What Fallout Games Should I Play?
Hello! My name is Skipper, and the Fallout games has been a special interest of mine for a few years now. With the resurgance of the fandom, and new people coming from the shows, I figured I'd make a post helping people figure out what games to play!
This is going to be the main 6 games (1-4, 76, NV), though I may add more if I play some of the other games. Feel free to add on, ask questions, or generally interact with this! I'm always happy to help people get into the games and love talking Fallout with people. :)
This is going to be as spoiler-free as possible, though I may mention some game locations vaguely, so be warned if you think that may ruin the experience.
For further reading, I highly reccomend the Independent Fallout Wiki! A lot less ads in your way, and the people over there are lovely. However, be careful, as there are spoilers there!
TLDR; New Vegas for story, Fallout 4 for gameplay and introducing concepts, Fallout 1 for authenticity, and Fallout 76 for multiplayer but absolutely nothing else of value.
Table of Contents
Fallout 1
Fallout 2
Fallout 3
Fallout: New Vegas
Fallout 4
Fallout 76
Last Updated: April 22, 2024
Fallout 1
Released; 1997
Setting; Southern California, 2161
Wiki Page
Almost a hundred years after the bombs fell, Vault 13's water chip has broken, and the Vault Dweller was selected (through random chance) to venture out into the wasteland and save their vault.
Pros:
The Original Fallout Game!
One of my favourites, story-wise.
Harold!
The game is relatively short compared to the others, and the story isn't overly hard to digest, in my opinion.
The 'talking heads' animations are super cool (Aradesh, Harold, Etc Etc)
Later character who I won't name but once you meet them YOU'LL KNOW
There's no limit to how many companions you can have at a time
I generally love the setting.
Cons:
The graphics do not age well. Even for the time, they were a bit lacking. (For reference, Doom came out in 1993, 4 years earlier).
Bit of a learning curve! But once you get it, it's pretty easy to use. The turn-based combat was the hardest to get a handle on.
The game DOES NOT hold your hand. Later games have objective lists and markers, but this game just has a list and memory. Pretty fun, if you're into a more difficult game!
Combat and general survival is difficult. The experience is authentic - which means you can and will die during the first combat scenario. Again, once you get it it's not that bad, but combat will remain difficult. But for some this could be a pro!
Fallout 2
Released; 1998
Setting; Southern California, 2241
Wiki Page
80 years after the Vault Dweller's heroic rescue of their Vault, the village of Arroyo is suffering a severe drought. The Chosen One, a descendant of the Vault Dweller, has been sent to retrieve a G.E.C.K. to save their village.
Pros
The story again is very good!
A lot of the strengths of the previous game.
There's something melancholy about exploring the world of Fallout 1 with so many changes and losses. It's perfect for the setting.
Sergeant Dornan. You'll see when you meet him.
More Harold!
Cons
This was released only a year after Fallout 1, so a lot of the graphics & gameplay remain the same, if that's not something you're a fan of.
This is where the idea of "wacky vault experiments" is introduced, something I've never super loved, but that's subjective.
Fallout 3
Released; 2008
Setting; Capital Wasteland (Formerly Washington, D.C.), 2277
Wiki Page
200 years after the war, the 19-year-old Lone Wanderer's father has mysteriously left their home at Vault 101. It is up to the Lone Wanderer to track him down and figure out what's going on, all while navigating the dangerous Capital Wasteland.
Pros
Brought the Fallout series into the modern era!
Some pretty cool locations, like Megaton and Rivet City
Sort of a pro and con, a lot of the game is spent in the underground Metro system. This is cool, but I'm not a huge fan of interior spaces. Still - it feels like a real DC Wasteland!
Galaxy News Radio is introduced, which is great background noise - and I love Three Dog. He's so silly.
No sprint button. It's not felt super bad in this game compared to Vegas, but it still can be annoying.
It feels like a post-apocalypse. The whole world is this muddy, almost sickly green, grey, and brown colour. All of the sets are carefully designed, full of dirt and debris and trash. Buildings are crumbling or outright hollowed out, the ghouls look like walking corpses (as they should be), the mole rats are nasty and all of the creatures feel gross. As they should be! This is a post-apocolypse, everything should be gross and dirty!
Lots of good world-building. Because this is based in the Capital, we get to interact with a lot of old-world history, and see how similar and different it is from our own.
Cons
Story is... not great, in my opinion.
Some of those DLCs physically hurt me. They definitely lean into the 'silly' aspects of the games, but I feel it hurts the worldbuilding and realism.
NOT Bethany Esda's best work.
Leans more into the 'game' and less on the 'role-playing', which was a big part of Fallout 1 and 2. The protagonist is 19, their father is James, and we see a bit of what their childhood looked like. You can work around it, but it's not as fun as the other games.
Sometimes the npcs are annoying. There's collision in this game, but sometimes if you step on something it'll move and a npc will shout 'Watch where you're going' or something, which gets on my nerves. Also, if you so much as look at a locked container, you get a 'That's locked for a reason'. Probably minor, but annoying.
Fire ants.
Fallout: New Vegas
Released; 2010
Setting; Mojave Wasteland (Formerly Mojave Desert), 2281
Wiki Page
Courier Six, or just the Courier, is in the middle of a delivery when they are interrupted by Benny and shot in the head - though they make a miraculous recovery and now need to figure out exactly what kind of mess they've landed themselves in this time.
Pros
I mean, it's Fallout New Vegas. This is a lot of people's favourite, for good reason. Story is phenomenal, the entire world feels real and interactive. If you shoot someone, there's consequences, and the other npcs will acknowledge it.
THE BEST radio. All of the music slaps and helps you feel the setting. Plus, I love Mr. New Vegas, the radio host.
The characters are amazing.
The world is not too silly but still silly. Like yeah, this makes sense for a post-apocalypse. But it's also so objectively funny. Some of the best memes come from this game.
Yes Man.
As usual, I love the map design.
Instead of greens for Fallout 3, this game is bathed in oranges and brown - making it feel warm, perfectly capturing the desert setting, and dusty.
the DLCs are amazing!!
We love the companions in this house.
I love how morally grey it is. No one is perfect, no faction is outright good or outright bad (except the Legion, fuck those guys). It's up to you to pick which you think is the lesser evil, which is the best future for the Mojave. Or you can kill them all, up to you.
Cons
The development for this game was pretty famously rocky. It was outsourced to Obsidian, and they were given only 18 months to make it. Therefore, this game is very similar to Fallout 3, with some general improvements here and there.
There is still no sprint button, which is definitely felt here. A lot of the stuff is spread out, so thewre's a lot of wandering through desert, slowly making your way to your destination. It also feels more empty. The great city of New Vegas is sparsely populated, quiet, and desolate - despite it being such a big deal and supposedly so popular.
Honest Hearts DLC :////
Fallout 4
Released; 2015
Setting; The Commonwealth (Formerly Boston, MA), 2287
Wiki Page
In 2077, the Sole Survivor (default names Nate or Nora) is ready to start a family. In their little neighbourhood, with their white picket fence and infant son, it is a time of new beginnings - despite the war raging around them. Unfortunately, the war quickly catches up to them, and their family is forced to take shelter in Vault 111, where they are frozen in time for 210 years. They emerge following the kidnapping of their infant son, into a time so different to their own, battling this new world alongside the ghosts of the old.
Pros
The graphics have been updated, and it looks great! Mostly. Instead of washed-out greens and browns, this game is bright and vibrant.
Some more awesome companions. Honestly, I love them so much.
I really like the level-up system in this. I prefer 3/NV, but the tier system is fun and visually neat.
Better crafting system. And more crafting systems in general.
Settlements!!! This game introduces settlements, which basically means there's a bunch of set locations around the map that you can take over and build in! You get a lot of freedom and are responsible for meeting the needs for people in the settlement. You can get some mods for more freedom/flexibility, and you can mostly ignore it if you want.
Cons
The story is... also lacking. It feels almost... unfinished? Some beats are strange and it's just like. What.
Playing this before Fallout 3 pissed me off so much, because there's so much that is ripped off of Fallout 3. The Commonwealth is brought up, the radio music is the same, the vault numbers so similar, there's even an early version of Vault 111. It feels lazy. Fallout New Vegas was more creative, and they had a fraction of the time 4 has.
40-50% of the game is spent in loading screens.
Preston Garvey deserves so much better. "AnOtHeR sEtTlEmEnT nEeDs YoUr HeLp!"
Nick Valentine is non-romancable.
It's so easy to forget about the main objective, and hard to really care about it. This is a common problem I've heard, so it's not just me.
Radio host gets on my nerves :/
Nuka-World DLC is frustrating. But at least it's not. Sideyes Honest Hearts (Fo:NV).
Game is... easy. Too Easy. Deathclaws are supposed to be dangerous and difficult to kill.
Fallout 76
Released; 2018
Setting; Appalachia (Midwestern US mountain range), 2102-2104
Wiki Page
25 years after the bombs fell, all members of Vault 76 have been kicked out in order to rebuild society.
Pros
It's. Multiplayer? Kinda.
I made some friends on there, which was neat.
Return of item condition. So.
CAMPs are fun. Like the settlement but without NPCs to look after and allows location flexibility.
Has. Some new songs on the radio?
ALMOST HEAVEN. WEST VE-
Amazing map design! The outside is gorgeous and feels like Appalachia, for the most part.
Honestly, I prefer this version of VATS (the game's targeting system). In other games, VATS will pause and slow down combat to help with aim, and can be kind of annoying. Here, the combat speed is the same, you just spend some AP (stamina) for aim assist.
Cons
I prefer settlements tbh
What's not to mention? Story sucks, game sucks, etc etc. It's pretty famously bad.
I usually love the story, but checked out very fast and spent most of my time running around. But I honestly didn't last long even then.
The game is broken. Like, fundamentally broken. You are constantly subjected to crashes, bugs, etc etc. Fallout 4 is buggy, but this takes it to an extreme.
50-70% of the game is loading screens.
The interiors are huge, and there is no local map, so you very easily get lost.
Generally the story is so stupid.
Fallout 1st is a cash grab.
Unbalanced.
Bad.
Some videos I like about Fallout 76
Internet Historian's video on the history and release. I'm iffy on Internet Historian as a creator, but I do like the video. Let's just hope it's not plagiarised.
Joseph Anderson's video on the game at it's released state. Primarily focuses on how poorly the game plays and how broken it is. Super funny.
PrivateSession's video released in 2023, reviewing a more current version of the game. More focused on story.
PatricianTV's 4-part series released in 2023, reviewing a more current version of the game. More focused on the game and gameplay.
In conclusion; thank you for reading! As I mentioned, any criticism, questions, and suggestions are welcome! I hate/love fallout and am always happy to drag people down with me.
Also, would people be interested in a post discussing the story/setting/timeline? Like where I infodump further about the universe. To make it easier to digest and answer questions. Or give me a chance to infodump further about fallout.
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