Bethesda director reveals new Fallout 4 connection to first game, making its main character complicit in a war crime [UPDATED]
Nate’s background pre-Fallout 4 just got a whole lot darker.
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Update 4/13/24 @ 2:25 p.m. PT / 5:25 p.m. ET:Bethesda studio design director Emil Pagliarulo hasposted a new statementin a thread on X (Twitter) about the new Fallout 4 lore, walking it back and noting that “not every bit of Fallout info I share is automatically canon.” Here are his full comments:
“Oof. I wanted to share what I thought was a cool Fallout tidbit without realizing how divisive it might be. I should have. I get dumb when I get excited…and I get excited a lot. Not every bit of Fallout info I share is automatically canon. Nate is NOT a war criminal!
When you’re world and character building, you have a LOT of head canon. You’re always sorting ideas. Early on, we talked about that being Nate, in that video. He had been through hell as a soldier. Every day was another unknown horror. This was one of them.
So, internally, it was a cool nod to OG Fallout and a way to fictionally frame the character. It wasn’t shared with the player because it was never meant to be who YOU think Nate is. For a player, Nate’s soldier past is whatever you think it is. THAT is canon.”
Original article:All the entries in the Fallout franchise have memorable intros that set the stage for the post-apocalyptic RPG experience their players are about to jump into, but to me, none are as striking as the one from the game that started it all: Interplay Entertainment’s 1997 RPG, Fallout. Itsopening cutscenebegins with the melancholic melody of The Ink Spots' “Maybe” and a short, cheerful ad for Vault-Tec’s nuclear bunkers that cuts to an unsettling state-controlled news broadcast in which two power armor-clad US soldiers “keep the peace in newly annexed Canada” by executing a prisoner of war, then laugh and wave at the camera before comically large “BUY WAR BONDS” text flashes and the camera starts to zoom out. Soon, it’s revealed that these commercials were playing on a TV from before the “Great War”; and as the last of its power as well as The Ink Spots' notes fades away, the viewer is left with nothing but the harrowing sight of a destroyed city and the eerie sound of the howling wind.
It’s a shocking scene that instantly conveys the dark tone and humor ofFallout, as well as its distinctly anti-imperialist and anti-war themes. Now, though, we’ve learned something new about it: it has a direct connection to Fallout 4, the fourth mainline sequel to the original game released by Bethesda Game Studios in 2015. Specifically, it’s been revealed that Fallout 4’s male player character, a soldier named Nate, was one of the troops who killed the man in the propaganda broadcast. Bethesda’s studio design director and Fallout 4 writer and designer Emil Pagliarulo announced this on Saturday morning amid all the hype for the new Fallout TV show.
“Given the great vibes recently, and the millions of amazing Fallout fans (that’s you!) I feel like the time is right to finally share an unknown link between Fallout 1 and Fallout 4,” hewroteon X (Twitter), sharing relevant screenshots. “Remember the Fallout 1 opening movie? Annexation of Canada? SAME. GUY. (No, NOT the shooter!)”
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Given the great vibes recently, and the millions of amazing Fallout fans (that’s you!) I feel like the time is right to finally share an unknown link between Fallout 1 and Fallout 4. Remember the Fallout 1 opening movie? Annexation of Canada? SAME. GUY. (No, NOT the shooter!) 🤓 pic.twitter.com/9JNWmg7yL0April 13, 2024
This new tidbit of lore explicitly makes Nate complicit to a war crime, and is quite a dark addition to a backstory I always thought of as pretty neutral and morally ambiguous.Fallout 4’s introsimply portrays Nate as a soldier afraid of the looming war between the US and China that would eventually engulf the world in nuclear fire — and if you ask me, the fact we didn’t know anything more about his character was a good thing since he’s the “blank slate” vehicle for our post-apocalyptic roleplaying.
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Ultimately, I just don’t see the point of this connection. Pagliarulosaysthat “the TV show perfectly illustrates that inherently good people, especially in the Fallout universe, can do some pretty shitty things to adapt and survive,” which is a point I wholeheartedly agree with; what makes me raise an eyebrow is that Nate’s laughter indicates heenjoyedthe execution he was a part of, and didn’t just stand by because he was ordered to. I suppose he could have been commanded to chuckle for the sake of the propaganda, but…meh.
For someone like me who takes the character roleplaying aspect of RPGs pretty seriously, this makes it harder to shape a story for “my Nate” unless I choose to ignore his backstory and pretend he’s someone else. And hey, I’m happy to do that — the"Start Me Up" Alternate Start modhas had a permanent spot in my load orders for years — but it’s a bit annoying this new connection affects how I perceive the vanilla character. Good thing I usually play as his wife Nora, anyway.
Notably, the surprise drop of this lore came days after the debut of Amazon’s Fallout TV show, which has received universal acclaim from fans and critics alike (don’t missour review). Its popularity has led toa Fallout player count resurgence across all the games, and if you’ve never played them, there’s afranchise-wise salegoing on you can take advantage of from now until April 21.Fallout 4 is also getting a free next-gen update later in April, so you’ve got that to look forward to if you’re planning to head back to the Commonwealth or step out of Vault 111 into it for the first time.
It’s worth noting that every Fallout game other than Fallout 4 VR is also available to play throughXbox Game Pass, which is Microsoft’s all-you-can-eat gaming subscription service. Interplay’s Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel are only available on PC andPC Game Pass, while the rest of series is on XboxandPC and both the console and PC versions of the service; withXbox Game Pass Ultimate, you’ll get access to everything on both platforms.
Brendan Lowry is a Windows Central writer and Oakland University graduate with a burning passion for video games, of which he’s been an avid fan since childhood. He’s been writing for Team WC since the summer of 2017, and you’ll find him doing news, editorials, reviews, and general coverage on everything gaming, Xbox, and Windows PC. His favorite game of all time is probably NieR: Automata, though Elden Ring, Fallout: New Vegas, and Team Fortress 2 are in the running, too. When he’s not writing or gaming, there’s a good chance he’s either watching an interesting new movie or TV show or actually going outside for once.Follow him on X(Twitter).
