Fallout‘s setting flourishes as a sci-fi RPG series. More recently, the franchise has begun to branch into a series and live service game, showing the potential of Fallout‘s world for different kinds of stories. One of the areas that Fallout could tap into for a spin-off game is its Vaults.
Fallout‘s Vaults are rich in lore and have incredible potential for original stories from the perspective of characters looking to shelter from the nuclear war. There is a ton of potential for a horror game set exclusively in a Vault, and some of the Fallout games have explored this concept on a smaller scale. With limitless scenarios to explore, a Fallout Vault spin-off as a horror game could prove to be a terrifying experience and an incredibly creative concept that also expands on the lore of the world.
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The Lore Behind Fallout’s Vaults
There are at least 122 Vaults scattered across the USA in the Fallout series, with the possibility of more that weren’t official. Fallout‘s Vaults were commissioned ostensibly to preserve humanity in the event of nuclear war. In reality, the Vaults were a social experiment conducted by the Enclave, with only very few Vaults left untouched. The experiments conducted in the Vaults ranged from physical and psychological torture to social experiments that Vault Overseers would document. The occupants of the Vaults had no idea of the true intentions of the Vaults until it was too late, if at all.
The Vaults provide the perfect setup for a horror game. There are various subgenres of horror that rely on different techniques, such as jump scares, withholding information, tight framing, and sound design. While these are usually used in movies, they can also be carried over to horror games, and are often used in horror games such as Silent Hill 2. As a Vault could be a claustrophobic space, this could be the perfect setting for a horror game.
Adapting Fallout’s Vaults for a Horror Spin-Off
Because the experiments in Fallout‘s Vaults had a wide range of different purposes with no consistency or pattern, there is potential to create a horror game spin-off set in the Vault. All the Fallout games begin in a Vault, but soon lead to the player character leaving, but a horror game could be contained entirely within the Vault. The premise for a horror game could either take place decades after the residents enter the Vault, or it could begin like Fallout 4 when the residents first enter the Vault.
Translating Horror Techniques to Fallout
Opening a Vault and escaping it is typically a relief at the end of the prologue of Fallout games. Having to spend an entire game in a claustrophobic space, and knowing there is no way out while being trapped inside with an entity that wishes harm on the protagonist, could be a great setup for a horror game.
A Fallout Vault horror game could potentially take place just before and after Fallout‘s nuclear war, with a period of acclimatization and stability for the protagonist and their new Vault-dwelling peers before signs of the experiment begin to show. The nature of the experiment can swing the sub-genre of the game in different directions. Because of the recent nuclear explosion, the protagonist will need to remain trapped in the Vault for the remainder of the game, raising the stakes and the tension.
- Released
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November 10, 2015
- ESRB
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M FOR MATURE: BLOOD AND GORE, INTENSE VIOLENCE, STRONG LANGUAGE, USE OF DRUGS