South by Southwest (SXSW) is widely considered one of the biggest, most influential film festivals in the country for a reason. Over an eight day span (March 8-16), a staggering 115 feature films will screen, along with 80 shorter length projects and 19 music videos; a bundle of these will be world premieres, marking the very first showing of a project. Set annually in Austin, Texas, the event’s reputation precedes it as one of the greatest cinematic showings in the United States.
The festival isn’t all about the screenings, though; companies of all kinds throughout the entertainment industry set up shop throughout the week to display and promote their upcoming releases. Perhaps the most anticipated of such this year is Prime Video’s Fallout display: an in-world experience with activities, quests, photo-ops, and more for SXSW attendees to engage with in preparation for the show.
The Fallout series, set for release on Prime Video on April 12, is based on the hit series of video games of the same name. The first game captivated fans with a fresh nuclear, post-apocalyptic twist on the RPG gaming genre in 1997, and has since seen vast continued success under publishing studio Bethesda with five subsequent releases, the last of which being ‘Fallout 76’ in 2018.
The live-action series will see a new story not found in the games, drawing from two decades worth of storytelling thus far that has defined the franchise’s astropunk-like realism thus far. The show, of course, will look to replicate that. But first, Prime Video will do the same by transforming the Hotel San José parking lot in downtown Austin into Filly, described as “a bustling wasteland shanty-town outside of the Vaults that appears to be the result of nuclear fallout.”
The mini-event will span two days at the beginning of the festival, starting March 8 from 12-6 PM and ending after the second day, March 9, from 10 AM to 6 PM. The recreated town will be chock-full of easter eggs and teeming with activity. Visitors will “witness how unpleasant and dangerous outside of the Vaults actually is, as they take in sights and sounds from wandering lazeabouts and aggressive locals selling their wares and what seems to be the local cuisine.” The set-up will even incorporate the game’s infamous currency, bottle caps “Collect some for trade, and maybe the wasteland won’t be so bad.”
As guests journey deeper into the settlement, they’ll have the opportunity to complete scavenger quests, such as hunting for pre-war artifacts, photographing the wasteland, lassoing (sort-of) taxidermied wasteland creatures, and practicing their shot at the ‘Junk Jets’ shooting gallery, in addition to various other interactive elements throughout town, all of which will earn them more bottle caps.
The quasi-town will even feature unique snacks for attendees to try, like “Fancy Lad Snack Cakes.” To remember the adventure, event-goers can snap a photo in multiple locations, such as the futuristic, post-apocalyptic dentist’s chair (watch out for the doctor), in front of the “feral ghoul cage”, and by the ever-iconic suit of power armor from the games. Fans will have no room for boredom in Filly, where their Fallout dreams finally come to life.
If you’re able to attend, take the opportunity and visit this unique recreation of one of the most well-known worlds in gaming, and get a preview for what will undoubtedly be one of the year’s premiere television releases. If you can’t make it to Filly, make sure you check out Fallout when it premieres this spring, April 12, on Amazon’s Prime Video. In the meantime, stay safe out there, settler.