Fallout is a lot of things, but it is, at its core, satire—a long and exhaustive example of where cold war-era browbeating could’ve led us: A world blasted, irradiated, and filled with Deathclaws. The furries might be excited about that last bit, but I like my insides un-gouged out, thank you very much.
Speaking to PCG’s own Elie Gould, executive producer at Bethesda, Todd Howard—who you might know as the guy responsible for The Elder Scrolls and later entrants in the Fallout series, sans New Vegas—says that the dystopic, serious elements are “key to how the world of Fallout became what it is.”
The result? Man-made horrors beyond comprehension, ghouls with sloughing flesh, cockroaches the size of dogs, and a lot of really good music. Howard’s right in asserting that the optimistic Stepford smile of a society perpetually on the brink of war is what makes Fallout so lively—since that wartime spirit endures like an echo in a world completely unsuited to it.
It’s a balance so difficult, in fact, that for a moment Howard—and the folks making the Fallout TV show—weren’t even sure if the iconic line “War, War Never Changes” was too goofy for the silver screen. Luckily, they erred on the side of leaning into the spirit of the thing.
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