Comparing The Openings of Fallout 3, Fallout 4 and Fallout New Vegas

thegamer.com:

The thing about Bethesda’s take on Fallout—namely, Fallout 3 and Fallout 4—is that they diverge largely from the Fallout classics. While the original games told an overarching narrative that’s much more substantial, as well as prioritising player agency, Bethesda’s Fallout titles are more about the self-contained stories in the wasteland; they’re those that give way to emergent storytelling and of course, giving the players a brand new virtual playground to shoot and loot at their own pace.

But Bethesda doesn’t seem to be satisfied with just tossing players out into the irradiated wasteland with a Pipboy and some big guns; the developer still wants you to form some emotional attachment to its world. These can be seen in how the newer Fallout games introduce the player into their worlds. For Fallout 3, this emotional attachment is directed to your father, who eventually left the vault in disarray and unceremoniously abandons you. Its opening scenes are characterised by a series of blinding lights, akin to rapid-fire time travel across your earliest years as a vault dweller.

Related: Bring Back The Time Limit Mechanic in Fallout New Vegas 2

You begin Fallout 3 as a literal newborn, dragged out from the womb of your mother and greeted by a proud, beaming father, before you discover that your mum has suffered complications from childbirth. One blinding flash later, and you’re an infant who’s garbling unintelligibly at your dad. You unlock the gates to your playpen, clambering ever so slowly towards a picture book where you can assign points to your stats. Then your dad finds you again, and decides to make you crawl after him, on all fours, to see if “your little friend Amata wants to play”. Another blinding flash again, and