Fallout is a very special game to me. It was one of the first games I ever played on a Windows 95 PC, and squared so nicely with my love for post-apocalyptic fiction and alternate history. I still have my original copy, albeit without the cardboard big box outer. And I’ve played it numerous times, most recently a couple of years ago with restored content mods.

But I’ve never played the demo.

Welcome to the Wasteland

I’m typing out this Adventure Log as I go with firing up the demo in my Windows 98 setup for the first time, so it’ll be raw first-impressions stuff to see what feels different and unique about it. All I’ve heard is that there is bespoke content in the demo that doesn’t appear in the full game, but not what that might be.

And so, away we go! And first up, we’re hit with some promo blurb from Next Generation magazine.

Fallout had a ton of pre-release promotion, appearing in every PC and multi-format video game magazine I’ve come across from the time. So, the expectation really was on that it would turn out to be something truly special.

Okay, after that, we’re hit with a very familiar title screen, albeit one that’s eerily silent and with a DEMO and April 22nd 1997 date stamp.

The demo is only (approx) 20mb in size, so I was curious as to what the Intro button might do. Rather than the iconic cinematic, it launches you into the still image hype reel that you get treated to if you linger too long on the title screen or exit the game.

It’s unskippable, and after seeing it four times while typing this first section out, I was very keen to move onto the game proper! So, New Game it is.

As with the full game, there are three pre-generated characters and the options to either modify those or create a new character from scratch. And although you can choose any of the pre-gens or use the character creator, as soon as you click done/take, it’ll hit you with a nuh-uh, you’re Max Stone in this demo. Boo!

Welcome to Junktown… or not?

Well now, this is a familiar location! It’s Junktown! The first settlement you roll up in after being dispatched from Vault 13. And right away, there’s a difference with the soundscape. All I can hear is wind, and not the tribal industrial music I’m used to.

And yep, we’re lunkhead Max Stone in this demo. A few features are closed off, such as being able to see our perks, but otherwise, everything else is present and correct. So, let’s go introduce ourselves to the gate guards.

Wait, what? Welcome to Scrapheap? Not Junktown? And look at that fuzzy white font! Now I’m feeling the weirdness of this demo. Scrapheap sounds less flattering than Junktown, so I’m glad that they changed the name.

Now I’m feeling even more confused. Asking about the settlement, we get told that Scrapheap makes Junktown look like a living city of the ancients. So, it makes me wonder: is there both Scrapheap and Junktown in this version of the game? Or is this a wry developer ‘You ain’t seen nothing yet!’ about it being a demo version compared to the finished game?

Quizzing our somewhat friendly guard again, we’re asked to move along. So let’s do so.

A word of advice: don’t leave the game running without interacting too long. Twice now, I’ve done so and then had to restart it as it’ll time out and move onto the hype reel!

As we enter Scrapheap proper, one of the raggedly-dressed denizens approaches and addresses us. Lex here, the spokesman for the settlement, tells us off a rivalry between two gangs that call Scrapheap home: The Crypts and the Fools. Both are vying for control over the pre-war power generator that provides electricity to the settlement. If we help him resolve the situation, Lex will give us information on the lost city of the Ancients: Necropolis.

Just as with Junktown (even more so with that and Gizmo!), it feels like Interplay are cribbing from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome‘s Bartertown. Which, as I have a huge soft spot for that movie, I don’t mind at all.

We have nothing else to do right now, so we agree to consider their request for help and move on.

We get a fair bit of freedom to explore around Scrapheap, which feels like Junktown, but is laid out differently, much smaller, and with different conversations to have. No Gizmo and his casino!

Here we get our first encounter with Fallout’s iconic two-headed cattle, Brahmin. And our new chum here (or enemy, depending on what you say about their ‘friends’) really likes them.

Ah, now this is more familiar. There’s an encounter like this in the full game, where if you’re wearing a black leather jacket, canine companion Dogmeat will believe that you’re their old owner — another Mad Max reference.

Rolling over to a white adobe building, we meet and greet ‘Baka’, Queen of the Fools. Who has a… fatalistic philosophy and origin story for her gang.

If you’re used to the generally goofier writing of Fallout 3 and 4 (less so New Vegas), then the grimmer tone of the original Fallout might feel jarring. And though only ninety years have passed since the bombs dropped, much of the old world has already vanished, its civilization already ‘the ancients’. It’s not stuck in 50s Americana so heavily, with its artifacts practically everywhere two hundred years later, that it feels like it could be only ten years since the Great War. Outside a few places, pre-war tech, clothing, and awareness of the world before is much scarcer.

I choose not to join the Fools as demanded, and move on. After looking around the small settlement, just a few accessible buildings, and wondering where I might pick up armour and weapons, I decide to check my inventory. Whoops! We already have some.

I had on over to the largest building in town, which turns out to be the HQ for the Crypts.

Again, we’re given an ultimatum to join, though he’ll just insult us right now if we decline. So, I guess we have three options: join the Fools, join the Crypts, or take them both out as Lex requests?

So far, it’s been a real nice slice of Fallout, demonstrating the multiple solutions to a situation, the dark humour of the writing, and how conversations can change how a character will react to you. And I can see how some mutuals on BlueSky replayed this demo over and over again. It’s one of those neat little sandboxes that you can toy around with to see what happens this time.

Call me a Fool

Something about the Fools was resonating with me, so I decided to throw my lot in with Queen Baka and her gang.

Now a Jester of the Fool’s Court, I ask what’s next for our merry little band.

As I’m the newest and therefore most expendable of the Fools, I’ve been given scout duty. Though it does sound like Queenie really doesn’t care what I do or happens to me.

So, uh, I wonder what exactly I should do. Now that I’m a Fool, surely I’ll be gunned down on the spot if I enter their HQ?

Looks well guarded, with the Crypts matching the Fools in manpower, so far as I could see. But perhaps I, with my 9mm SMG, can be the difference? To battle! The power generator and Scrapheap will be ours!

The Bloody Battle for Scrapheap

The Fools and I marched over toward Crypts HQ, violence and laughter in our hearts. They met us half-way by the Brahmin pen, armed and ready for battle. And it was Baka who struck the first blow, hoisting up her minigun and unleashing a hail of gunfire.

Alas, it was to be her undoing. An answering hail of minigun fire from the Crypts boss’ own heavy weapon ripped the would-be sovereign apart. Oh well, ho ho ho, now I have a (even bigger) machine gun now.

After grabbing Baka’s minigun and armour, I proceeded to methodically shred the Crypts gang apart, starting with their leader. And well, atop the pile of bloody gibbed corpses, what next, I wondered as the infamous ‘Persist in this doomed world’ quote from Morrowind went through my head. With Baka dead, the Fools’ ‘ending’ to his demo had become derailed. And Lex just glared hatefully as I approached them. And then the demo ended itself and went onto the hype reel as I tapped away, so that was my cue to bow out.

In Conclusion

That was a lot of fun. And I’m left feeling like there’s more to do in another playthrough. Not just with seeing if I can keep Baka alive this time, but also throwing my lot in with the Crypts, or taking them both out. How do I recruit Dogmeat? Is it even possible?

These are the best kind of demo experiences for me: the ones that allow for repeat experimentation. You can get a good few hours of entertainment out of Fallout’s demo, tinkering around with it, trying different approaches, and seeing what happens. What you can do to change things up. Little speedrun challenges.

Oh!

I did try one other thing as I roamed post-battle Scrapheap: accessing the computer in the Crypts’ HQ. And lo and behold, it turns out it has Fallout on it!

Fallout is indeed a great game.

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