Glad Fallout Day! With Fallout Season 2 across the nook and its setting confirmed to be New Vegas years after its 2010 debut, there has by no means been a greater time to dive again into this iconic post-apocalyptic RPG online game sequence. However the place to begin? And what is going on on with the Fallout timeline? We have put collectively this useful information to the Fallout video games so as — each chronological and launch — that will help you get your head across the wasteland’s sophisticated historical past.
Whereas taking part in by means of the video games in launch order is fairly easy because of the mainline entries simply being numbered, there are nonetheless some cheeky subtitle entries that might confuse newcomers. Chronological order is the place issues get extra sophisticated, although, as the varied video games leap all around the post-apocalyptic timeline.
A few of these video games are spin-offs in numerous genres, too. In case you’re solely within the first/third-person shooter/RPG hybrids that started with Fallout 3, you may start your Fallout journey there; every entry’s primary questline works by itself, and the settings have all the time modified regardless of sharing the identical world and happening in North America. However in case you’re keen to dive into the older titles, you may discover some wonderful tales and a staggering quantity of gameplay depth.
Fallout Video games in Chronological Order
The Fallout sequence takes place sooner or later, beginning within the twenty second century after a nuclear battle between the USA and China broke out in 2077, devastated the world, and reset fashionable civilization.
The aesthetic of this universe is post-apocalyptic (a lot of it was formed by traditional films like Mad Max) and retrofuturistic, as its distinctive timeline diverged from our personal after World Battle II, with a complicated atomic age that blended with the tradition and society of the Nineteen Fifties. That is the chronological order to comply with:
- Fallout 76
- Fallout
- Fallout Techniques: Brotherhood of Metal – Not solely canon, however referenced
- Fallout 2
- Fallout 3
- Fallout: New Vegas
- Fallout 4
Additionally word that two non-canon entries within the sequence do not match into the chronology: Fallout Shelter and Fallout: Brotherhood of Metal (2004).
1. Fallout 76
- Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One
- Developer: Bethesda Sport Studios
Regardless of being the most recent entry within the sequence and a derivative sport, Fallout 76 really takes place earlier than each different Fallout sport. Set in 2102, solely 25 years after the tip of the world and the brand new starting, gamers (plural, since that is a web-based sport) exit Vault 76 in West Virginia and are tasked with ‘reclaiming’ the encircling Wasteland. Appalachia wasn’t hit as arduous by the nukes in the course of the battle, so the pure environments are greener and richer than different components of the US (however nonetheless extraordinarily harmful).
The unique primary questline leads gamers all around the map to recolonize the world and push again towards the Scorched mutants. Apart from different gamers, nevertheless, Appalachia was initially devoid of pleasant non-player characters (NPCs).
Fortunately, the free Wastelanders replace (and subsequent content material) fastened that by bringing completely different teams of individuals again to Appalachia. Proper now, the overarching narrative has superior to the 12 months 2105, although gamers becoming a member of now can nonetheless expertise previous storylines.
2. Fallout
- Platforms: PC, MS-DOS, macOS
- Developer: Interaction Productions
The unique Fallout took us to Southern California within the 12 months 2161, 84 years after the Nice Battle. The participant controls the Vault Dweller, a customized protagonist who lives in Vault 13 and is tasked with discovering a brand new water chip after the earlier one broke. Dwelling underground with out water isn’t preferrred, in order that they’re despatched into the skin world with little gear and their trusty Pip-Boy 2000 moveable laptop gadget.
The journey turns into extra sophisticated (and bloody) as soon as the water chip is returned, because the Vault Dweller is tasked with destroying a mutant military created by The Grasp, a man-turned-mutant who’s begun utilizing a pre-Battle virus to attempt to convert all of humanity into tremendous mutants. At this level, the open-ended nature of Fallout permits the participant to decide on a number of narrative paths relying on their decisions. We gained’t spoil all of the endings right here; some are good and a few are unhealthy. However the Vault Dweller’s final destiny is bittersweet regardless.
3. Fallout Techniques: Brotherhood of Metal
- Platforms: PC
- Developer: Micro Forté, 14 Levels East
Fallout Techniques: Brotherhood of Metal – generally shortened to Fallout Techniques – takes place within the American Midwest in 2197 and focuses on the Brotherhood of Metal, a post-Battle paramilitary order working throughout the USA whose core goal is to protect and safe superior expertise to forestall one other apocalypse.
The sport follows a squad of members because the faction enters a fierce battle towards a stunning risk from the West. Fallout Techniques centered on tactical fight and technique over the standard role-playing of Fallout 1 & 2, and the story places the Brotherhood in confrontation with numerous enemy factions.
For probably the most half, the story isn’t thought-about canon, but some universe-building parts and even plot beats have been later referenced. In case you’re somebody who desires to get deep into the canon vs. non-canon dialogue, it’s an okay sport price testing at the very least as soon as. In any other case, be happy to skip it.
4. Fallout 2
- Platforms: PC, macOS
- Developer: Black Isle Studios
Whereas Fallout 2 could be loved by itself, it does proceed the story of the unique because it encompasses a tribal village referred to as Arroyo, positioned in northern New California, which was based within the late 2170s by the unique Vault Dweller and a gaggle of companions. In 2241, roughly 80 years after the occasions of the primary sport, Arroyo faces a horrible drought and duties the Chosen One, descendant of the Vault Dweller, with retrieving the Backyard of Eden Creation Package (G.E.C.Ok.).
The early twist is the G.E.C.Ok. is claimed to be housed inside Vault 13, which makes the Chosen One’s quest a return to the house of their very own lineage. No extra story spoilers right here, however the Enclave, a remnant of the pre-Battle United States authorities, additionally reveals up with an agenda of its personal. For probably the most half, Fallout 2 was fairly comparable as a sport to the unique, but its narrative went a bit deeper and expanded each the pre- and post-Battle worlds.
5. Fallout 3
- Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox 360
- Developer: Bethesda Sport Studios
With Bethesda Sport Studios on the helm and dropping the CRPG gameplay in favor of a extra hands-on first-person method, Fallout 3 jumped forward to 2277, precisely 200 years after the Nice Battle. The protagonist, nevertheless, is born within the 12 months 2258, and we get to see them develop up over a couple of phases. The plot kicks off when James (their father) mysteriously leaves Vault 101.
After some disagreements with the vault’s overseer, the Lone Wanderer begins a journey by means of the Capital Wasteland – the ruins of previous Washington DC and its environment – as they attempt to find their doctor-scientist dad, who’s way more essential than anybody in Vault 101 ever thought.
We gained’t spoil the later phases of the story right here, but it surely includes water but once more, although the principle questline takes a couple of extra twists and turns. In any case, probably the most memorable characters and quests are largely discovered off the principle path and within the post-launch growth packs.
6. Fallout: New Vegas
- Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox 360
- Developer: Obsidian Leisure
A mixture of sheer luck and a shallow grave permits the Courier to outlive the shot and get better within the close by city of Goodsprings. Shortly afterwards, they get a lead on who shot them and set off into the Mojave Desert to search out the person within the checkered swimsuit.
Issues, after all, rapidly get extra sophisticated, and the Courier finally ends up in the midst of a battle for management of New Vegas and its individuals. This one’s broadly thought-about to be the best-written of the trendy Fallout video games, and its implausible expansions solely solidified its cult standing.
7. Fallout 4
- Platforms: PC, PS4/5, Xbox One/Collection X|S
- Developer: Bethesda Sport Studios
Fallout 4 fast-forwards to 2287 and returns to the East Coast. Extra particularly, it takes the participant to The Commonwealth, which comprises the pre-Battle state of Massachusetts. It was first talked about in Fallout 3, but it surely was this sport that first took us to Boston and its environment.
Although the sport opens on October 23, 2077, the day the bombs fell, the story takes place 210 years later. So far as we all know, the expansions additionally occur in the identical 12 months. That is, chronologically, the final Fallout sport earlier than the TV present begins within the 12 months 2296.
In Fallout 4, you play as a father/mom searching for their youngster, Shaun, who’s been taken away from them for mysterious causes by a person who additionally kills their partner. After a while inside a cryogenic pod, the protagonist exits Vault 111 and begins their quest for revenge and their son. The Commonwealth Minutemen, the Brotherhood of Metal, an enigmatic group referred to as the Institute, and the Railroad are the principle factions. Human-like synths are on the middle of the story, with lots of the moral questions surrounding pondering machines in science fiction put on the forefront of the principle questline.
Bethesda has introduced an Anniversary Version of the sport that is coming quickly, too, which is able to include all of the official expansions and brings the sport to a Nintendo console for the primary time. It will launch on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox on November 10, 2025, and on Nintendo Swap 2 in 2026
Fallout Video games in Launch Order
Beneath, we’re itemizing each Fallout sport ever made, together with the non-canon ones, which aren’t a part of the ‘chronological order’ part — simply in case you’re doing a completionist run of the whole franchise.
Fallout Pinball can also be being omitted as a result of there’s no story to be discovered there, clearly.
- Fallout (1997)
- Fallout 2 (1998)
- Fallout Techniques: Brotherhood of Metal (2001) – Not solely canon, however referenced
- Fallout: Brotherhood of Metal (2004) – Non-canon
- Fallout 3 (2008)
- Fallout: New Vegas (2010)
- Fallout Shelter (2015) – Non-canon
- Fallout 4 (2015)
- Fallout 76 (2018)
