One of the sequences in Bethesda's Fallout 4 that I anticipated the most before actually having a chance to experience the game was the prewar prelude that begins the game, in which your character (man or woman) is enjoying what would appear to be a typically day in their home. The intention of creating this sequence, I believe, was to create a stronger connection between the player and the world they would soon seen after exiting the fault. However, I found this opening sequence to be widely ineffective in creating any emotional bond between myself and the return to sanctuary.

In Bethesda Softwork's two most recent RPG title The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4, we see a shift in the games intentions of what your initial experience in the game will be like. Looking back at both games numerical predecessors The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Fallout 3, both games have your character navigate either a dark space (the dungeon in Oblivion), or a territory in which it's widely encouraged you don't explore outdoors (the consistent warnings of not leaving the vault in Fallout 3). As the player exits these constricting spaces, they games intend for you to be awe-struck as you gaze into the vast world before you. The fact that the player is able to interact with the game prior to having the world actually be open to them is partially what makes these sequences so special and jaw dropping in an initial play through of the game. The game essentially begins with you only knowing a small space in the world and then granting you access to so much more. While the player is already aware of the fact they can see more, it's hard to not look at the world in front of you and consider how many more possibilities exist in the open terrain in comparison to what the player had only known prior. Having returned to both of these games recently enough, I can say that neither of these introductions pack the same punch as during a first play through of the game and may seem a bit cliched now, but regardless serve as excellent introductions for what's to come in both titles.

In contrast to this, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Fallout 4 actually begin in very similar ways: Skyrim opening with the player seeing the world before them already as they're lead to an execution, Fallout 4 with players being able to walk through their home and then ultimately spring to the nearest fallout shelter to take cover from nuclear devastation. Both games open with the player in terror of something horrible happening to them, but ultimately I feel the biggest flaw to the introduction in Fallout 4 is the lack of time the player spends in the environment provided to them. So much of what I perceived to be Fallout 4's drive for the player is reflection on the world they once knew and wanting it to return: your mission is (initially) to track down your son, you're asked rebuild your own home town, and the player interacts with their robotic butler Codsworth. Prior to the games release, the hashtag "WelcomeHome"was being used on social media as well. The game simply begs for the player to feel emotions in their homecoming post-devastation. By all means, this should have been effective but a lack of any meaningful amount of time spent before the bombs fell ultimate negates any emotions I believe I was supposed to feel. The game consistently pushes you along with a sense of urgency, and rightfully so; it wouldn't make sense for the player to just meander about the neighborhood while being told bombs would be falling any moment. The games narrative flow in itself seems to have hindered my ability to feel any emotional attachment to the world that surrounds you.

The Fallout franchise is known for a reverence of the past with posters that resemble advertisements of an older era (1950s it appears), Bing Crosby, The Ink Spots, and other oldies artists playing over the radio, and the general concept of nuclear warfare resembling the paranoia that existed during the Cold War. Without these aesthetic decisions, it wouldn't feel quite right. Even so, I wish the game would have managed it's introduction a bit better to the wastes. Your homecoming doesn't feel like a return to anything, rather seeing something entirely new.