Fallout (series)
| Fallout | |
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| Creators | Tim Cain[1] |
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| First release | Fallout October 10, 1997 |
| Latest release | Fallout 76 November 14, 2018 |
Fallout is a video game series created in 1997 by a company named Interplay. It was later bought by Bethesda Softworks. The games in the series are Fallout, which was made in 1997, Fallout 2, which was made in 1998, Fallout: Tactics, made in 2001, Fallout 3, made in 2008, Fallout: New Vegas, made in 2010, Fallout 4, made in 2015, and Fallout 76, made in in 2018. There is a Prime Video series based on it, with the first season released in 2024. A second season released in late 2025.
On July 17, 2026, Microsoft officially stated that Fallout 5 is a primary long-term project, and announced a collaboration with Obsidian Entertainment to develop a new spin-off game. Microsoft also revealed remasters for Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas.
Premise
[change | change source]Fallout is set in a world very similar to our own. The biggest difference is that following World War II, the world made major innovations in nuclear fusion, and began to use it as a revolutionary power source. It could power cars, robots, and many other forms of technology.
However, a resource war slowly began. In the year 2052, the European Commonwealth invaded the Middle East to take their oil, and the United Nations is soon abandoned. In 2066, China invaded Alaska for their oil, leading America to deploy Power Armor soldiers, units wearing large suits of armor carrying large machine guns.
The resource wars culiminated in 2077, when a two-hour nucleat exchange began, destroying most major cities in the world. Every country in the world was affected, and 98% of all humans died. Those who survived did so in vaults, great underground bunkers built by a company named Vault-Tec. However, Vault-Tec planned to use these bunkers to conduct experiments on its residents, in order to engineer a society they have total control over.
Plot
[change | change source]The game that first takes place in the timeline is Fallout 76, in the year 2102. In it, the player takes control of a vault dweller who has emerged from Vault 76, and explore the broad landscape of Appalachia.
The next game in the timeline is Fallout, in the year 2161, 59 years later. Set in California, the player controls a vault-dweller who has been asked by the leader of his Vault, the Overseer, to travel to another vault for a water chip, which is needed to supply the vault with water. Without it, water will run out and everyone will die.
The next game in the timeline is Fallout 2, in the year 2241, 80 years later. Set in California, the player controls the Chosen One, the grandchild of Fallout's vault dweller, who has been tasked with retrieving a device called the G.E.C.K(Garden of Eden Creation Kit) in order to save their village from a harsh famine.
The next game in the timeline is Fallout 3, in the year 2277, 36 years later. Set in Washington, the player controls the Lone Wanderer, a 19-year old vault-dweller who escapes their life in Vault 101 in order to find their missing father in the Capital Wasteland.
The next game in the timeline is Fallout: New Vegas, in the year 2281, 4 years later. Set in Nevada, the player controls The Courier, a courier who is shot in the head for a package he was meant to deliver, and seeks revenge.
The next game in the timeline is Fallout 4, in the year 2287, 6 years later. Set in Boston, the player controls the Sole Survivor, a vault-dweller who is frozen in a cryo-chamber before the Great War and awakes in the current year, leaving the vault to find their kidnapped son.
The next entry in the timeline is the Fallout TV series, which begins in the year 2296, 9 years after Fallout 4. Set in California, a vault-dweller named Lucy leaves Vault 33 in order to rescue her kidnapped father, and she finds her moral compass challenged by the harsh world outside her home.
There are games which are considered to be "non-canon" in the Fallout timeline. Fallout: Shelter is a mobile-focused game that allows players to build a vault of their own. Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel is a console-exclusive game which features a very different tone from the rest of the series.
References
[change | change source]- ↑ Dransfield, Ian (3 October 2018). "The History of Fallout". Retro Gamer (186): 21.