Aside from the whole nuclear wasteland thing, the Fallout games are a lot like real life in the sense that it's hard to find a nice, interesting guy to fall in love with. There are always beautiful and complicated women around — nearly all of New Vegas' "sleeping partners" , and Fallout 4's French synth maid is still one of the most be🐽loved romance options in the series, despite her inexperience. But the Fallout TV show's ambitious male lead, Maximus, is the franchise's first to enjoy a truly intimate relationship.
Though, it doesn't seem that way at first. Initially, Max looks too calloused by his environment to handle something as soft as love. As a fledgling member of the militaristic Brotherhood of Steel, Maximus knows only hung🥀er, fealty, and power. But after meeting protagonist Lucy, the sunny Vault dweller, Maximus starts entertaining less demanding bonds, like thos♛e built on trust and affection. You may know them as the stuff of an honest relationship.
Take a chance on love
Paladin Danse from Fallout 4 is probably Maximus' best in-game equivalent, since he also starts out as an indoctrinated Br♔otherhood member. "I never thought there was room for anything in my life besides the Brotherhood," Danse says after you successfully couple with him, foretelling the realization Max ultimately comes toꦗ in the show. "I'm glad I was wrong."
Fallout 4 tries to remedy this with its general surplus of romance. More than half of its receptive companions are male, and many of them, like the hardened widower MacCready, have worthwhile backstories. Getting to know them reveals the painful dedication required to live past the end of the world; they add tangible footholds to Faಞllout's oppressive, gray atmosphere.
But Fallout 4 men hardly ever engage in caဣt-and-mouse mystery and tenderness, worthwhile elements of love that should theoretically be able to withstand an unforgiving mushroom cloud or two, like Godzilla. Like, When you finally to MacCready he starts to stutter — "I…I don't really know what to say." Then he abruptly decides he's besotted: "For once in my life, everything's going right and I have you to thank for it," he says. It feels unearned. It feels too much like you're playing a video game. Even in such a scripted environment, love should be more than the sense that you've hit the right combo. The Fallout show finally gets it right with Maximus. For him, love isn't a battlefield, it's the only battle worth fighting.
Fallout season 1 is available on Prime Video now. For more opinion on the show, here's why it has made us want꧃ to revisit the games and why we think it ♎fee🅺ls like an adaptation of a game that doesn't exist.
Ashley is a Senior Writer at GamesRadar+. She's been a staff writer at Kotaku and Inverse, too, and she's writtꦺen freelance pieces about horror and women in games for sites like Rolling Stone, Vulture, IGN, and Polygon. When she's not covering gaming news, she's usually worki💯ng on expanding her doll collection while watching Saw movies one through 11.
