Though Fallout creator Tim Cain has not been involved in the series in over 20 years, he still keeps up with the franchise. Case in point, he recently shared his thoughts on the first season of Prime Video’s Fallout TV series.
In a new video posted on his YouTube channel, Cain spent nearly 13 minutes discussing his thoughts and impressions on the show’s first season. Right at the top, he says he likes the show before going on to “ramble” more about the specifics, including why he likes it so much.
“Everything feels like Fallout. It feels like Fallout,” he says. “That is hard to do, trust me. I know how hard that is to do. It’s easy to write post-apocalyptic stuff that doesn’t fit in the Fallout mold, and it would have been very easy for them to go off to be too silly accidentally, to have things that are like, ‘that’s not part of Fallout.’ But they didn’t.”
Cain also loved how much Fallout lore was present in the show, even admitting he missed a few things during his viewing. He appreciated that the show never added a narrator to explain everything to viewers, but noted that the lack of exposition and amount of lore drops might make it “a little harder to get into” for those who haven’t played the post-apocalyptic action RPG series.
He also praised the Prime Video series for its trio of main characters. Each, as he pointed out, “felt like different ways that a player character could be approaching the game.” Lucy represents the “nice character,” the player with high ethical standards. Maximus, meanwhile, represents a more neutral player, one focused on achieving their goals. The Ghoul, he said, serves the role of “the show’s murder hobo,” likely referring to the players who shoot first and ask questions later.
Cain went on to share his thoughts about the potential timeline issues presented in the series before the show’s executive producers, Jonathan Nolan, and Todd Howard, cleared the air. This is the second video Cain has published sharing his impressions on the Fallout TV series, following a video he uploaded roughly a week ago after attending the first season’s Hollywood premiere.
Cain created the series when he was employed at Interplay Entertainment, where he served in various roles, primarily as a designer for the first two Fallout games. However, Cain has not been directly involved in any of the games since Fallout 2. He has shared some Fallout-centric videos on his YouTube channel. Some videos include him explaining cut content from the original Fallout, the biggest influences on the series, and why he left Fallout 2 early into its development cycle. While he largely doesn’t publicly share his thoughts on newer games, he did offer some about Fallout 3 during a 2010 interview.
The Fallout TV series’ first season premiered a little over a week ago and has been a huge success for Prime Video. Alongside the Fallout games seeing a surge in player count, it was no surprise that Prime Video renewed the show for a second season.
If you’ve already finished the first season of Fallout, check out our ending explainer and our piece detailing 14 things we’d love to see in Fallout season 2.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.