Fallout Creator Worried People Wouldn’t Like The First Game’s Ending

The first Fallout set the stage for the entire series with its bleak ending. After braving the wasteland, infiltrating a cult, and fighting back a super mutant army, all to get a water chip for your vault, the reward is exile.

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The final shot is striking, as the Vault Dweller aimlessly walks into the uncertainty of the apocalypse. Future games aped this iconic shot with their protagonists likewise marching into the unknown, cementing it as a Fallout staple. But the first game nearly ended on a much more uplifting note.

Fallout creator Tim Cain revealed in a new YouTube video (via GamesRadar) that he wanted the ending to be a big celebration of all your efforts in the wasteland, not the dismal backhanded finale we know and love today.

“I had pushed for a Fallout ending with a party,” Cain said. “You come back to Vault 13, you’ve gotten them a water chip, you’ve taken care of the mutant army and the Master, and everybody has a big party for you and there’s cake and balloons. That got rejected in favor of [lead artist and art director] Leanord Boyarsky’s idea that the overseer kicks you out. In hindsight, better idea. But at the time I was like, ‘I don’t know if people are going to buy this.'”

Boyarsky’s Idea Set The Stage For Fallout 2

In hindsight, this decision would prove instrumental in shaping the future of the series. Not only did it cinch the bittersweet, bleak tone, but it also directly set up the sequel. Black Isle Studios used the Vault Dweller’s fate to their advantage, as the second game opens in the town of Arroyo, which, as it turns out, was founded by the Vault Dweller and several others who left Vault 13 in their stead.

Fallout 2 even begins with their grandchild — the “Chosen One” — braving the trials of Arroyo to acquire the coveted Vault 13 jumpsuit, making the Vault Dweller an almost mythical hero among the townsfolk. None of that would be possible if the overseer hadn’t exiled them.

It’s hard to imagine the first Fallout without that ending. The sequel would look completely different, and the idea of these games ending with a party feels so outlandish now because of how much the ending influenced the series’ tone. But hey, we got there eventually when Bethesda took the reins and opened Fallout 3 with a big birthday party in the vault.

Fallout

Systems

Released

October 10, 1997

ESRB

m

Developer(s)

Interplay

Publisher(s)

Interplay