The Fallout series of games has been around for over 25 years. Unlike wars that “never change,” Fallout transforms with each new incarnation and continues to open itself up to new generations of gamers, while trying to maintain its signature style and atmosphere.
But despite the excellent basis for it, Fallout has only now earned a full-fledged movie adaptation: On April 10, 2024, a series called Fallout was released on the Amazon Prime Video platform. It will primarily interest fans of the game, but it may also attract new fans to this universe. In this article, we will tell you what exactly this Fallout is about and recall all the games in the series. We will also talk a little bit about the new series.
What is Fallout. History, fauna and technology
Imagine the world after World War II through the eyes of Americans. Peace has finally come. The United States is booming, and the middle class is growing stronger. Technology, cradled in the cradle of war, is developing at an incredible rate. People are seeking peace and renewal. And a new era is born, where all days are sunny, all children are polite and intelligent, women in lush dresses with big smiles on their faces take care of their families all day long, and their well-groomed husbands with pipes in their teeth provide everything they need with great enthusiasm. However, there is something disturbing in the air, as if this idyll will not last forever…
In our world, rock ‘n’ roll, transistors, and the Cold War have appeared, and in the world of Fallout, culture seems to be frozen in the aesthetics of the “golden era” of the mid-50s.
As for technology… It seems that the tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not particularly impress local scientists and authorities. They continued to experiment with the atom and rejected transistors. As a result, the world has become too technologically advanced in some aspects and ridiculously archaic in others. For example, the Pip-Boy is a kind of mobile computer that looks like a 5 kilogram Apple Watch on your wrist, with a large black and green display and a nuclear power source.
In the 21st century, the nuclear engine for cars appeared, while computers were still the size of a room. Imagine driving a nuclear-powered car, but having to use a huge tube radio to listen to music. And here you are, driving such an advanced vehicle, still using a paper map instead of GPS, because satellites… well, they never became part of this alternative future. Instead, specific weapons appeared, such as power armor, which turns a soldier into an almost invincible fighting machine.
Yes, in this world, you could charge your smartwatch with a nuclear battery that lasts for centuries, but don’t expect to receive notifications from Facebook. Instead, you might receive radio signals with the latest news about the next attack of super mutants. And that’s not all! Imagine luxury nuclear coffee makers that guarantee your morning cup of coffee even in the harshest post-apocalyptic conditions!
In the world of Fallout, the USSR has lost the space race to the United States and retreated, and communist China has become the main rival in the struggle for hegemony. The energy crisis of the mid-21st century led to the depletion of natural resources, which provoked a sharp struggle for oil, especially between the United States and China. This led to the War for Resources, which culminated in the nuclear apocalypse of October 23, 2077, which ended civilization. The catastrophe gave birth to the Wasteland, a new world inhabited by mutants, guls, and survivors trying to rebuild civilization.
Before the disaster, the United States launched Project Rescue, building a series of shelters for survival after a nuclear war.
Vault-Tec, the company that implemented Project Rescue, actually used the shelters as platforms for social experimentation. Most of the 122 shelters were not designed to actually save humanity. Each shelter conducted its own unique experiment: from studying the impact of prolonged isolation on a small group of people to the impact of various social and psychological factors on the residents. Some of the experiments were relatively harmless, while others had catastrophic consequences for their participants. However, it was in these shelters that most people survived in good health.
Some of the people who survived on the surface turned into bald, skinless globs. Those whose brains were not affected by radiation are quite intelligent and, along with gulification, received longevity as a bonus. But there are also wild guls, aggressive and brainless. They attack everything they see and sometimes walk in packs.
So, welcome to the post-apocalypse! A wasteland is not just a scorched desert. It’s a place where every stone and every abandoned building holds secrets and stories.
Order on the surface? What kind of order is there when it’s every man for himself! If you know how to hold a gun and aren’t afraid to fight a giant radioactive cockroach, then maybe you’ll find your place under the post-apocalyptic sun. Or at least have a good time before you become dinner for the local fauna. Yes, there are plenty of picnic companies here, unless, of course, you like to communicate with wild goosebumps, supermutants, or huge naked mole rats who will gladly share your lunch with you. But most likely, you will be the appetizer. There are also claws of death – not just wild animals, but walking nightmares ready to turn any traveler into a quick snack.
The Wasteland is not only home to cute animals, but also to a variety of factions – be careful with them! Among them are the Brotherhood of Steel, tough guys in power armor who protect old technologies from those who are unable to appreciate them. There is also the New California Republic, apologists for medieval ignorance who dream of recreating the old world. There are no real states here anymore… After the apocalypse, the concept of “country” has lost its meaning, and power is concentrated in the hands of those who own the most weapons and the strongest bunker.
We almost forgot about the raiders, the local stars of the reality show “Rob and Kill”. They have divided the Wasteland into zones of influence using their fists and rusty assault rifles. We can’t ignore the supermutants, the result of Vault-Tec’s experiments, who may not understand the meaning of friendship, but they know how to break through skulls.
Despite the gloom and seriousness of the situation, this world has a unique style and humor. And then there’s Vault Boy. Everyone has seen him, even those who have no idea what Fallout is. This is the same smiling cartoon guy in a blue jumpsuit with a shelter number on his back who has become a symbol of both the horrors of nuclear war and the ironic attitude towards survival in the Wasteland. His image is used in everything from Vault-Tec product advertisements to survival guides, making him an unforgettable element of the Fallout world’s style. Do you think that a thumbs up is a sign that everything is fine? There are legends that Vault Boy’s thumbs up is actually a survival instruction. If you see a nuclear explosion on the horizon, stretch out your arm and raise your thumb. If the blast mushroom is wider than your thumb, you are in the radiation affected area.
Fallout
Release date 1997
Genre/strong> RPG
Platforms MS DOS, Classic Mac OS, Windows, macOS, Linux
So, it happened. A nuclear desert in place of green meadows… Someone survived in the Vault-Tec shelters, someone became a gul. We learn about this from a stylish black-and-white intro, after which we are transported to Shelter 13, where the protagonist, a resident of this very shelter, is pulled out of his usual life by the warden of this underground fortress.
He instructs the protagonist to go out into the big world and find a new water chip. The old one is broken, so the small homeland is in danger of being left without drinking water. We have 150 game days to do everything. That’s the plot and the setup. And then there is more. We leave the shelter and see with our own eyes the remains of the world, rats and mole rats, rad scorpions and other strange animals. Sometimes we see small settlements, civilians and guls, as well as gangs of raiders and huge supermutants who kidnap people for no clear reason… We get to know the world, learn about the factions that operate here, find new friends and enemies, and complete various tasks.
Without exaggeration, we are looking at a legend of the genre. A role-playing game with incredible freedom of choice, even when compared to the most prominent games of our time. And this is despite the fact that the game was released in 1997! Freedom begins with the creation of the main character.
The S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, Luck) is a seven-part system that allows you to customize your character in a very flexible way. In addition to the main characteristics, there are three skills (such as healing, handling weapons, and stealing) and two features. The latter are optional, as they have both advantages and disadvantages. For example, with a fast metabolism, it will be easier to heal, but radiation also affects you faster.
In short, these characteristics can be used to mold anyone: from a weak but intelligent and articulate trickster to a muscular hero without a brain who can barely string two words together, or a weak hacker who can break through any defense.
A modern gamer might shrug their shoulders: “We’ve seen this before”. And it’s true. Even before Fallout, there were games like Ultima, Might and Magic, and Wizardry, where players could choose classes and customize their characters’ characteristics.
But for character customization to have such an impact on the game, on the interaction with its world and its inhabitants… No one had seen anything like this before Fallout. And, to be honest, it’s rare to see this even in the latest projects.
You can choose an average character and adapt your tactics depending on the situation. You can create a physically weak hero who can convince even the dead to take his side and help. With a stupid thug, you can effectively break through packs of supermutants and mole rats, while a clever thief may not be able to take out the raider leader with one left, but he can unnoticeably put activated explosives in his pocket. In addition, the game can be completed without a single kill, although this is not an easy path.
Or here’s a specific example. In one of the missions, the player needs to get important information from the leader of a local gang. Instead of breaking into their camp by force or killing the guards, a character with high Charisma and Intelligence can use his skills to convince the gangsters that he is an envoy from a rival group offering a lucrative deal. If the persuasion is successful, the gang leader will share the necessary information, without fighting or complicated infiltration.
Fallout’s open world and varied gameplay will not disappoint, and even those who have played the game since 1997 occasionally come across some unexpected solutions during a replay. My point is that Fallout’s replayability is simply amazing. Especially if you don’t mind the outdated isometric graphics, if you can handle the turn-based combat system and the lack of explicit instructions on how to handle a particular situation.
You might think that this complexity was the main reason for the game’s financial failure. Well, as failures go, Fallout raised money for a sequel, but it did not satisfy the publisher and did not become super successful. By the end of 1997, only 53,777 copies of the game had been sold in the United States, and as of 2017, the total number of Fallout copies sold across all platforms was a modest 600 thousand. Most likely, the problems with the game’s distribution are related to the fact that this project has not been a priority for Interplay (the developer and publisher of Fallout) for a long time. They didn’t have high expectations for it and, as a result, there were no special marketing investments.
However, this didn’t stop Fallout from gaining legendary status and the sincere love of critics and fans. And, fortunately, the sequel appeared soon. Let’s move on to it.
Fallout 2
Release date 1998
Genre RPG
Platforms Windows, Classic Mac OS, macOS
Today, it’s hard to imagine a game of the scale and complexity of Fallout 2 being released just a year after the original. Fortunately, this happened, even though the three main creators of the original game left the development company at the same time. However, they passed on their work, the game engine, and their blessings to those who remained.
So, 80 years have passed since the events of the first part of the game. The year is 2241, and the settlement of Aroyo, created by the protagonist of the first Fallout, has been in decline for some time and urgently needs to be saved. Therefore, it was decided to send someone to get the G.E.K.K. (Garden of Eden Creation Kit, which can be translated as “Garden of Eden Creation Kit”). Your mother, who is the daughter of the protagonist of the first game, she is also the elder of your native village, sends you in search of this miracle trolley. Then, just like in the first part, you get to random meetings and quests and are free to play the game as you wish. The game time here is 13 years, and if in the original game you were obliged to perform at least one heroic positive act (bring the water chip to your home), then here you can play a completely unprincipled desperate scoundrel.
The game system, battles, and graphics of the sequel are very close to the first part. What’s new compared to Fallout? First of all, Fallout 2 is bigger. The game world has become bigger and more diverse. There are more quests, more characters, and, of course, more opportunities.
Secondly, the game has become more… lighthearted. Of course, black humor and irony are present in the first part (just think of the introductory video, where two American “aswabadites” in power armor shoot a Canadian prisoner in the back of the head with the headline “Our loyal men keep the peace in recently annexed Canada” and all this to romantic swing jazz). But the overall atmosphere of the original was still quite gloomy. In the sequel, survival in the apocalypse is often heavily seasoned with sarcastic jokes. Most fans liked it, although there were some dissatisfied.
In Fallout 2, you can become the owner of a casino in New Reno, join bounty hunters, star in an adult movie, or even join the ranks of a mysterious order. You will have to face moral dilemmas at literally every turn, choose whom to support, and quickly experience the consequences of the decisions you make.
Fallout 2 was a success right from the start, and has become not only a worthy sequel, but also one of the most beloved parts of the series among fans.
Fallout 3
Release date 2008
Genre action/RPG
Platforms Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360,
After the release of Fallout 2, Interplay started working on the third part, which was called Project Van Buren. Unfortunately, the project was canceled. After that, the rights to the franchise were transferred to Bethesda, a company known for its first-person role-playing games, including the Elder Scrolls series. This moment marked the beginning of a new era in the history of the series. Gamers’ opinions on this change were divided, and the new developers approached the realization of Fallout 3, which was released in 2008, taking into account their own experience and vision.
Fallout 3 takes place in 2277, 200 years after the nuclear war and 36 years after the events of Fallout 2. Interestingly, the game allows us to follow the life of the protagonist almost from his birth. His mother dies during childbirth, and the baby and his father end up in Shelter 101 in the Capital Wasteland, where Washington, D.C. used to be. The character grows up: at one year old, we choose his characteristics, at 10 he gets his first pip-boy and air rifle. And at 16, he passes the G.O.A.T. exam, which determines his basic skills. And everything was fine until the hero turned 19 and his father suddenly disappeared from the Shelter. It should be noted that people gathered in this place are quite suspicious, and they don’t like it when someone suddenly disappears. So his friends hinted to the hero that before he was accused of anything, it would be better for him to disappear without a trace.
This is the beginning of his long journey through the post-nuclear world. Along the way, the hero meets various characters, encounters hostile creatures, and explores the ruins of the old world, trying to find answers to questions about his father and the secrets he hides.
Fallout 3 has made significant changes to the series, but it has combined innovations with classic elements such as S.P.E.C.I.A.L. to offer gamers a familiar yet updated world.
The first thing that changed was the game engine. Bethesda borrowed it from The Elder Scrolls. So it is not surprising that Fallout 3 was nicknamed “Oblivion with guns”. Not everyone liked these changes, but it’s worth recognizing that the game has become more modern in terms of graphics and controls than its isometric ancestors. Turn-based combat no longer fit into the new concept, so these mechanics were replaced with shooter ones. Unfortunately, they were implemented poorly, and aiming and shooting in the game is not very convenient. But in Fallout 3, in addition to traditional shooting, the V.A.T.S. (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System) aiming system was implemented, and it improves the situation somewhat. In the classic Fallout games, you could aim at specific parts of the enemy’s body. In Fallout 3, you can also do this when you activate V.A.T.S. In this case, time stops and you can think a little bit. So, it’s a kind of compromise, an element of turn-based combat.
From a technical point of view, the new Fallout has taken a step forward. But is there any freedom of action left? Yes, it remains, but mainly as the freedom to explore the world. Wandering the Wasteland, you sometimes come across very interesting characters and quests. It’s good that Fallout 3 has the post-apocalyptic atmosphere of the original, and it’s really interesting to be here. At the same time, the role-playing has become much more formal and simple, which has affected the variability of the passage. However, you can still do good or evil, choose which faction to join, and complete quests with your partners. By the way, the game brings back the more serious and gloomy post-apocalyptic atmosphere of the first part.
Abrupt changes always bring stress and cause rejection. Therefore, it is not surprising that among the old fans there were many dissatisfied with the new Fallout 3. At the same time, many missed the world and embraced their favorite series in a new outfit. There were also those who sincerely liked the game. Moreover, after its release, the franchise gained many new fans. The game showed good sales, which usually signals that the series will be developed further.
Fallout: New Vegas
Release date 2010
Genre action/RPG
Platforms Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
An apocalyptic party called Fallout: New Vegas was conceived as a grand DLC for the financially successful Fallout 3. However, the project grew and turned out to be so interesting and distinctive that it was “upgraded” to a separate full-fledged game in the series. But without a number in the title.
By the way, this game has a different developer, namely Obsidian Entertainment. And the best part is that the team included people who worked on the original isometric games. The game engine of New Vegas is the same Gamebryo that is already familiar from Fallout 3. The developers have improved the graphics a bit, but along with it, they added a good handful of bugs. Let’s consider this to be Obsidian’s signature style: as always, they work as if they are in a constant time crunch and at the same time produce 1000 good ideas per second.
The plot takes us to Las Vegas, which is now called New Vegas. By some miracle, the city was lucky enough to suffer much less from the Great War than others (later in the story, we will understand why this happened). And now, in 2281 (4 years after the events of Fallout 3), there are very serious showdowns over the Hoover Dam. The game’s plot is presented as a real mafia action movie, where the mysterious ruler of New Vegas, Mr. House, the New California Republic, and Caesar’s Legion play dangerous games for power.
Who is at the center of all these events? A hero who will save the universe? Of course, wait a hundred years for him. For now, we have only the Courier. That’s right, an ordinary employee of Mojave Express. He is doing his job, i.e. delivering a parcel (namely, a platinum casino chip), and suddenly gets ambushed by unfamiliar bandits who rob and almost kill him, and then leave him for dead somewhere in a wasteland. Fortunately, he is found by the robot Victor. He proved to be faithful to the three laws of Asimov’s robotics, so he decided to take the hero to the nearest town to see a doctor.
When the Courier recovers, the doctor interviews him (this interview is a characterization, the good old S.P.E.C.I.A.L.), gives him a pip-boy and equipment, and blesses him with an adventure in the Mojave Desert.
Fallout: New Vegas beckons with its harsh sarcasm and post-apocalypse western atmosphere, where every step can lead to incredible adventures or a new bug. Although this game looks close to Fallout 3, in terms of fun and enthusiasm, it is a sibling to the second installment. However, there are too many jokes and references to the previous parts. There is a lot of text, choice, and wagering.
The game turned out to be fun and interesting, a kind of curtsy to the old fans of the series. The latter traditionally consider it the best among the “new” (read: three-dimensional) Fallout games. However, games cannot please everyone. There are a lot of players who do not accept this part at all, believing that its excessive verbosity harms the dynamics inherent in RPGs/shooters.
Fallout 4
Release date 2015
Genre action/RPG
Platforms Windows, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One / Series X|S
In 2015, 5 years after New Vegas, Bethesda offered players Fallout 4. The new title received an updated engine and beautiful new graphics, but there were some dissatisfied people. They said that the colors were too bright and joyful for a post-apocalyptic game. But wait… At the beginning of the game, we are shown a little bit of pre-war idyllic life, and then we start living in 2287. Perhaps the planet has managed to recover a bit in more than two hundred years after humanity tried to commit suicide and take it with them? We’ll assume so. In any case, the graphics here are really nice, as is the character control.
So, you start in the bright future of 2077, where life is still in full swing. This is, by the way, the first game project in the series that begins in the pre-nuclear era. It’s an idyllic picture of one-story America in the fifties, but with a chatty robot servant making your morning coffee. Unfortunately, it doesn’t last long. Anxiety and panic set in, and you, your wife and son (or your husband and son if you’re playing as a female character) run to the nearest underground bunker. The state has allocated you a place there because you are a career soldier. For some reason, you are all frozen there. A big badabum happens. At some point, you wake up and watch your other half being killed and your son being kidnapped, but you can’t do anything because you are frozen again. You don’t know how long you slept. You wake up in 2287 and immediately go in search of your child. And at the same time, you get to know a strange new world.
Compared to the previous three-dimensional games in the series, character control has become much more comfortable. The V.A.T.S. system has also undergone some changes. Now it doesn’t stop time like in the previous installments, but only slows it down, and shooting has become much more enjoyable and accurate. However, when it comes to dialogues… Oh, Fallout, where are you going?
Some of the dialog is so primitive that it seems intended for characters with 0-3 intelligence in Fallout 1 or Fallout 2, and when it comes to choosing actions, the descriptions are often so vague that it’s hard to understand what they’re actually talking about. As for the role-playing… Let’s just say it could have been better. “Oldfags are openly outraged by it (have you noticed that Fallout fans are always outraged about something?) And the number of interesting quests with difficult moral choices could have been greater. But they are still present here. And there is a choice. And there are several endings, depending on the factions you decide to be friends with. And, interestingly, and in a very Fallout-like way, none of these decisions will be perfect. In the sense that it is impossible to remain “white and fluffy” in this post-apocalyptic world.
And what about innovation? Hmm… There is construction! Yes, now you can become a jack of all trades and create your own little settlement with its own atmosphere and rules. Someone will say: “But that’s great!” Others will sigh: “What are these Sims elements for in Fallout?” Well, to each his own.
One way or another, the world of Fallout 4 is fun to be in and fun to play. For the most part, you can forget about building and just do quests and explore the huge world map. Although Fallout 4 has received a lot of criticism, it’s hard to find people who start playing and quickly quit. Yes, the gameplay and role-playing system are simplified, the leveling is not as deep as before, and weapons no longer wear out… However, despite this, the game has an extraordinary ability to addict, and it really matters.
Fallout 76
Release date 2018
Genre action/RPG + MMO
Platforms Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4
Do you remember when we wrote that Fallout 4 was not accepted by many people? Remember the mention that New Vegas has a lot of bugs? Attention, change of leader: we’re looking at the big (at least in terms of map size) and terrible (but that’s not accurate) Fallout 76, the new king of the Fallout universe’s buggy and hatefulness!
Seriously, this project is a very strange experiment. Sometimes it seems that the main purpose of its existence is to drive the most loyal fans of the series into a frenzy. In addition to the problems we mentioned above, the game also encroaches on the canon in many places. But most likely, the reason for Fallout 76 is much more banal: to earn as much money as possible with as little development effort as possible.
Judge for yourself. The developer already had a ready-made and quite good engine from Fallout 4. The graphics came from there, at least a large number of models. If you look at Fallout 4 and Fallout 76, you won’t always be able to tell them apart. Although these games have different genres. Fallout 4 is an action/RPG, and Fallout 76 is an action/RPG with multiplayer. And it is the multiplayer that is implemented here in a somewhat strange way.
First of all, although the game engine is of high quality, it is not suitable for online games. The V.A.T.S. system, familiar to us from Fallout 3, New Vegas, and 4, doesn’t suspend time here, but functions as automatic aiming. The map is large, so the chances of running into another player by accident are minimal, especially given the limit of 24 players per server. But even if you do meet someone, you won’t be able to immediately engage in a PvP battle. You need to make a warning shot, and only after the enemy responds can the battle begin.
The most interesting moments of multiplayer are revealed in Events – missions to search for items, clear territories, or defend key points from enemies. This is where fans of the MMO aspects of the game gather.
To finish off the fans, the game also has a donation system. And without it, you won’t be able to create your own server to play with your friends, for example. If you paid for the game only once, when you bought it, you will have to play exclusively on public servers.
However, Fallout 76 has a lot of interesting things to offer for single-player fans as well. Almost all activities and the storyline can be completed on your own, as if you were playing Fallout 4, only in a different place and time. It has some of the charms of its predecessor: a large and no longer empty world, as it was at the start of the game, which is interesting to explore.
By the way, we completely forgot about the plot! However, we are not the only ones. At the start of the game, the developers were accused of this sin, as they offered players only one storyline, which developed through terminals and notes.
So, we are the inhabitants of Shelter 76, where only the best of the best were placed. According to Vault-Tec’s plan, the doors of the shelter were to open exactly 25 years after the nuclear explosion. To celebrate the opening, the residents organized a big party the day before, and the game starts when you wake up in the shelter and there is not a soul there. Your first task is to find the shelter’s supervisor by following the trail of her gala recordings.
In addition to this starting story, the game later added several more lines, including the main ones – the robbery of shelter 79 and the story about the Brotherhood of Steel. In general, there is a lot of content here, about 80 hours to complete. It’s just unclear what to do in the game afterwards, because there is no formal multiplayer endgame, and the events that do appear are too monotonous and quickly get boring.
The game turned out to be a strange hybrid, which at first was characterized by a world that was full of bugs. But the game was not abandoned. So over time, Fallout 76 was filled with content and found its fans. Five years after its release, the game has become a worthy continuation of the series for those who loved Fallout 4.
Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel
Release date 2001
Genre тактика / RPG
Platforms Windows
We have reviewed the main games of the series, and now let’s move back to the beginning of the new millennium. Fallout 2 became very successful, so the publisher decided to experiment with the series and ordered the production of the tactical RPG Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel. The developer was Micro Forte, a third-party Australian studio.
Visually, Brotherhood of Steel was similar to its predecessors, but it changed the genre and became a tactical RPG. That is, you spend most of the game fighting, and you can choose whether they will be turn-based or real-time. It seems like a great feature, but it creates unnecessary uncertainty and players did not appreciate it. In addition, for some reason, the developers were unable to harmonize the game with the Fallout canon, which outraged (yes, outraged) fans of the first two parts. The style has also been changed here: there is little retrofuturism and too many “ordinary” guns. Although this is logical: the mission of the “brothers” is to preserve the knowledge and technology of the former civilization.
The plot begins quite interestingly: The Brotherhood of Steel sends huge airships after the retreating hordes of super mutants. However, some of them crash in a storm, and those that make it to their destination become the basis for a new Brotherhood of Steel unit in the Midwest. Due to the lack of personnel, the sergeant major suggested recruiting “savages” from neighboring villages. It sounds strange, but over time, the Brotherhood accepts not only humans, but also Ghouls, supermutants, and even the Death Claws into its ranks. The player plays the role of one of these “savages” accepted into the ranks of the Brotherhood.
Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel was financially successful, but players received it with a lukewarm reception. This does not mean that the game was unsuccessful; rather, it did not meet the expectations of fans. Discrepancies with Fallout lore, linear gameplay, and limited character development opportunities disappointed fans. Over time, the game’s Metacritic scores have improved significantly. So, if you like tactical RPGs and don’t care much about changes in the canon, Fallout Tactics can be an interesting gaming experience.
Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
Release date 2004
Genre TPS
Platforms PlayStation 2, Xbox
When you see this game, there is only one question: what is it? And this is another spinoff, and again about the paladins from the Brotherhood of Steel. This game was released only on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles, but hardly any of the fans of the series regret it and are eager for the Fallout relaunch: Brotherhood of Steel on other platforms. In fact, it’s hard to find a single fan of the series who loves this clumsy top-down shooter.
A crooked combat system, primitive dialogues, monotonous gameplay, yet another plot deviation from the canon, mediocre graphics. I don’t even know what good things can be said about this game. Maybe the soundtrack is quite decent. And here you can meet characters from previous games. This is always nice.
Surprisingly, you can find positive reviews on Metacritic, but it seems that they are there only as a joke (like: “OMG, this is the best game in the series, a legend, ten out of ten!”). This game was released at a difficult time for the developer. So it so happened that most players either didn’t know about Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel either never heard of it or quickly forgot about it.
Fallout Shelter
Release date 2015
Genre casual strategy
Platforms Android, iOS, Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch
Finally, a mobile game in the world of Fallout. We are looking at a casual game, a typical time-killer, seasoned with the branded humor and style of the series. It was released before the release of Fallout 4 on mobile platforms, and later on PC and consoles. In Fallout Shelter, you have to try yourself as a shelter supervisor responsible for all aspects of your bunker. You allocate resources, assign residents to work, build new rooms, and create items. The game uses tamagotchi mechanics: all processes have a real time interval, so you have to return to the game regularly to check the status of things.
The quests here are quite diverse. For example, the search for a lost scientist in the desert. The player needs to assemble a group of rescuers, choose equipment for them, and watch them go on a dangerous journey. Or another quest about organizing a party in a shelter with the definition of the place, activities, and guests. Or, for example, a mission to find a legendary weapon. In short, if you like this genre, Fallout Shelter will be a great way to kill time in line or over a cup of coffee.
Fallout (серіал)
Release date 2024
Platform Amazon Prime Video
So we’ve reached one of the biggest premieres of this year for gamers – a series based on Fallout, the first official adaptation of the cult series. April 10, 2024. Amazon Prime Video released all 8 episodes at once.
The series takes place more than 200 years after the nuclear apocalypse, in 2296, i.e. 9 years after the events of Fallout 4.
Time has passed since the big badaboom, and the somewhat emaciated inhabitants of elite shelters are beginning to return to the surface of the Earth. And there… Well, you know roughly what’s out there. A variety of fauna, raiders, supermutants, all these mysterious factions with varying degrees of adequacy and ambitions to change the world or simply seize power.
According to the trailers and first press reviews, the unmistakable style has been carefully preserved and transferred to the TV screen, from the color scheme to the power armor and V.A.T.S. targeting system. Finally, heavy weapons are used, which will hit every fan of the Fallout game universe right in the heart. That is, the trademark sarcasm, black humor and references to the events of the games in the series.
The series is not an adaptation of specific parts of the game, it tells a completely new story. It is about the fates of the three main characters. Lucy, who has just come out of the Sanctuary and hasn’t yet realized where she is. Maximus, a paladin of the Brotherhood of Steel, who is sincerely passionate about the ideas it promotes. Finally, the third character is Gul, whose name is Gul. He is a bounty hunter, and his own head is full of thoughts about the good old world that we have lost.
The first ratings from the press and critics were quite high. For example, at the time of writing, the series has a 73/100 rating on Metacritic, with gaming publications giving it higher scores than the mainstream media. The rating on IMDb is even higher – 8.7/10.
The authors claim that the series can be watched even by those who have never encountered the Fallout universe. In this case, they will probably not notice the Easter eggs. But this is not the main thing. The main thing is that Fallout lives on and leaves hope for the development of the series.
What else?
The world of Fallout is so vast that we have overlooked many things. For example, we didn’t mention the numerous DLCs for Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, and Fallout 4, as well as many interesting mods for them. For example, on April 26 this year, a huge mod Fallout: London, and this is, by the way, the first “trip” of the series to Europe. It’s also a great board game that you can play with your friends for ten hours.
Let’s hope that the series will be well received by the audience and will get a second season, and maybe a spinoff. And even more, I would like to get a new game called… Let’s say Fallout 5.
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