The so-called “sad dad” genre later exploded in popularity The last of uswho achieved great success through his story about parental love. Games like 2018 god of war followed suit, further proving that exploring the parent-child relationship within a fantastical context can be uniquely compelling. That said, sad dad games are often guilty of retreading old story bases, recycling tired concepts, such as a gruff old man softened by the influence of a spirited youth.
You can't tell about it result The games, for all their flaws, have consistently done a good job of presenting and analyzing strange or unusual situations within a post-apocalypse presentation. Even in a game like Result 4In what many fans (myself included) found frustrating, there are interesting ideas to interrogate, whether it's the tragic fate of a child vampire or the unimaginable moxie of a journalist growing up at the end of the world. of course, Result 4 It also prominently focuses on the plight of the parents, either father or mother, depending on the player's preference, and not only that. result Game to explore the topic.
Spoilers ahead for everyone result Apart from the game Fallout: New Vegas.
Fallout, Tide of Tomorrow are two sides of the same post-apocalyptic coin
Both Fallout and Tides of Tomorrow bring strange post-apocalyptic visions to life, but they do so in completely opposite ways.
How the Fallout games use parenting to underscore the reality of nuclear war
Fallout 3 It was the series' first swing at 3D, but it was the first to be developed by Bethesda Game Studios, which took over from Black Isle Studios. Opinions differ on this changing of the guard, but for better or worse, it's clear that Bethesda wanted to create a more cinematic, linear, detailed and predetermined main campaign, revolving almost entirely around the relationship between a father and his child, with the player playing the role of the latter.
Who is that character?
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After a fairly modest prologue depicting the hero's childhood in Vault 101, Fallout 3The plot is closed. The protagonist's father, who is their sole parent after their mother dies in childbirth, leaves the vault without explanation. The protagonist spends most of the campaign searching for his father in the Wasteland, only to discover that he has escaped to work on a project to effectively restore safe drinking water to the inhabitants of the region. In order to do this, she had to choose between being there for her child and doing right by mankind.
Through this story, Fallout 3 A thematic throughline of the series highlights: Children are the future, but the future for humanity is far from guaranteed. With civilization in such a harsh and certain decline, to be a child is to accept an entirely new sense of responsibility, for a child cannot choose to stand in such an uncertain and harsh world. Not only is the child itself necessarily subjected to an unforgiving, inhumane environment, but in that environment everyone must now struggle hard; The birth of a new individual increases competition for scarce resources, but not the resources themselves.
Result 4 It reverses the dynamic of its predecessor by placing the player in the role of a parent searching for their child. But instead of exploring the burden of reproduction on all parties concerned, Result 4 It sheds light on what many real-world parents fear: the idea of their child leaving them and going their own way, potentially disagreeing or difficult to understand. Such is the condition of the hero Result 4Who eventually discovers that their son has become the leader of a morally questionable corporation, which kidnaps people and replaces them with living androids. Morality is fundamentally re-contextualized in this post-apocalyptic world, and it's very hard to look the other way or fence-seat when your own child is primarily involved.
Being a parent isn't all doom and gloom in the Fallout world
Becoming a parent is one of the most difficult, life-changing choices a person can make, and it's even more difficult in this destroyed world. resultwho How to raise a child in such darkness?
This is a more extreme version of a question that many parents face in real life. It's hard to justify having children if you fear, for example, the devastation that climate change is projected to bring in the coming years. I would argue that such things are actually smart to consider, but that doesn't mean antinatalism is the solution. By procreating, our species actually has a better chance of having a future. Things may be difficult for future generations result universe, like our own, but there's no telling what those future generations might do to improve lives or uplift humanity in the decades to come.
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First result This is a good example of the idea. The player-character has no meaningful family ties, but they end up serving as parental figures to their community: they have the choice to either facilitate the Super Mutant Eugenics program or destroy the Super Mutant base, eventually starting their own little society in the Wasteland. This slum is the hero's metaphorical child—a parallel that is only strengthened in Fallout 2in which the player-character is their grandchild.
By procreating, our species actually has a better chance of having a future.
in Fallout 2It initially appears that the choice to place humanity in a place to live has had predictably unfortunate consequences. As the community started by the protagonists of the first game begins to die due to a devastating drought, its only hope is their grandson, who is sent to retrieve the GECK kit to make the community fertile and thriving. Reproduction and proliferation increased the pressure on the community's resources, but thanks to the bravery and vision of the younger generation, the community was able to enjoy a new era of prosperity and hope.
The same can be said about the endings of various others result Games. The player's father died Fallout 3Leaving them to complete his water purification mission. If the father had no children, perhaps his life's dream of providing clean water to the waste land of the capital would have died with him. The end of the widely accepted canon Result 4 Actually sees Shawn killed by his parents, but since the parent-son relationship is reversed in this game, it can still be seen as the younger generation making sacrifices for the future. In these cases, having children can be heartbreaking and difficult, but it can also pave the way for a brighter tomorrow.
- issued
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November 10, 2015
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood and gore, intense violence, strong language, drug use
