LGBT Games History: Fallout 1
Whenever we think about LGBT history within Fallout, our minds always seem to go straight to Fallout 2. After all, we’ve talked about it quite a few times and how it was one of the first instances of gay marriage in video games. It would be hard not to talk or even think about it with a reputation like that.
But there were still steps made towards LGBT representation in Fallout 1 (known as just Fallout, but we’ve used 1 here to make it obvious we’re not talking about the series), steps that were important during the year of 1997.
As fans of the games will know, you play the role of a vault dweller and can choose to play either as a man or a woman. While sexuality doesn’t play a huge role in this game, you are able to have sex with sex workers, as well as a few other NPCs.
Unfortunately, gay male players get the short end of the stick in this game. They are able to flirt with one male NPC, a guard who stands at the entrance of the Brotherhood of Steel, but the guard will not be interested. The only ‘good’ thing about this is that the guard also rebuffs female players too.
Female players, much like they did during Fire Emblem Three Houses launch, get off only slightly better when it comes to LGBT relationships. A sex worker who players come across, Sinthia, can be hired by male Vault Dwellers to have sex with, but can only be flirted with by female Vault Dwellers and not hired. You are able to express attraction to Sinthia at the very least, but nothing actually happens between your character and her. There have been players reporting that you can initiate sex with Sinthia as a female Vault Dweller, depending on your luck, but we have yet to see evidence of this.
Regardless, though the first Fallout barely gave the minimum that the LGBT community deserved back then, it’s obvious that the expression of sexuality helped pave the way for a more accepting – but far from perfect – Fallout 2, and that is far from a bad thing.
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