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Fallout's Pre-War America Was a Nightmare, and Here's Why

AltFall

1,105,015 views

Fallout's pre-war America was yesterday's dream of tomorrow, but it was a nightmare. For beyond the sweet rolls and suburban shine was a nation on the verge of collapse, even before the bombs fell.

In today's video, we'll be covering the lore of pre-war America, and how it became the wasteland we know today.

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Chapters:
Intro: 0:00
The Beginning of the End: 2:52
Why It Was A Nightmare: 23:34
Outro: 32:57

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Mods:
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#fallout #falloutlore

20 Comments

@altfall Creator 8 months ago Pinned

Thanks for all the support for this video guys! A lot of people have been asking what mod I used for the pre-war gameplay other than Fallout 4. It's a New Vegas mod made by BourgeoisBanana called A Town Called Sanctuary (MODDERS RESOURCE): https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/67176?tab=description

@Britishbjornis 9 months ago (edited)

My theory on why the clothes stayed 50s wasn’t because of culture stagnation in fallout universe but later on in the timeline the US government and the media in pre-war America especially before resources wars pushed the 50s fashion as more patriotic, so people reverted back to that fashion.

@Bakumatsu1 8 months ago

MY DYSTOPIAN ESCAPE IS GETTING UNCOMFORTABLY CLOSE TO REALITY

@imperialprotocoldroid8570 6 months ago

I can't tell if I watched a lore video or the news

@mr._.mav792 9 months ago

I can't tell if it's more frightening, enraging, or depressing just how much this all is mirroring the real world so accurately.

@Keyboardeater1 9 months ago

The most ironic thing about the Fallout world is they were so close to fusion energy, and the Think Tank basically invented replicators.

They were so, so close to a post scarcity world, but that utopia slipped away from them.

@metadude1234 7 months ago

For why Bethesda's Fallout (lately) just looks like the 50's dropped into the wasteland, my headcanon is that fashion, music, culture, etc - all developed in its own unique ways, but as that 'cozy world' began to struggle, ie - resource wars, the Government intentionally mined old American culture to bring back that feel of "Everything is dandy".

Which results in the 50's Americana + music.

@critespranberry8872 9 months ago

"Fist ever national quarantine in 2053" i hate that IRL lore makes this untrue

@yawndotpng 9 months ago

"Be kind to people and ruthless to systems" - Michael Brooks

@Teag_Brohman15 6 months ago

maybe the point of divergence was Woody's Roundup NOT getting cancelled like it was in the Prime Timeline

@burstdragon3233 8 months ago

The divergence in the timlines was due to the Fallout universe never inventing the transistor, therefore there was no miniaturization of technology, resulting in everything being far more inefficient, that's why the resources ran out so fast.

@kiefershanks4172 9 months ago

Canada getting annexed? Plausible.
Robots taking jobs? Plausible.
War with China? Plausible.
Resourse Wars? Plausible.
Fusion Power? Plausible.

The world of Fallout is more plausible every year and that makes the world both more compelling and more terrifying at the same time.

@nightfire734 8 months ago

"A new year is upon us" and three days into it, the US invades Venezuela for oil.

@ArcologyCrab-gq9ub 9 months ago

The F4 writer making it canon that the protagonist is the guy who laughed while his friend (summarily?) executed a dude is still incredibly funny.

@Keyboardeater1 9 months ago

The opening cutscene of Fallout 1
does such a great job of explaining just how bad the pre-war world was getting, and showing HOW you got to the game's setting. Fallout 4 just felt too cosy.

@AsymmetricalCrimes 8 months ago (edited)

5:49 Actually the 50 states still exist in Fallout. The Commonwealths are a middle government between the state governments and the federal government.

@antonioferrari241 9 months ago

“The Roman people didn’t fail the Republic…the Republic failed the people.”
-DjPeachCobbler

@carlasghost656 9 months ago

I assumed that while some parts of America looked like Leave it to Beaver (With robots) like Sanctuary Hills. Large areas were also closer to the America of Soylent Green. Broken cities with a collapsed infrastructure and government where the people spent their time lining up for that week's ration.

@chrismancini5645 7 months ago

The scary part is the pre war America in fallout is alot like the America we have today.

@tk-6967 9 months ago

I would say the the 50's retro futuristic aesthetic is a good 50 to 60% of Fallout's aesthetic; it's definitely important and not something that can be removed, but it isn't meant to be as dominant as say Fallout 4 and the like portray it. The OG games took from way more than just that, and Fallout 3 at least architecturally went with Art Deco designs matching the OG aesthetic, even if it tonally moved much more definitively to the 50s. The 1920s-30s is also therefore a key period for the franchise as well.