe new life. It lends itself to a mysticism and reverence by the people living among the ruins.
Yep, you hit the nail on the head. I've been saying that Fallout needs a reboot and universe reset for a while, too much of it is too far gone and has become a parody of itself.
Fallout is an interesting case of tripping into a material analysis despite itself.
I think part of the reason modern Fallout games don't resonate is because of a shift in focus in Fallout 2.
☢️ Disclaimer ☢️ I'm about to critique Fallout and all of its runty children, but it comes from a deep place of love. Proceed cautiously...
The greatness of the original Fallout was it's relentless juxtaposition. Wandering around its world deeply reminded me of Percy Shelly's poem Ozymandius. The incredibly kitszch pre-war civilization was muted because you would only catch glimpses and fragments in the ruins surrounded by the Wasteland. You could say the old world haunted the world and people. The bleakness of the setting gave a sympathy to even the "bad" guys, especially when many player choices revolved around the best of bad options and unintended side-effects. The people living in that world embodied a critique of the entire ideology that created the blasted-out world. The game embodied a ghost story.
Where its own analysis falls over is a shift away from Ozymandius and into more familiar tropes typical of post-apocalyptic/fall-of-civilization fiction. The focus shifted away from the juxtaposition and towards an analysis of the people that lived in those ruins. We no longer see the games as a critique of Hubris, but a critique of their world, and (increasingly) a critique of the post-war inhabitants. The pre-war civilization went from haunting to set dressing. It's easy to point to Bethesda for this phenomenon, but (if we're being really honest with ourselves) the problem started in Fallout 2. The game became a franchise, and its own lore began to eclipse the general irony. In the original Fallout the pre-war culture was as alien to the world's inhabitants as it was to ours. Part of what made it work was the very little that was revealed in the bombed-out ruins. Now we have a fairly liberal (yes, even in FO2 and FNV) takes on the human condition, while the player has an encyclopedic knowledge of the pre-war world.
In a very real sense, where does the franchise go from here? Truthfully, nearly all post-apocalypse/fall-of-civilization fiction falls into this trap. Zombie fiction suffers from this phenomenon the most. In Fallout's case, returning to the haunted nature of the old world might breathe new life. It lends itself to a mysticism and reverence by the people living among the ruins.
Yep, you hit the nail on the head. I've been saying that Fallout needs a reboot and universe reset for a while, too much of it is too far gone and has become a parody of itself.