Fallout's co-creator again recalls nixing 'Terminator-style' robots in the original game, which has me rubbing my chin real hard at Fallout 4's entire plot: 'Mr Handy and Terminator robot do not belong in the same universe'
Tim Cain is back with another YouTube video and that means two things. The first: my career, such as it is, can continue for at least another day. The second: it's time for some delicious original Fallout reflections.
Today's video was a discussion on tone in games, and the responsibility that game directors have to keep their settings coherent. Sometimes, that means shooting down ideas that aren't bad, maybe they're good, but that just don't work with the tone a particular game is going for. By way of example, he offers up the time he shot down the notion of Terminator-esque murderbots in Fallout.
Cain's mentioned this briefly before—notably in an earlier video on Fallout's biggest influences—but he puts it in a bit more context here. "In Fallout… making the original game, somebody wanted a Terminator-style robot. You know, an endoskeleton and chonk chonk chonk. And I'm like: 'That does not belong in here. We're a '50s imagining of the future! Go look at Mr Handy. Mr Handy and Terminator robot do not belong in the same universe! At least, not the tone of our universe.'"
I defy anyone to hear Cain say that and not think immediately of Fallout 4, whose plot revolved around the personhood and potential liberation of an underclass of androids. I like Fallout 4 fine—better than Fallout 3, even—but its main quest always felt out of step with the setting as a whole: more Blade Runner than '50s sci-fi.
So I reckon Cain was bang-on back during FO1's development. Something else he's bang-on about: talking raccoons. "I cut the raccoons, the talking raccoon race, because I didn't feel like it met the game's tone. It wasn't a bad idea, it just didn't meet the game's tone."
I can put the dots together, Tim, don't you worry. Fallout 5 confirmed: this one's about some sort of raccoon slave revolt.
2026 games: All the upcoming games
Best PC games: Our all-time favorites
Free PC games: Freebie fest
Best FPS games: Finest gunplay
Best RPGs: Grand adventures
Best co-op games: Better together