Open in new window
Title (eng)
Hope after the Bombs: Apocalypse, Utopia, and Transcultural Imaginaries in Classic Fallout Mods from the Former Eastern Bloc
Author
Alexander Hurezeanu
Description (eng)
The concept of apocalypse is a difficult and often misconstrued one. Just as the study of utopia is often associated with visions, dreams, or desires of a better time and place, the study of modern eschatology similarly favours visions that foretell a better tomorrow rather than doom and damn the future. To what extent then, are games about the apocalypse useful to the concept of utopia? How can games about the apocalypse encourage unique cultural contexts through which we may envision novel utopian forms? This paper explores the classic post nuclear role- playing games, Fallout 1 and 2 (Interplay Productions 1997; Black Isle Studios 1998), as unique transcultural experiences from the perspectives of players, designers, and modders from former Eastern Bloc countries. Utilizing Mikhail Epstein and Ellen E. Berry’s (1999) transcultural interference framework, I argue that Interplay’s Fallout games emphasize “an open system of symbolic alternatives to existing cultures and their established sign systems” (24) as demonstrated by classic Fallout mods, such as Fallout: Nevada (Nevada Band Studio 2015), Fallout: Sonora (Nevada Band Studio 2020), and Fallout: Resurrection (Resurrection Team 2013). Each of these mods, produced by developers from the former Eastern Bloc, are exemplary transcultural negotiations that seek to transcend Fallout’s predominantly apocalyptic American cultural forms in order to produce utopic transcultural imaginaries.
Keywords (eng)
FalloutmodstransculturalismEastern European post-apocalyptic aestheticsutopia
Type (eng)
book part
Language
[eng]
Persistent identifier
https://door.donau-uni.ac.at/o:5812
DOI
10.48341/v4mv-6t23
Is contained in
Title
Gaming the Apocalypse
ISBN
978-3-903470-30-9
DOI
10.48341/j34c-h575
Publication
University of Krems Press
Publication
University of Krems Press
Date issued
2025-11-14
License
CC BY-NC 4.0 International