Has the success of Fallout’s live-action adaptation left you giddy for more? Good news! You can revisit the best of the game series relatively easily, and you might not even need to spend any caps to do so.
The Fallout TV Show Is Good
Video game to screenplay adaptations don’t always go well, but the team behind Amazon’s production managed to pull off something special with the first season of Fallout. You can watch the show right now with an Amazon Prime membership, and it’s absolutely worth your time.
Fallout is faithful to the source material, packed with cheeky references, and has all the trappings of a worthwhile watch. With a good foundation of solid acting, a suitably hostile setting, and a cast of interesting new characters, the show feels right at home in the Fallout universe. Everything from the color palette to the occasional echo of haunting ambient music feels worthy of the series.
But don’t take my word for it, reviews are good across the board. The show has been praised for feeling like it was made by gamers, for its clever representation of some of the game’s core systems, and for staying loyal to Fallout’s dark comedic brand of violence and political commentary.
The show succeeds at being both a worthy entry point into the Fallout brand for newcomers while ticking the boxes that seasoned veterans expect thanks to generous lashings of familiar paraphernalia and references. The show thankfully avoids hitting you over the head with its lore callouts and feels more like a tribute than pandering to fan service.
Or maybe I’m just biased because I love Fallout. If you also love Fallout, buckle up because the show will almost certainly make you think about donning your PIP Boy and getting eviscerated by Deathclaws all over again.
Fallout 4 Is Getting an Update
Fallout 4 was released in 2015, making it a nine-year-old game at the time of the show’s debut. Despite its age, Fallout 4 is probably the most accessible version of Bethesda’s open-world RPG. It’s the most recent wholly single-player installment, and it’s available with Game Pass (Xbox and PC) or as a standalone title (on everything, including PlayStation 4 and 5).
Set in The Commonwealth, a region that incorporates what was once the state of Massachusetts and the city of Boston, Fallout 4 features a fully voiced player character, new base-building mechanics, improved combat, a robust crafting system, and some of the best visuals and world design the series has seen.
Bethesda announced a free next-generation update for Fallout 4 that arrives on April 25, 2024. This update features a new Enclave quest and new weapons, skins, and decorations for all platforms. It also brings bug fixes, stability improvements, and enhancement to the game’s modding and community content tools.
The Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 will finally get native versions of the game, with performance and quality mode toggles that offer up to 4K resolution and 60 frames per second. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions will get new content and tweaks to make the game run better.
The PC update will add ultra-widescreen support and plenty of fixes to versions of the game on Steam, the Microsoft Store, and GOG. Bethesda is also adding the game to the Epic Games Store. Lastly, the game will finally get Steam Deck verification for handheld play (although “Deck Verified” can be a mixed bag).
Fallout 4 made some changes to the series that aren’t necessarily to everyone’s tastes, notably to the speech system which makes it a little more difficult to predict what your character will say in conversations. The game also pesters you to build and defend settlements, but you can pretty much ignore this aspect if you’d rather.
Fallout 76 Has Come a Long Way
Fallout 76 was Bethesda’s first attempt at making a multiplayer Fallout experience. When it launched in 2018, the game was rough and the reviews reflected this. Not only were there bugs and crashes in abundance, but the game felt crushingly lonely (even for a Fallout title) due to a stark lack of human non-player characters (NPCs).
Fortunately, the game improved massively in the years that followed. Bethesda introduced human NPCs and overhauled many of the game’s systems in 2020, and followed it up with numerous transformative updates that introduce new items, locations, quests, and more. There are in-app purchases for in-game currency, but all playable content is free.
The game takes place in what was once the state of West Virginia, an area of natural beauty and hostile mutations. The game is an online multiplayer affair where you can encounter other players and team up to take on quests together. There’s also a heavy emphasis on base building, resource collection, and the in-game economy.
Fallout 76 has come a long way since launch, and though it’s probably the weakest game in the series, it’s still a great way to explore the wastes with your friends. It’s also on Game Pass, so if you have a subscription for the Xbox or PC version then you can try it relatively risk-free.
Fallout 76 is available on PlayStation 4 and 5 and was even given away for free to PlayStation Plus subscribers in January 2023 (so check your library, just in case).
Fallout 3 and New Vegas Are Still Landmark RPGs
Fallout: New Vegas represents something of a crown jewel in the Fallout series. Developed by Obsidian Entertainment, this follow-up to Fallout 3 fixes many of the problems that players had with Bethesda’s previous outing. As the name suggests, the game is set in the Mojave wasteland and features numerous Nevada landmarks including the Las Vegas strip.
New Vegas might have the best main storyline of any Fallout game. The game’s meandering plot line incorporates complex choices that have real (if at times unintended) consequences. It also deftly incorporates RPG mechanics in a more tactful way than its predecessor. Though it was horribly buggy at launch, and at times even today, there’s a huge amount to discover and be engrossed by while traversing New Vegas’ sun-scorched wasteland.
Fallout 3 marked the first 3D game in the series and the first Bethesda release after the game rights were acquired. Set in the Pacific Northwest, Fallout 3’s dreary wasteland was somewhat groundbreaking at the time. Though the main quest line is a bit boring, there’s plenty of fun to be had and stories to discover.
Fallout 3 has arguably not aged as gracefully as New Vegas. Your character isn’t a true blank canvas, there are some glaring plot holes in the main quest, and it’s clear that Bethesda was finding its feet in terms of which direction the series should go after the move to 3D. Even so, the game received massive praise on release and it’s not hard to see why.
Both titles feature Bethesda’s signature environmental storytelling, rich detailed worlds, scathing satire, iconic soundtracks, and melancholy post-apocalyptic vibes. The games are available on Game Pass for PC and Xbox models from the 360 through to the Series X|S. You can also play on the PlayStation 3.
Don’t Forget the Original Fallout Games Either
It feels somewhat sacrilegious to have the original Fallout games that started everything as an aside at the end, but the reality is that the original games are probably the least accessible of the bunch. Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game was the 1997 turn-based RPG that set the stage for an entire series (you might say genre) of game.
Its follow-up Fallout 2 arrived a year later. Developed by Interplay and Black Isle respectively, these games use a top-down trimetric perspective and rendered 3D cutscenes to deliver a tactical tale of survival in the aftermath of a nuclear war. The stories told in these two titles are arguably some of the best in the entire series, and the critical acclaim they received is a testament to their standing in gaming history.
For the time, these games were exceptional. Many still hold them up today as great examples of how traditional pen-and-paper role-playing games can be cleverly ported to an interactive medium. You can complete quests in multiple ways based on your character’s skills and whims, something the 3D titles aspired to but which often felt unsatisfying.
The old Fallout games can be a little off-putting for their dated (yet charming, and oddly period-appropriate) graphics, steep difficulty, and availability. You can buy Fallout and Fallout 2 for Windows on GOG, Steam, and the Epic Games Store. Combat-heavy spin-off Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel is also out there.
Please Stand By
Jumping back into your favorite (or first) Fallout game is the best way to scratch the itch left behind by Amazon’s excellent series. Unfortunately, it looks like a true Fallout 5 sequel is a long way off yet.
Bethesda is currently working on The Elder Scrolls VI, a follow-up to 2011’s Skyrim, so it’s possible we’ll see another series of Amazon’s show before we see another Fallout game.
