Tim Cain, one of the leading creative minds who fleshed out the Fallout franchise from the first game, recently revealed his original pitch for the ending of the 1997 title. At the end of the first Fallout game, the player will receive one of two sequences, depending on how they played their game.
One sees them return to Vault 13 after a string of successful missions before being permanently ejected by the Vault’s overseer (admittedly for good reasons). The second is the ‘bad’ ending that sees the player character becoming part of the Master’s mutant army, being dipped in FEV and turned into something grotesque.
Tim Cain uncovered a third proposal that’s much more light-hearted.
Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows
Fallout isn’t a peppy, upbeat series with positive themes and jovial sequences. It’s a dark, morbid, and miserable representation of a world beyond an apocalypse, torn apart by nuclear fire and twisted by mutation.
It therefore comes as no surprise to learn that Tim Cain’s pitch for the first game’s ending was shot down after being proposed.
Related: Tim Cain Revealed Who Launched The First Nukes
In a recent video, the industry veteran explained how he wanted Fallout 1 to end:
I had pushed for Fallout ending with a party.
You’d come back to Vault 13, you’ve gotten the Water Chip, you’ve taken care of the mutant army and the Master, and everybody has a big party for you. There’s cake and balloons.
That got rejected.
Here’s the full video, which showcases Cain talking about all his proposals over the years that have been pushed away. The Fallout bit is first up in the pecking order:
After the dreary events of Fallout’s story, it might have seemed a little bizarre to end with a party, but the canonical ending is something much more depressing entirely. No matter what you do to save the people of Vault 13, you can’t be trusted to stay in there as a dweller because of the example you’ll set for younger residents of the Vault.
If you can leave and explore the devastated wasteland, why can’t they?
Tim has made his peace with it, but it’s always interesting to know what might have been. Years later, Tim’s vision unfolded in a way. Fallout 3 opens with a birthday party sequence with – you guessed it – cake and balloons.
Related: Tim Cain Says Pacifism Was Never a Choice in Fallout
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