The Fallout 4 theme seems to express the game’s many notes: a haunting, elegiac quality conveys sorrow over all that has been lost, while swells of hope and promise bob over a stubborn, determined beat. It’s an accurate musical summation of the Fallout 4 experience: your Sole Survivor is lost in time and reeling with grief, but pushes forward nonetheless to remake the world as they see fit.
How did the man who create this theme approach the work? The composer for Fallout 4 , Inon Zur, spoke with iDigitalTimes to discuss the experience of working on Fallout 4 and creating its distinct sound.
Zur states he was able to follow his own path in composing the memorable theme of Fallout 4 . “For the theme Bethesda allowed me to follow my own direction and style that would fit with the world of Fallout 4 in a more profound way,” he told iDigi in an email. “I was not able to play the game but I was brought on board early in the process so I was familiar with the game’s premise.”
The theme is “a solo piece that is meant to be heard and stand on its own,” Zur explained. “The theme is a strong statement that captures the whole notion of Fallout 4 . It had to be memorable on one hand but also it had to contain many aspects of the game, and to fit all of that in just 2½ minutes was quite a challenge.”
Even the start screen, which consists of different shots of a scrappy yet cozy garage containing one battered, honorable suit of Power Armor, seems to echo the sentiments expressed by the music. Of all things, why a garage? Why not scenes of Fallout 4 ’s wild, sometimes wacky combat? Because Fallout 4 ’s narrative themes privilege hope and restoration, not dissolution and despair; Fallout 4 might take place in a ruined world, but even its blighted inhabitants hold hard to life.
Of course the start screen shows you a garage, shows you Power Armor. From the moment you open Fallout 4 , the game primes you to retake, to build. it shows you the tools by which you fashion -- and fight for -- your own future. The theme expresses every step of that journey. “It was never meant to be background music,” said Zur.
But it’s not all statement pieces. For the opening scene, which goes from normality to chaos in a heartbeat, Zur said, “The music remains objective; since the story and visuals are so strong we thought it would be better to frame rather than to intervene with music and that has proven to be very successful and effective.”
Zur carried over his framing philosophy from the opening scene to the rest of the background music. Ever see the sun rise over the Glowing Sea, washing all that wasted land with eerie beauty as the music whispers soft and subtle at the edge of your hearing? Ever stared at a Deathclaw’s massive corpse as music swells in the background, triumph and sorrow both? Part of Zur’s approach means giving the player moments like that, where the music and the moment can meld to form something sublime.
“The in-game music is not leading the player, telling him or her what to do and where to go but we’re putting them in such a state of mind that [it] will enhance where they are,” Zur said. “More than anything else the music will reflect the sense of emotion that is part of the story that you are in right at that moment.”
Zur has composed for the Fallout series going back to 2001’s Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel, but Fallout 4 marked one of the scores for which Zur felt the greatest anticipation. “We went really ‘out there’ with the score. It’s not a traditional score or as accessible as others where the music style is almost expected,” Zur said. “With Fallout 4 I wasn’t quite sure how fans would connect with the music but I just tried to do the game justice with what I felt in my heart would work best for the game…. As far as the music on its own and how people would receive it, I wasn’t sure if it was too experimental. That’s why when it was so well received it was a true highlight for me.”
As for his next project, Zur is tight-lipped on those, stating only, “I have two very exciting projects - well kept secrets - that I’m currently working on.” Fallout 5 and 6 confirmed or nah?
