The Fallout video game series is pretty much synonymous with the phrase, “War never changes.” In some ways, post-apocalyptic wastelands never change either — or they borrow from each other, at least. That holds true for the Fallout series. Originally conceived as a “spiritual successor” to the post-apocalyptic open world role-playing series Wasteland, Fallout — and its spiritual predecessor — owe a lot to the 1985 cult-favorite film Radioactive Dreams.
How are Fallout and Radioactive Dreams similar? Let’s just say fans of the video game will love the film. After all, “It’s the end of the world, all over again.”
What Is Fallout About?
Even casual gamers will instantly recognize Fallout’s signature atompunk retro-futuristic setting, which borrows from the 1950s and the rampant fear of nuclear annihilation that defined parts of that decade. At the very least, they’ll recognize the fictional Vault-Tec Corporation’s thumbs up-giving Vault Boy. The distinctive series, which was first created by Interplay Entertainment developed by Black Isle Studios, launched in 1997, and was very much a role-playing game (RPG), as was its 1998 sequel, Fallout 2.
After a few years of non-mainline games, Bethesda Softworks acquired the IP and released the third game in the main series, Fallout 3, in 2008 — a full decade after the initial sequel. An action RPG with an impressive open-ended scope, the bestselling Fallout 3 received Game-of-the-Year-level critical acclaim, and became most gamers’ reference point for the franchise as a whole. Despite changing up the gameplay, the post-apocalyptic landscape is similar to those of other entries in the long-running series.
Set in the ruins of Washington D.C. — or the Capital Wasteland — the story is set in an alternate timeline, which experienced nuclear devastation in 2077. Although not a direct sequel to the second Fallout, the game takes place 36 years later, and centers on the person who haf been inhabiting Vault 101. Before the Great War between the U.S. And China came to a nuclear head, underground shelters were created to protect people from the fallout.
The whole thing was designed by Vault-Tec as a social experiment. The player character has lived their 19 years in the sealed Vault, never seeing the wasteland just beyond the door. The player character’s father, James, is a scientist — and like all video game scientists doing important work, he leaves the Vault suddenly, under suspicious circumstances. Eager to find their father, the protagonist leaves the relative safety of the Vault.
The player, who is eventually dubbed The Lone Wanderer, learns that their late mother, Catherine, and James lived outside the Vault before their birth, and had been planning to purify the water in the Potomac River with a giant water purifier housed in a nearby memorial. Of course, the corrupt remnants of the former U.S. Government, known as the Enclave, are also interested in James’ work. This all culminates in The Lone Wanderer making one of three choices, all of which either save the project, or let it all fall apart.
What Is Radioactive Dreams About?
Decades after its rather limited initial run, the post-apocalyptic sci-fi comedy that is Radioactive Dreams has reached cult-classic status. For fans of Fallout, it’s definitely an…interesting watch. Let’s just say it’s worthy of that cult following in a very B-movie way. In the world of Radioactive Dreams, nuclear war expends the world’s nuclear arsenal — save one missile.
In the wasteland that remains, Philip and Marlowe grow up in a fallout shelter. Finally, in the year 2001, they’re able to dig their way out of the cave and rejoin the world. Although Marlowe has high hopes about finding their fathers, who left them in the shelter, Philip assumes they’re dead. Right out of the gate, the boys stumble into a bunch of radiation-burned mutants, and a woman named Miles Archer. Miles distracts Marlowe and takes his gun, but she also drops something rather important: the activation keys to that remaining nuclear missile.
After evading a wasteland-roaming biker gang, the boys notice that the keys bear their dads’ names. While Marlowe is over the moon about this discovery, Philip is incredibly wary. Without spoiling what comes next, suffice to say Radioactive Dreams is a series of unhinged misadventures, rife with post-apocalyptic gangs, hungry cannibals, untrustworthy characters, and a whole lot of daddy issues.
How Are Fallout & Radioactive Dreams Similar?
Interplay’s first post-apocalyptic game, Wasteland, released in 1988, just a few years after Radioactive Dreams. The company had been interested in exploring a nuclear-ravaged setting and wanted to continue the series, but ran into some rights issues. Decade-long story short, this led to the development of Fallout, Wasteland’s spiritual successor. So, how did Radioactive Dreams inspire Wasteland and Fallout?
The 80s film is decidedly kitschy, complete with B-movie action, cheesy acting, awful puns, and ridiculous subplots. Still, it’s that perfect cult hit that deserves to be screened at local, indie theaters to raucous crowds. In a way, Fallout riffs on some of the most basic elements of Radioactive Dreams, but takes the implications seriously. To simplify things a bit, let’s take a look at how Radioactive Dreams relates to Fallout 3, specifically.
In Radioactive Dreams, Philip and Marlowe group up in a fallout shelter, reading noir detective novels and dancing to 1950s swing music. These touchstones shape their outlook on the world beyond the shelter, and it’s all played for laughs. In Fallout, the 50s atomic-age aesthetic is an intentional, artistic choice — one that recalls the nuclear panic of yesteryear, while still feeling futuristic.
Once Philip and Marlowe leave the shelter — their less-advanced, less-planned version of a Vault — the boys run into enemies with radioactive burns, cannibals, and violent gangs, all of which probably sound familiar to those who have scoured the Capital Wasteland. And, last but certainly not least, both The Lone Wanderer of Fallout 3 and the main characters in Radioactive Dreams leave the relative safety of their fallout shelters to search for their fathers — fathers who are hiding truths from them.
If gamers are looking for something tonally similar to the Fallout series, Radioactive Dreams is not it. However, the post-apocalyptic comedy certainly puts a fun B-movie spin on the tropes and touchstones that make Fallout so memorable.