The originalFalloutis anything but cheerful. It is a dystopic game set in the post-apocalyptic version ofretro-future-infused 2161. The entire world has been nuked to shreds, and the whole plot focuses on a vault survivor trying to search through the scraps of the nuclear wasteland to save his tribe.
Sure, there are definite areas ofdark humorthroughout the series, but Fallout was abhorrently grim from the very start.This makes thedark ending, where your vault refuses to allow you back inside despite saving their lives, all the more fitting.
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But in arecent videotitled “My Ideas That Got Rejected,” the creator of Fallout,Tim Cain, describes how this wasn’t his original idea for the game’s ending; in fact, his idea for the ending was a lot less grim, actually rewarding the player for their hard work.
In this video, Tim Cain discusses his ideas for many games he’s worked on. Besides the original Fallout, the games he discusses include titles likeArcanumandPillars Of Eternity.
One of the most shocking was Cain’s initial idea for Fallout 1’s ending.Instead of the grim ending we got, where the Vault Dweller is ultimately rejected from Vault 13, he’s welcomed back home with a surprise party waiting for him.
You come back to Vault 13, you’ve gotten them water chip, you’ve taken care of the mutant army and the master, and everyone has a big party for you, and there’s cake and balloons!
Instead, he explains that the grim ending we got, where the overseer kicks you out of Vault 13, came from art director Leonard Boyarsky. Although he definitely holds high regard for his own ending, even Cain admits that“in hindsight: better idea.”
Tim Cain’s Other Rejected Ideas
In addition to this rejected ending from Fallout 1, Tim Cain explained many of his other ideas that were ultimately rejected from his projects.One of these is the name of thespecial systemused within Fallout.
S.P.E.C.I.A.L is an acronym consisting of the first letter of the many skill attributes in Fallout games, such as strength, perception, intelligence, and luck. Once they got these letters together,Cain’s first idea was to title the acronym A.C.E.L.I.P.S.
When it was suggested by someone else that the letters could also spell out “special,” Tim Cain agreed, “yeah, I admitted that was a better acronym, and that’s the one we went with, but I always think back on ‘acelips.’”
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For games like Arcanum, Cain had many ideas for different text skills and procedurally advancing skill points.South Park: The Stick Of Truthhad slightly rearranged combat where characters wouldn’t reset to their original positions. These ideas were likely reigned back to limit the complexity of those systems.
He also mentions a unique idea forThe Outer Worlds, one of Obsidian’s most recent RPGs.When a companion helps you pass a skill check, such as persuasion, the game would have shown them suggesting or helping the player decide what to do, but this was also scrapped.
Even if you’re the game director… it doesn’t matter, sometimes your ideas will get replaced with other ideas that are better, and that’s fine.
With how complex the game design process is, it’s really interesting to see many of the ideas that, in an alternate universe, could’ve made it into these titles, and we highly recommend you check out thefull videoif you’re interested in more of Tim Cain’s rejected ideas.
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