TheFalloutfranchise contains a variety of species that diverged from humanity after the Great War. Many of the humans who survived the nuclear war outside of the Vaults were transformed into Ghouls, irradiated but long-lived zombie-like creatures who face harsh discrimination in the series' post-War America.
Ever sinceFallout 1, players have wanted to have the option to play as a Ghoul. In theFalloutgames made since Bethesda acquired the franchise, Ghouls have even used the same basic models as humans, allowing them to equip all gear and leading to many mods where Ghouls are made playable. However, there are some key reasons that Ghouls may never become a playable race in theFalloutgames without mods.
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Fallout’s Storytelling Style
Ever sinceFallout 3theFalloutgames have had the same basic formula as Bethesda’sElder Scrollsseries. They use the same engine, both series are first-person open-world roleplaying games, and both worlds have a variety of races. WhileElder Scrollsfans can choose from many of the races of Tamriel, however,Falloutplayers can only ever play as a human. One of the reasons for this lies in a subtle difference between the storytelling styles of the two series.
The Elder Scrollsgames prioritize roleplaying freedom above all else. Players always start imprisoned in some way, but their reason for being there is rarely elaborated upon.Skyrimeven avoids saying which way across the Skyrim-Cyrodiil border the player was attempting to travel when they were captured by the Imperials and sent toHelgenfor execution. It is entirely up to players to determine their character’s age, motivations, and any details of their life before the start of the game. While this also means that theElder Scrollsgames tend to have stories which aren’t particularly character-driven, it also allows for the kind of roleplaying freedom exemplified by the ten different playable races.
TheFalloutgames may resembleThe Elder Scrollsin a lot of ways, but there is a key difference. In mostFalloutgames, the player’s backstory is established. InFallout 1the player character grew up in Vault 13, while inFallout 2the player is the first protagonist’s direct descendant. InFallout 3, the character is explicitly a 19 year-old who leavesVault 101in search of their father, James. InFallout 4, the player is either a veteran or a lawyer who survives being cryogenically frozen within Vault 111 in 2077 and leaves their Vault centuries later in search of their missing son, Shaun.
While players can control who their character ends up becoming in the story and the choices they make, theFalloutgames rely on a far more prescriptive storytelling style than theElder Scrollsseries, even if there is still much more freedom than otherseries likeMassEffect. It would have made no sense for the player character to be a ghoul inFallout 1,2,3, or4, because in all of those games they start off as a Vault dweller, and would never have been exposed to the initial nuclear blasts of the Great War of 2077.
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New Ghouls
It’s also impossible for new Ghouls to be born - all Ghouls are extremely long-lived, but as Typhon says inFallout 2"there ain’t any Ghouls but old Ghouls. We’re all sterile, see, but we’re incredibly long-lived. We’re the first and last generation of Ghouls." There were plans for a plotline involving “Born Ghouls” created through experimentation, but this version ofFallout 3was left by the wayside when Bethesda took over the franchise.
ForFalloutfans to have the option to play as a Ghoul or a human, the storytellers would have to make one of two choices. First, they could write aFalloutgame which gives the player several different potential prologues,Dragon Age: Origins-style. In this case, a human character might start in a Vault, but a Ghoul might start out in the world or at the moment of their transformation in 2077. Alternatively, the game could forgo its introductory Vault sequence entirely. This already happened inFallout: New Vegas, where the Courier’s lack of backstory beyond their final delivery made playing as a Ghoul using mods a far more immersive option.
If the nextFalloutgame starts the player outside of aVault-Tec Vaultand has a story which doesn’t involve family members, it seems possible that it could give the player the option to choose different races. However, there is a still a reason that the developers would likely decide to avoid letting fans play as a Ghoul.
Playing A Ghoul
Ghouls face immense prejudice in the world ofFallout, and theFalloutmodswhere players get to pick Ghoul as a race show just how much of the world’s dialogue would need to be given alternate versions for Ghoul player characters and “Smoothskins.“Skyrimalready struggled to make each of its races feel equally immersive.
Khajiit and Argonianplayers are allowed intoSkyrim’scities with no explanation, despite the rest of their kind being forced to stay beyond the city walls. Dunmer characters who enter Windhelm and see a fellow Dark Elf being harassed will still be asked if they’re one of those “Skyrim for the Nords” types, leading to a ridiculous dialogue option where players can agree with the people oppressing their own kind, and are admonished for it by a Nord.
While this problem is certainly noticeable inThe Elder Scrolls, the ultimate lack of character-driven storytelling lessens its effects. AFalloutgame would need to have storylines with significantly different dialogue for human andGhoul player characters. Without different dialogue, it couldn’t have the same kind of character-driven storytelling that distinguishes the main quests in theFalloutfranchise from those found inThe Elder Scrolls. Not only that, but Ghouls are canonically immune to radiation, which would cause huge balancing issues.
Perhaps the greatest twist of all would be aFalloutgame where players still only have one race option, and have to play as a Ghoul in a story built around that premise. This would present some exciting roleplaying opportunities and could be the kind of bold turn theFalloutgames need afterFallout 76. Many players, however, would find only being able to play as a Ghoul even more restrictive than only being able to play as a human. Unfortunately for players who loveFallout’s Ghouls, the franchise will likely star Smoothskins for the foreseeable future.
A newFalloutgame has not been announced.
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