The entire Fallout franchise often touches upon some pretty heavy topics, save for the whole nuclear apocalypse storyline. It also allows people to explore a vast world and create unique characters that have fond adventures. Along the way, there's the modding community, which enables additional and immersive aspects, such as the Fallout 4 mods that introduce romance. Modding is an important part of the games, expanding the already pretty vast story and gameplay elements, and now one fan has made a new add-on which aims to make the 2015 installment more progressive.
Uploading the file to ModDB a couple of days ago, user LeahTheUnknown has created a mod for Fallout 4 which makes the game more gender-neutral. Called "They-Them - Neutral Pronouns," it does exactly what it says in that it replaces most of the in-game gendered pronouns with "they/them" instead. This also includes changing instances of "his/her" to "theirs," with "himself/herself" becoming "themself."
In the description, the modder expresses a certain amount of dismay that "this wasn't done before." Fallout 4 is one of Bethesda's highest selling games, and while it does have significant character customization at the start, some may be surprised that the story moves along a heteronormative storyline, featuring a wife, husband, and child, as well as the aforementioned "he/she" pronouns. At least with LeahTheUnknown's mod, players can now have the option for a more non-binary experience, although it should be pointed out that it's just the text that has been changed. The voice work still remains the same.
Inclusivity is becoming a major part of the media now, and that includes video games. With titles such as Cyberpunk 2077 offering non-binary character creation, it's a step in the right direction for those who don't exclusively identify as either male or female. Of course, Cyberpunk was not the first game to offer this, as the likes of Minecraft has been doing it for over ten years. Yes, "Steve" may have a male name and possibly even a male look, but the blocky protagonist is fully customizable, which means players can turn them into whomever they want, gendered or otherwise.
Fallout 4 is generally quite an immersive game, and while the setting and plot may be a bit disengaged from reality, it still allows fans to take on a role in this world. With this comes the option to choose between a strict male or female character, so this new mod will add that little bit more to the game which will make it more inclusive for non-binary or LGBTQ+ players.
Fallout 4 was released on November 10, 2015, and is available for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Source: ModDB
