Survival, Technology, and Community: How Fallout and Red Dead Redemption Are More Alike Than You Think

The Fallout and Red Dead Redemption franchises are renowned for their immersive open worlds that are brought to life through meticulous world-building and environmental design. Despite belonging to different genres and being set in vastly different time periods, these two series share more than just their open worlds. As the series have progressed, fans have come to realize that the games' greater themes and lore have become increasingly closely aligned.

Under Bethesda's stewardship since 2007, the Fallout series has become synonymous with exceptional world-building and environmental storytelling, creating complex themes within a harsh post-apocalyptic wasteland. Similarly, Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption series deviates from the traditional portrayal of the wild west, instead presenting an interweaving story of morally ambiguous characters trying to navigate their lives in the best way possible. There are significant thematic overlaps between these two series that offer insight into the universal nature of certain aspects of the human experience.

Fallout and Red Dead Redemption Share a Common Theme of Survival

Both Red Dead Redemption and Fallout share a common thread: the theme of survival. In Red Dead Redemption's fictionalized American West, the harsh and unfamiliar terrain is just as unforgiving as Fallout's post-apocalyptic wasteland. It's a simple fact of life that the will to survive is one of humanity's most basic instincts. Whether it's facing off against bears, bandits, and disease, or Death Claws, raiders, and radiation, working together to thrive and survive in a hostile environment is a necessity for even the most seasoned adventurer.

In the Fallout series, survival is an obvious aspect of the game. Necessities like food, water, and shelter are scarce and highly sought-after. Managing these resources is crucial to gameplay, as consuming poor-quality food or water can lead to negative effects on the player's status, and finding a safe place to rest is impossible if enemies are nearby. In the game's broader universe, these resources play a significant role in the hierarchy of the new society, as access to them becomes the foundation of power in Fallout's post-Great War world.

Living in Red Dead Redemption's wild west setting presents a formidable challenge for survival, with untamed wildlife and food sources at the mercy of nature. Settlers in remote areas had to rely on hunting, fishing, and growing their own crops to sustain themselves, and construct their own shelters from available materials. Even those residing in small communities were vulnerable to the elements and disease, as a particularly harsh winter could prove fatal to the unprepared, as demonstrated in the opening hours of Red Dead Redemption 2.

In both franchises, a recurring theme is the conflict between humanity and technology, which drives the central conflicts of their respective stories. Fallout's post-apocalyptic world was destroyed by nuclear weapons resulting from a technological arms race. Players often face robotic enemies like Protectrons and Assaultrons. The Brotherhood of Steel faction aims to control this technology, believing that they are the only ones capable of handling such volatile and potentially dangerous forces.

Technology's role in the Red Dead Redemption series goes beyond the surface level, as it creates a significant source of conflict throughout the game. As the game is set during the end of the wild west era, the impact of industrialization is evident through the presence of oil drills belonging to tycoon Leviticus Cornwall scattered across the game's land. The traditional way of life for many characters is endangered due to the environmental degradation caused by industrialization. Consequently, they either have to work for Cornwall Kerosene & Tar or resort to thievery to make ends meet.

In both the Fallout and The Walking Dead series, banding together with families or communities is essential for survival in a world of harsh environments and destructive technology. Although the player takes on a lone wolf-type role in Fallout as the Lone Wanderer or the Sole Survivor, they will come across numerous factions and settlements where the power of cooperation for survival is evident. Fallout 4's Minutemen and Railroad factions play mutually beneficial roles in helping protect their communities and supporting ostracized groups like the Synths. Settlements like Fallout 3's Megaton demonstrate that close-knit communities offer a better chance of survival than going it alone.

Red Dead Redemption and Fallout may be set in vastly different worlds, but they both explore universal themes that are central to the human experience. Survival, the perils of technology, and the need for community are all themes that are present in both series, highlighting the common struggles that we all face. Through their narratives, both Red Dead Redemption and Fallout are able to illustrate the complexities of being human in challenging and often hostile environments.