ISSUE #1
Researched, Edited, & Published by ME! (SkriptenBlu)Does Fallout 4's Nuka World DLC Borrow Conventions from the Genre of Survival Horror?
Introduction
Fallout 4 is a widely popular action role-playing game set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland; Its ingenuity and creative direction have been feted by the gaming community, and its release of the Nuka-World expansion did nothing more than implement excitingly new content in a ‘refreshingly’ new location. The environment is set within an amusement park themed after Nuka-Cola, a fictional carbonated beverage. Though, don’t let the environment fool you, as soda may not seem scary, but irradiated ghouls, bloodworms, merciless raiders, and plenty of gore may deter the inexperienced and unprepared player away. This led me to an interesting thought. Though Fallout 4 is categorized within the genre of an action RPG (Role Playing Game), I did experience emotions that would normally be reflected while playing video games within the genre of ‘Survival Horror’ instead. Thus, I conducted research on what conventions in the genre of survival horror were reflected in the Nuka-World expansion and to what degree. To begin, I first researched the definition that qualifies a convention to be within the genre of survival horror. According to the article, “IGN [Imagine Games Network] Presents the History of Survival Horror”, written by Travis Fahs, states that the genre of survival horror is not a fixed formula designers must adhere to, rather, that “It’s an idea, an ethic, and a concept…[it] uses every tool at its disposal – graphics, sound effects, music, narrative and gameplay – to manipulate our emotions and make us feel dread.” Therefore, we can examine that the genre of survival horror is quite flexible in its definition, as its only defining feature is that every convention, theme, element, and characteristic must each be used cooperatively to cause players to feel dread or intense amounts of fear. Given this definition, I’ve arrived at the conclusion that the Nuka-World expansion is in alignment with certain conventions of the survival horror genre to an extent during specific times or segments throughout this expansion. I’d argue this for the following conventions observed in the analysis of my multiple playthroughs. First, because of the usage of suspenseful sound design executed during combat sequences; secondly, due to the implementation of dark environments used to accentuate anxiety by obscuring the presence of enemies, and lastly, the system of inventory management; as it is constantly a determining factor between life or death situations during combat sequences, due to a lack of dire-needed resources.
Sound Design
Beginning with sound design, more specifically, soundtracks executed during hostile or combat sequences tend to have a different approach within survival horror games in comparison to traditional action games. Combat soundtracks in survival horror games tend to refrain from implementing heroic or triumphal sound design and tend to lean more towards ambient and eerie tracks, and for good reason. Akira Yamaoka is one to have substantial insight into this topic, as he was the lead sound designer for the widely popular survival horror game “Silent Hill” (1999). He explains in an interview with Chris Kohler, a video game journalist, how he frightens players with music. Yamaoka states that he normally uses powerful music for combat sections or startling scenes, but that the secret in frightening users lies within utilizing both powerful and soft music at random intervals or at different levels of volume for the purpose of breaking any rhythms players may develop whilst traversing the hostile environments of Silent Hill. Earlier in the interview Yamaoka explains why he uses variations in music. He states that it’s not just about implementing combat music merely because it's a combat sequence, rather, it’s more about the idea of conveying to the user the feelings the in-game character would be experiencing during the combat sequence. For example, a severely under-equipped character fighting an enemy will definitely not feel heroic at all, rather, the character would most likely feel terrified and scared; this is why Akira Yamaoka in turn utilizes music that is dark, unsteady, and nerve-racking. Therefore, in the same way Silent hill uses unconventionally dark and eerie music to reflect the character’s emotional state during combat, Fallout 4’s combat soundtracks also use certain tracks for the same reason. Take a listen to the Fallout 4 soundtrack, “Regrouped, Reloaded”. Like similar tracks, Its varying usage of industrial noises, buzzing sounds, low and unpredictable blares, harsh rimshots, deep and coarse strings, and robotic-esque bellows with dark undertones, are seemingly played at random, with other parts played at varying levels of intensity. This does nothing more than accentuate the player’s trepidation as they combat creatures and enemies of the Nuka-World expansion, as it promotes an atmosphere of fear and dismay. However, of the fifteen combat soundtracks in the installment, only about half utilize these elements of sound design. This means that Fallout 4’s Nuka World expansion does reflect this convention of Survival Horror in its usage of sound design during combat sequences, though, only about half the time.
Darkness and Obscurity
Aside from Nuka-World’s spooky music, there are also dozens of frightening areas. Like the Kiddie Kingdom theme park for example. This theme park was designed specifically for kids to enjoy. Its infrastructure reflects a castle and includes a ferris wheel, horse carousel, teacup ride, race track, and a fun house. What was once a magical park designed for ‘tots and teens’ to happily enjoy, is now occupied by enemies known as ghouls; which are zombie-like characters that were former humans that had gone insane due to severe radiation exposure. To add to their creepiness, these enemies are splattered with bright pink and blue paint, reflecting childish features in this dead and dilapidated theme park. Ghouls are quick, cunning, and make spine-chilling shrieking noises when charging toward players. On some sprinting animations, they may quickly scuttle in a low posture, making them both less visible and harder to attack. Once they ultimately approach players in arms-length proximity, a close insight into their grotesque facial features are exhibited; and it’s not a pretty sight. This is reflected via an image I captured while exploring Kiddie Kingdom. Upon entering the “Candy Town Playground”, I heard low growls that resembled the ghouls I fought earlier, but couldn’t make out their location; that was, before a ghoul charged up to me in its scuttling animation.
Bethesda Softworks. Fallout 4: Game of the Year Edition. 2015.
This had a good scare on me, and it’s no doubt that on my first playthrough exploring Kiddie Kingdom, this was easily the most frightening area for me. Though, on my second playthrough, it felt less frightening. It could be argued that the second playthrough was not as scary as the first time because I already had foreknowledge of what would already occur and therefore, remove any emotions of terror the expansion intended via presenting startling sequences (ex. Jumpscares, unexpected boss fights). This is a valid point, however, I believe the greater factor that differentiated the level of terror was based on the environmental lighting of the park. On my first playthrough, I began entering Kiddie Kingdom as sunset was occurring, meaning most of my time exploring the park was spent during dark hours. This is in stark contrast to my second playthrough when I mostly explored during broad daylight. Because of this, I believe that darkness plays an impactful role in accentuating fear in Nuka-World. To discover how exactly it does this, let’s look again at the iconic survival horror game Silent Hill; the second installment this time. In Silent 2 (2001), there is (ironically) also an environment set in an amusement park, and found loping around the fairgrounds are these zombie-like canine enemies that seem to lope around the park grounds. Due to a lack of light sources causing low visibility, they loom around in the outskirts of darkness, so that they are close enough in the distance for players to recognize the presence of something, yet far enough to be unable to determine what exactly it is before they begin charging toward players. According to Simon Neidenthal, a college professor with an extensive background in game aesthetics, he states in an essay titled, “Patterns of Obscurity: Gothic Setting and Light in Resident Evil 4 and Silent Hill 2”, in regards to the ‘zombie’ canines, known as “spit-head hounds”, that this is an example of a concept known as the ‘edge of darkness’. He states, “The edge of darkness functions in these cases as a focus of attention (and worry) in itself.” (Neidenthal). The player, when encountering the split-head hounds, experiences worry for two reasons. First, because of the inability to discern the enemy due to darkness obscuring its presence, and secondly, because immediately after, the enemy homes into the character’s visibility in a relatively quick manner. This causes players to experience intense emotions of fear and suspense, as they have to quickly react to their immediate danger. This approach to accentuating horror in Silent Hill 2, is also reflected in Fallout 4’s Kiddie Kingdom, especially when on the outdoor grounds. During dark hours, it may be difficult to discern the locations of ghouls, and like the split-head hounds, charge players in a very quick manner dealing damage, leaving players in for a good scare. And it doesn’t help whenever ghouls are hidden in various areas around the park and appear by crawling out of piles of garbage, climbing down from elevated structures, or simply being hunched over in a sitting position, awaiting to lunge at players. All in all, the function of darkness is to accentuate fear through its obscurity of enemies. Like Silent Hill 2, Fallout 4’s Kiddie Kingdom does not hold back in taking advantage of this convention traditionally used in survival horror games and strongly utilizing it for the purpose of heightening tension and fear in Nuka-World. Though, like the previous convention discussed (sound design), the day and night cycle is evenly split into 30 minutes. This means that this convention of survival horror, being obscurity through darkness, is only prevalent about half the time as well.
Inventory Management
The final convention of Survival Horror that is in alignment with the Nuka-World expansion is the system of inventory management, as this system can create stressful situations for users during combat sequences due to experiencing a lack of dire-needed resources. Kimberly Wallace is a gaming journalist and has written an article titled “Dissecting Survival Horror: What Makes the Genre Special” that discusses this topic of the importance of inventory management in survival horror video games. Wallace states that inventory management is vital to the genre of survival horror. This is because tension and fear are greatly heightened whenever users must consciously decide how to utilize resources to their fullest extent during combat segments, especially since resources such as health items, ammunition, weapons, and armor are scarce. Though, it can be argued that Fallout 4’s inventory management system doesn’t promote dread at all; and to this, I’ll point them to ‘survival mode’ in the main menu settings. Survival Mode is an optional mode where surviving the wasteland becomes a grueling task as the following systems are either added or modified. A dehydration and hunger system is added, an illness system is added (with different diseases the player can contract), a sleep deprivation system is added, the crippling system is more punishing, the negative side-effects of medications are higher in severity, all enemies become much more lethal, the ability to load into different areas (also known as ‘fast travel’) is disabled; forcing ambulatory means of traversal to reach every location, and lastly, the ability to save is removed; except when sleeping on a bed or sleeping bag (which can be difficult to come across). Almost every addition and modification is intended to kill the player in more ways than not, and the inability to save at any time is the nail in the coffin. This leads to a very difficult playthrough, as large portions of play-time can be lost by dying. The only defense the player has lies in their equipment, whether it be weapons, ammunition, health items, and medications in order to survive the wasteland. However, in Survival Mode, not only is inventory capacity greatly reduced, but also every round of ammunition has its own carry weight value. This means that before every trek into the wasteland, users will have to carefully decide the items they will carry; as capacity is limited. Therefore, in many combat situations, a lingering feeling of anxiety is always present, as a simple mistake of carrying too few health items, medications, or ammunition can be the determining factor of whether or not the user will die and lose a large portion of their progress. Take a look at this screenshot I’ve taken from the Nuka World Bottling Plant location. Though I’ve done notable damage against the “Nuka-Lurk Queen”, there are still two fully-healthed Nuka-Lurk enemies protecting their queen, and I’m on low ammo, health, and health items. Being in this situation, especially in Survival Mode, is more than a nerve-racking and stressful experience.
Bethesda Softworks. Fallout 4: Game of the Year Edition. 2015.
Inventory management is a staple in the genre of survival horror, as its purpose is to cause users to feel tension and dread during these high-risk situations. Therefore, I believe that Fallout 4’s Nuka-World expansion does reflect this convention of survival horror, as it certainly does accentuate fear and anxiety during its playthrough. However, as stated previously, this convention is not as prevalent when experienced in the lower difficulty modes such as “easy” or “normal", as the environment is less lethal and players have more damage output and health. Therefore, Fallout 4’s Nuka-World expansion does reflect this convention traditionally utilized in survival horror games, however, it’s only prevalent in the higher difficulties such as “Hard” Mode and "Survival” Mode.
Conclusion
All in all, Fallout 4’s Nuka-World is an extensive expansion with a ‘pop’ in its unique design and setting choice; of course, being an amusement park themed after soda. Fallout 4’s Nuka World truly is an action RPG at heart, as users have various freedoms in personalization and the whole expansion is centered around having a blast with melee weapons and firearms against various types of monsters and enemies. Though, exploring Nuka-World is surely not without its terrors, and it certainly does utilize conventions traditionally used in survival horror games. To further accentuate this idea, there are eerie soundtracks that add tension and suspense during combat segments. Darkness heightens fear and uncertainty by obscuring the presence of enemies; and finally, inventory management becomes anxiety-inducing in higher difficulties during combat situations, as not having enough resources can be the defining element between life or death situations. Though, not all of the conventions are active at every moment, as only about half the combat soundtracks are dark and eerie, only half the day is tension through obscurity emphasized, and finally, inventory management is only really anxiety-inducing during higher difficulties. In conclusion, Fallout 4’s Nuka World expansion is in alignment with certain conventions found within the genre of survival horror, but only during certain times and segments.
Works Cited
Bethesda Softworks. Fallout 4: Game of the Year Edition. 2015.Fahs, Travis. "IGN Presents the History of Survival Horror." IGN, Ziff Davis, Sept. 2009, www.ign.com/articles/2009/10/30/ign-presents-the-history-of-survival-horror. Accessed 13 May 2023.
Kohler, Chris. "Interview: Sound Designer Akira Yamaoka." Wired, Conde Nast, 19 Oct. 2007, www.wired.com/2007/10/interview-silen/. Accessed 13 May 2023.
Niedenthal, Simon. "Patterns of Obscurity: Gothic Setting and Light in Resident Evil 4 and Silent Hill 2." Horror Video Games Essays on the Fusion of Fear and Play, edited by Bernard Perron, McFarland & Company, 2009, pp. 176-77.
Wallace, Kimberly. "Dissecting Survival Horror: What Makes the Genre Special." Game Informer, 23 Aug. 2012, www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2012/08/23/dissecting-survival-horror-what-makes-the-genre-special.aspx. Accessed 13 May 2023.