this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2026
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Yea, sadly I feel that the writers just didn't want to write a meaningfully left ending.
Having seen a documentary about the production the designers wanted the game to be about "letting go of Old World Blues". All the factions cling to the past, to systems that led them to where they are today. I take it they were a bit better than regular US radlibs, which is why there isn't any left-bashing, but they probably see communism as part of that old world blues too. It would also go against their goal if there was an obvious "good" ending.
That said it would have done wonders for the political awakening of a bunch of people if there was one. Or, at least, if it was made clear the courier was likewise constrained by their environment, so the reason a post-post-apocalyptic spartacist movement isn't possible is because the courier and like individuals can't think like that. The red scare has long tendrils.
Or at least a yes-man ending that wasn't going all "great man" theory about the courier, where everything revolves around them and their presence.
Yep, the writers are progressives, but not commies. If they had written an explicitly communist path, it likely would have been a "good in theory, bad in practice" type commonly seen in western writing.