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.
The wasteland should be terrifying, not a sandbox for our power fantasy.
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...
