Is Fallout a Horror Game?
Fallout is one of the most popular and beloved role-playing game (RPG) series in the gaming industry. With its open-world exploration, engaging storylines, and post-apocalyptic setting, many gamers have spent countless hours exploring the Capital Wasteland, the Mojave Desert, and other wasteland environments. However, a debated topic among gamers is whether Fallout games belong to the horror genre. To answer this question, let’s dive deeper into the definition of horror games and examine some of the key elements that define the genre.
The Definition of Horror Games
Before we discuss whether Fallout falls under the horror category, let’s look at the definition of horror games.
Horror games are a subgenre of video games that aim to evoke fear, anxiety, and unease in players by exploiting their emotions and psychological concerns. The primary goal of horror games is to create a sense of tension and anticipation by using a combination of sound effects, visual cues, and narrative design. Classic horror game elements include, but are not limited to:
Dark and Foreboding Settings
• Creepy environments like abandoned asylums, decaying mansions, or haunted villages
Supernatural/Unsettling Enemies or Enemies with Supernatural/Magical Abilities
• Ghostly entities, undead creatures, demonic beings, or humanoid monsters
Jump Scare Mechanics
• Abrupt and startling events like loud noises, sudden movements, or visual surprises
Psychological Trauma and Fear of Unknowing
• Unraveling mysteries, hidden secrets, and plot twists that create unease or anxiety
Now that we understand what defines a horror game, let’s analyze the Fallout series to determine whether it meets these criteria.
The Dark and Foreboming Setting
Fallout takes place in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by nuclear war and radioactivity. The desolate environment is a prime example of Dark and Foreboming Setting. Players explore areas filled with radioactive waste, rusting hulks, and destroyed buildings, which create an eerie and haunting atmosphere. Brighton Beach, in particular, stands out, as it’s an abandoned casino town filled with decaying decorations, flooded streets, and an almost eerie silence. These post-apocalyptic landscapes, often shrouded in darkness, evoke a sense of survival anxiety and vulnerability.
Tying it Together: Fallout
After analyzing the key elements of horror games and exploring the Fallout series, it is argued that Fallout games, especially 1, 2, and 4, incorporate many of these elements, earning it the title of a form of horror game.
Surprise and Atmosphere
What separates Fallout from other horror games is the balance between building tension and creating surprises. Unlike typical horror games, where jump scares dominate, Fallout relies heavily on an unsettling atmosphere. Sneaking through ruins, avoiding ghoul attacks, or stumbling upon raiders’ camps makes you feel vulnerable and uneasy, mirroring the experiences of a lost explorer in a dark and crumbling world. The way the Wasteland changes as players move through it, often with environmental and narrative twists, creates unexpected experiences that can leave players shivering.
The Fear of Unknowing
Fallout games excelled at creating uncertainty and fear without relying solely on jump scares or instant death. Lies, rumors, and conspiracy theories, spread throughout the Wasteland by NPCs (non-playable characters), keep players on high alert, wondering what lies outside the circle of light, waiting to get the best of them. Radio signals, cryptic messages, or old terminals filled with classified military files only serve to fuel a strong sense of unease. Players wonder about the unknown and often question how to proceed.
Here is a table highlighting some of these fear-inducing elements:
Faith-based Creatures and Myths
| Element | Fear-evoking Factor |
|---|---|
| Cazadors | Hunters and creatures that worship a dying creature, the Cazadora, fueling fears of vampirism and an otherworldly existence |
| Nightkin | Ghouls that revert back to their human-like, and yet, they still hunt their own kind |
| Glowing Mutants | Radiation-hurt creatures, whose glowing complexion sends shivers down the spine |
Consequences and Intense Moments
While Fallout’s horror elements don’t follow a scary-horror narrative, unexpected, intense moments are still integrated. These moments come from confronting various enemies, from the gruesome Feral Ghouls that were once human being victims of the war and abandoned cities filled with radiation-crawling Radscorps, to raiders holding your friends captive or surprise ambushes. The gravity of choices and their consequences also increases anxiety, such as the responsibility to lead a settlement, face moral decisions, and confront moral dilemmas related to the Wasteland’s treacherous world.
Psychological Fear and Trauma
By placing players in life-changing scenarios, such as becoming the target of a settlement’s destruction, falling in love with a faction’s leader, or experiencing mental breakages from intense radiation treatment, the game creates psychological tension within players. As the decisions’ weight sinks in and character consequences loom, players empathize with the harsh realities surrounding their actions. These difficult decisions, often morally ambiguous in their nature, weigh heavily in a player’s heart, evoking anxiety and fear of failure and despair.
The Answer: Yes, Fallout Games Can Be Horror Games (of a sort)
In conclusion, Fallout is more than just an action-filled post-apocalyptic adventure it walks a line between action and psychological horror. The series employs a unique blending of exploration, atmosphere, and storytelling mechanisms, which together create anxiety-inducing experiences and moments of despair. These moments of hope and horror, often hidden beneath more intense action sequences, form the foundation upon which the Fallout franchise stands its relevance within the gaming industry.
More About Fallout: FAQs
What is the first Fallout game developed?
The first Fallout game was created in 1997 by Interplay Entertainment.
How many post-apocalyptic settings have been covered in Fallout games?
So far, games like Fallout 1, 2, and 3 have been set primarily in the United States (California’s wasteland), while Vault-Tec vaults played host to Vault 13 from Vault 101 and the Enclave Base. Later games would go on to introduce the Capital Wasteland, the Mojave and Virginia Plains, and more.
1
Which Fallout version contains the most disturbing elements?
Although elements of fear and unease exist throughout the series, Fallout 3’s ‘Piercer’ and the events surrounding Glowing Sea, where players would confront the consequences of their actions directly.
1 (2008)