If we can learn anything from video games, it's that post-apocalyptic scenarios are surprisingly fun. Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration on my part. It's not fun to scrabble around for clean water in an irradiated shell of a building whilst monsters roam the streets hungry for flesh... In the real world. However, when it's through the lens of a video game, it's great fun! And to that end, the Fallout series.
The first two Fallout games were released in 1997 and 1998 respectively, and were a roaring success, capturing people with their in-depth world and great storytelling. More recently, Bethesda Studios have re-invented the franchise with the first-person Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. In all of the games in the series, you meet some friendly, and some not-so-friendly, residents of the nuclear wasteland. Many of these residents are Ghouls. Let's take a closer look.
The Set-Up:
In the Fallout universe, the world was all but destroyed in 2077 via a global nuclear conflict. Some remenants of humanity were able to survive by living in nuclear bunkers called Vaults. Those who weren't so lucky were left on the surface, and irradiated when the bombs fell. Some of these unfortunate individuals were not killed, but began to mutate into Ghouls. Their skin began to flake off and crack, their hair fell out, and their voices sounded like they'd been gargling gravel. The mutation happens due to an anomaly in a persons genetic code, which results in them turning into a ghoul, rather than dying horrifically. Ghouls, whilst looking like they are rotting away, can actually live for centuries.
