Fallout is an American media series of post-apocalyptic role-playing video games created by Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky at Interplay Entertainment. The games take place in the first half of the 3rd millennium and follow the descendants of people who survived a nuclear war between the United States and China. This war was the result of long-term conflicts over resources that began in the middle of the 21st century. The games share a style that mixes old and futuristic elements, inspired by the culture of 1950s United States, which combined hope for technology with fear of nuclear destruction. Fallout is considered to follow in the footsteps of Wasteland, a 1988 game made by Interplay Productions.

The first game, Fallout, was developed by Black Isle Studios and released in 1997. Its sequel, Fallout 2, came out the next year. Later, Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel was developed by Micro Forté and 14 Degrees East. In 2004, Interplay closed Black Isle Studios and continued making Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, an action game with role-playing features for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, without Black Isle Studios. Fallout 3, the third main game, was released in 2008 by Bethesda Softworks. It was followed by Fallout: New Vegas, developed by Obsidian Entertainment and released on October 19, 2010. Fallout 4 came out in 2015, and Fallout 76 was released on November 14, 2018.

Bethesda Softworks owns the rights to the Fallout intellectual property. After acquiring it, Bethesda allowed Interplay to create a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) version of Fallout. The MMORPG reached the beta stage under Interplay, but a long legal dispute between Bethesda Softworks and Interplay stopped the game’s development. The game was eventually canceled because Bethesda claimed Interplay did not meet the terms of the licensing agreement. The case was resolved in early 2012.

Origins

The Fallout series started with a game called Wasteland, created by Interplay Productions in 1988. At that time, Interplay was not a company that sold games. Instead, they worked with Electronic Arts to help sell Wasteland. Brian Fargo, who founded Interplay, wanted to create a game set in a world destroyed by a disaster. He made Wasteland to explore this idea. Later, Interplay decided to become a company that sold games while still making new games. Fargo wanted to use the ideas from Wasteland again, but he could not get the rights back from Electronic Arts.

Fargo and his team still wanted to make games in a post-apocalyptic setting. They studied what worked well in Wasteland and used those ideas to create a new game. Designer Chris Taylor said they were inspired by the book A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959) and the movies Mad Max 2 (1981) and The City of Lost Children (1995). The first Fallout games were released almost ten years after Wasteland.

Games

Fallout was released in October 1997. It is set in a world destroyed by a nuclear war, in Southern California, during the year 2161. The main character, called the Vault Dweller, must find a working water chip to fix a broken one in their underground shelter, Vault 13. Later, the Vault Dweller must stop a group of mutants led by a large, ugly creature named the Master. Fallout was originally planned to use a game system called GURPS. However, a disagreement with the creator of GURPS, Steve Jackson, over the game’s violent content led Black Isle Studios to create a new system called SPECIAL. The game’s style and artwork remind people of the United States during the Cold War era, a time when many feared nuclear war.

Fallout 2 was released in October 1998. It includes improvements like a better game engine, the ability to set attitudes for non-player character (NPC) allies, and the ability to push people blocking doors. It also has more jokes and references to pop culture, such as characters from Monty Python and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The game also includes dialogue that makes fun of the game itself. Fallout 2 takes place 80 years after the first game and follows a descendant of the Vault Dweller, called the Chosen One. The player must save their village, Arroyo, from famine and drought. After saving the village, the Chosen One must fight the Enclave, which is the leftover government from before the war and also controls the vaults.

Fallout 3 was made by Bethesda Game Studios and released on October 28, 2008. The story begins 30 years after Fallout 2 and 200 years after the nuclear war. The player starts as a Vault dweller in Vault 101, forced to leave when the Overseer tries to arrest them for their father leaving the Vault. Once outside, the player is called the Lone Wanderer and travels to Washington, D.C., to find their father. Unlike earlier games, Fallout 3 uses 3D graphics, a large open world, and real-time combat instead of 2D isometric graphics and turn-based combat. It was made for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 using the Gamebryo engine. It received high praise, with scores of 94, 92, and 93 out of 100 on Metacritic for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 versions, respectively. It won awards such as IGN’s 2008 Game of the Year and Best RPG.

Fallout 4, also made by Bethesda Game Studios, was released on November 10, 2015. It is set in Boston, Massachusetts, in the New England Commonwealth and includes voiced protagonists. The Xbox One version allows players to use mods, and the PlayStation 4 version also supports mods after talks with Sony. A virtual reality version was released in December 2017 for SteamVR. Fallout 4 takes place in the year 2287, ten years after Fallout 3. The story begins on October 23, 2077, the day the bombs dropped. The player, called the Sole Survivor, hides in Vault 111 and wakes up 210 years later after being in suspended animation. The Sole Survivor searches for their son, who was taken from the Vault.

In June 2022, Todd Howard said Fallout 5 would start development after The Elder Scrolls VI is finished, but no release date was given. In July 2025, it was reported that Fallout 5 is fully approved for development, though it is unclear which studio will lead the project, as key studios at Bethesda are working on Starfield DLC and The Elder Scrolls VI.

Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel is the first Fallout game that does not use turn-based combat. It lets players customize the skills and actions of other characters in the party. The game focuses more on tactical combat than role-playing and includes multiplayer modes. Unlike earlier games set in California, Fallout Tactics is set in the Midwestern United States. It was released in 2001 and received mostly positive reviews. In 2020, Emil Pagliarulo said that some ideas from Fallout Tactics were used in later Fallout games.

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel was the first Fallout game for consoles and was released in 2004. It follows a new character in the Brotherhood of Steel who is given a dangerous mission to find lost members. The game is an action role-playing game, different from earlier Fallout games in both style and gameplay. It does not include NPCs who fight alongside the player and uses heavy metal music, unlike the earlier games, which used music by The Ink Spots and Louis Armstrong. It was the last Fallout game made by Interplay.

Fallout: New Vegas is a 2010 action role-playing game made by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is set in the Mojave Wasteland in the year 2281 and follows a mysterious character called the Courier, who is left for dead after delivering a package. Unlike earlier games, New Vegas has multiple groups fighting for control, including the New California Republic, Caesar’s Legion, and Mr. House. The game is known for its complex story and choices that affect the game’s outcome. It uses the same engine as Fallout 3, with first- and third-person combat, open-world exploration, and a strong dialogue system. A mode called Hardcore Mode adds survival challenges like managing hunger and sleep. The game’s setting is inspired by real-world Las Vegas, with landmarks like the Hoover Dam and mutated creatures. Players can join one of the major groups, create their own path, or influence events. The game has a large modding community, with many fan-made expansions. Despite early problems with bugs, Fallout: New Vegas is now a popular game praised for its writing and role-playing features.

Gameplay

SPECIAL is a system used to create characters and track their abilities in the Fallout video game series. The name "SPECIAL" stands for seven traits: Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. This system was inspired by a game design called GURPS, which was originally planned for use in Fallout.

The SPECIAL system has two main parts:
– Attributes are the basic traits that define a character. These traits usually stay the same throughout the game, but they can be temporarily changed by things like drugs or certain events, or permanently altered by items, perks, or other in-game conditions.
– Skills are the chances of successfully performing specific tasks, like shooting a gun or picking a lock. Skills are shown as percentages, and some can go above 100%. Higher skill percentages cost more. The SPECIAL traits add automatic bonuses to skills. Players earn Skill Points as they level up, which can be used to improve skill percentages. At the start of the game, players choose three "tag skills" that can be improved faster than others.

The SPECIAL system was used in Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel. A modified version of the system was used in Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 4, Fallout 76, and Fallout Shelter.

Outside of Fallout games, a version of SPECIAL was used in Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader (also called Fallout Fantasy during early development), a fantasy game that included magic and spirits. A version was also planned for a game called Black Isle's Torn, though it was never completed.

The Pip-Boy is a wrist-mounted computer given to players in Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76. It helps manage quests, inventory, and battle stats. The original model in Fallout and Fallout 2 is called the Pip-Boy 2000. Fallout Tactics uses a modified version called the Pip-Boy 2000BE. Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas use the Pip-Boy 3000, with a golden version called the Pimp-Boy 3 Billion in Fallout: New Vegas. Fallout 4 uses the Pip-Boy 3000 Mark IV, and Fallout 76 uses the Pip-Boy 2000 Mark VI.

Vault Boy is Vault-Tec's mascot and appears on many items in the game, including the Pip-Boy. Vault Boy shows character stats and traits. He was designed by Leonard Boyarsky, who was inspired by the look of Rich Uncle Pennybags from the Monopoly board game.

Power armor is a type of heavy, mechanical armor used in every Fallout game. It protects the wearer from attacks and allows them to carry heavy weapons and objects. It is a key part of the Fallout universe and a symbol of the game's story.

The original design of power armor in Fallout was created by Leonard Boyarsky, who was inspired by the film The City of Lost Children. The design was changed in later games, such as Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, due to technical limits. Some players and critics thought the new designs made the armor look less impressive. A fan-made mod called Titans of The New West 2.0 for Fallout: New Vegas was created to restore the original look of power armor.

In Fallout 4, power armor is more interactive and customizable. Players can climb into suits, which require special energy sources called fusion cores to operate. The design of power armor in Fallout 4 was changed to look bigger and more realistic, making it feel more like a vehicle than clothing.

According to the game's story, power armor was developed before the Great War by a group of U.S. defense companies called West Tek. It was created to help the military fight battles. The technology led to the invention of fusion cells, which caused tensions with China. Power armor was used in battles during the war and became a key part of the conflict.

Series overview

The series takes place in an imaginary version of the United States in a different timeline that changes after 1945, following World War II. In this alternate "golden age," scientists use vacuum tubes and atomic physics to make technological advances, while transistors are not as important in this world. Because of this, a strange mix of technology and society appears, with advanced robots, nuclear-powered cars, and weapons that use directed energy, along with 1950s-style computers and televisions. The United States splits into 13 commonwealths, and the style and fear of the Cold War from the 1950s remain a major part of American life even into the 21st century.

More than 100 years before the series begins, an energy crisis happened because oil ran out, leading to a period called the "Resource Wars" starting in April 2052. This time included global conflicts over limited resources, such as a war between the European Commonwealth and Middle Eastern states (2053–2060), the collapse of both regions, the end of the United Nations (July 26, 2052), the U.S. invasion of Mexico (2051), the U.S. taking over Canada (2072), and a Chinese invasion of Alaska (2066), which led to the "Sino-American War" (2066–2077) between China and the U.S. A disease called the "New Plague" (2053) also spread, harming the American mainland. As problems worsened, the U.S. government became more controlling and strict (2000s–2077), arresting political opponents and Chinese-Americans and sending them to re-education camps where they were mistreated. By 2077, tensions between the U.S. and China reached a breaking point, with the U.S. retaking Alaska and invading China. This led to the "Great War" on October 23, 2077, a two-hour global nuclear attack that caused the post-apocalyptic United States, the setting of the Fallout world.

To prepare for this outcome, the U.S. government started a project in 2054 to build fallout shelters called "Vaults." These shelters, designed by Vault-Tec Corporation, were meant to hold up to 1,000 people each. About 400,000 Vaults would have been needed, but only 122 were built. Each Vault was self-sufficient, meaning it could support its inhabitants indefinitely. However, the project was not meant to help repopulate the U.S. after a disaster. Instead, most Vaults were secret and unethical experiments to study how different living conditions affected people. Seventeen control Vaults worked as planned, but most experiments were poorly funded and unreliable. Many Vaults stayed sealed even after radiation levels dropped to safe levels.

The experiments included: a Vault filled with clones of one person; a Vault where people were frozen in suspended animation; a Vault where residents were given psychoactive drugs; a Vault where one person was sacrificed each year; a Vault with one man and puppets; a Vault where people were divided into two hostile groups; two Vaults with unequal numbers of men and women; a Vault where the door never fully closed, exposing people to radiation; a Vault with limited space and access to guns; a deliberately overcrowded Vault; and Vaults where people were exposed to the Forced Evolutionary Virus (F.E.V.), causing mutations like Super Mutants. Most experiments failed, leading to the Vaults collapsing or being taken over by raiders, Super Mutants, or other creatures.

After the Great War, the United States became a ruined wasteland, often called "the Wasteland." The war and nuclear attacks greatly reduced the population, leaving large areas of the country in ruins. Most food and water are radioactive, and many lifeforms have mutated due to radiation and mutagens. Some areas survived with clean water, plants, and animals, but these are rare. With most infrastructure destroyed, basic needs are scarce. People trade using bottle caps as currency. Most cities and towns are empty, having been looted or abandoned for smaller, temporary communities.

Many humans who survived the atomic blasts but were exposed to radiation became "ghouls." Their bodies are damaged, with rot and deformities, and they often lose their hair and voices. Ghouls resent humans due to discrimination and dislike being compared to zombies, which is considered an insult. Ghouls exposed to high radiation may lose their minds and become "feral," attacking anything they see.

Creatures called "Deathclaws" live in the wilderness. Humans created them as weapons before the Great War, and they survived to become top predators in the wasteland. Deathclaws are a famous part of the Fallout series, known for their power and the fear they inspire. Many game modifications focus on taming or using Deathclaws, features later added officially.

Several human groups formed in the Wasteland, including the Brotherhood of Steel, the New California Republic (NCR), the Enclave, Caesar's Legion, and the Institute:

• The Brotherhood began when soldiers led by U.S. Army Captain Roger Maxson rebelled after learning about the F.E.V. experiments. After the Great War, they regrouped and started anew in the Lost Hills bunker.
• The NCR was founded by survivors of Vault 15, who built the town of Shady Sands in 2142. Under leaders Aradesh and Tandi, Shady Sands became a major economic center in the southwest, later forming the NCR with other communities.
• The Enclave was a secret group of wealthy industrialists who remained loyal to the U.S. government.

Other media

In 1998, Interplay Entertainment started a film division called Interplay Films to create movies based on its games. One of the first projects was a film based on Fallout, along with movies about Descent and Redneck Rampage. In 2000, Interplay confirmed that a Fallout movie was being made, with writer Brent V. Friedman working on a script and Dark Horse Entertainment helping to produce it. Later, the film division closed without making any movies. However, Friedman’s script was shared online in 2011.

In 2009, Bethesda Softworks said it wanted to make a Fallout movie. After four years of not using the Fallout trademark, Bethesda sent a legal document to the USPTO in January 2012. The next month, instead of a movie, a special feature called "Making of Fallout 3 DVD" was created. This feature was accepted as a film on March 27, 2012, which allowed Bethesda to stop re-registering the trademark. In the DVD commentary for Mutant Chronicles, actor Ron Perlman said he would like to play the Narrator again if a Fallout movie was made. In 2016, Todd Howard said Bethesda had refused offers to make a Fallout film but did not rule out the possibility in the future.

In July 2020, a Fallout television series was announced for Amazon Prime Video. Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan wrote, created, and produced the series. In January 2022, Amazon approved the series, with Jonathan Nolan directing the first episode and Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner as showrunners. Filming ended on March 28, 2023. The show is part of the Fallout game story, set in the year 2296, the farthest point in the franchise’s timeline. Ella Purnell and Walton Goggins were cast as a new vault dweller and a ghoul mercenary, respectively. The first season, with eight episodes, premiered on April 10, 2024. The series was renewed for a second season, which began on December 16, 2025, and for a third season in May 2025.

The Vault Dweller’s Official Cookbook includes recipes for foods in the Fallout universe, such as Nuka-Cola and BlamCo Mac N’ Cheese. It was written by Victoria Rosenthal and released on October 23, 2018, to match the launch of Fallout 76 and the in-game date of the Great War.

The T-60 Power Armor appeared in Fortnite as a cosmetic outfit in the Chapter 5 Season 3 Battle Pass. Other items included a pickaxe based on the Assaultron, an emote of a Mister Handy robot, and other Fallout-themed items. Nuka-Cola was also a consumable item, and the laser rifle was a weapon in a later update.

In the summer of 2020, Vault Boy, the mascot of Vault-Tec, appeared as a Mii Gunner costume in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the Nintendo Switch.

On June 18, 2024, Activision announced a collaboration between Call of Duty and Fallout. A cosmetic bundle was added to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and Warzone, including "Vault 141" outfits for four characters, Vault-themed weapon skins, and other items. The bundle was released on June 20, 2024, along with a free event where players could earn Fallout-themed items, such as a Nuka-Cola Quantum weapon camouflage.

A second collaboration, based on the Fallout television series, was announced for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 in December 2025. The collaboration included playable characters Lucy, The Ghoul, and Maximus, along with Fallout-themed game modes and maps, such as a multiplayer mode where players who are killed respawn as feral ghouls.

Reception and legacy

The Fallout series has received mostly positive reviews. According to Metacritic, the highest-rated game is Fallout 3, while the lowest-rated is Fallout 76.

Some fans have expressed disappointment with how the Fallout series has changed since Bethesda Softworks acquired it. Members of one of the oldest Fallout fansites, No Mutants Allowed, have criticized changes to the original games’ stories, gameplay, and settings. Examples of their complaints include the presence of unspoiled food after 200 years, the survival of wooden buildings after a nuclear explosion, and the overuse of Super Mutants in early parts of the game. More serious concerns involve the quality of the writing, lack of realism, the shift to a first-person action game style, and the limited responsiveness of the game world to player choices. In response, James Stephanie Sterling of Destructoid called groups like No Mutants Allowed "selfish" and "arrogant," arguing that new players deserve a chance to experience the series and that the games would not exist today if they had remained unchanged since 1997. Luke Winkie of Kotaku said the issue is about ownership, noting that hardcore fans of the original games felt their favorites were altered and that their concerns are valid.

The redesigned dialogue system in Fallout 4 received mixed reactions. Some fans were unhappy and created mods to add subtitles and let players preview their character’s dialogue choices, similar to earlier games like Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. Despite these mods, Patricia Hernandez of Kotaku criticized the game’s writing as "thin," saying players rarely have long or meaningful conversations with other characters.

Upon release, Fallout 76 received the lowest rating. It has faced several controversies since its launch. IGN gave it a 5 out of 10, criticizing its poor graphics, weak multiplayer features, and bugs. They stated, "Fallout 76 fails to do any of it well enough to form an identity. Its multiplayer mindset robs its quests of all the moral decision making that makes the series great, and all that's left is a buggy mess of systemic designs that never seems to work [culminating] in an aggravating endgame that's more busywork than satisfying heroics. Bethesda missed the mark with Fallout 76…because it seems it could never decide what it was aiming for." PC Gamer gave it a 6 out of 10, praising its beautiful setting, large world, and combat. However, they also criticized bugs, poor user interface, and repetitive gameplay, saying, "[T]he world retains a lot of what I love about Bethesda's previous RPGs with finely crafted environments, enjoyable weapons and crafting, and surprising little scraps of story to uncover and investigate. Like Valley Galleria, though, it doesn't take long for the shine to fade, the once-fascinating areas to lose their wonder among the mobs of identical enemies I've killed there time and time again."

Legal action

In 2007, Interplay faced going out of business and sold the full Fallout franchise to Bethesda. However, Interplay kept the rights to develop a Fallout MMO through a special agreement called a back license. Work on the MMO began later that year. In September 2009, Bethesda sued Interplay for breaking copyright rules by selling the Fallout Trilogy and developing Fallout Online. Bethesda asked the court to stop the development of Fallout Online and the sale of the Fallout Trilogy. They claimed Interplay did not have the right to sell the Trilogy online through services like Steam or Good Old Games. Bethesda also said that Interplay had not met the required $30 million in guaranteed funding or completed "full scale" development by the deadline.

Interplay responded by saying Bethesda’s claims were not true. They argued they had the right to sell the Trilogy online based on their contract with Bethesda. Interplay also claimed they had met the funding requirement and were in full development by the deadline. They said the contract that sold Fallout to Bethesda should be canceled, which would bring back the original contract that gave Bethesda the rights to Fallout. This would mean Fallout would return to Interplay, allowing Bethesda to make Fallout 5. Bethesda would also have to pay 12% of the profits from Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 4, and their expansions, plus interest on money owed. On December 10, 2009, the court denied the first injunction requested by Bethesda.

Bethesda then replaced their first lawyer and filed a second injunction, claiming Interplay only had the right to use the name "Fallout" but not the game’s content. Interplay countered by showing the contract required them to create Fallout Online with the look and feel of Fallout. They said if they failed to meet the funding or development requirements, they could still release the MMO without Fallout content. The contract listed Fallout content as locations, monsters, settings, and stories. Interplay argued Bethesda knew about and did not object to using Fallout elements in their MMO, and the contract was not only about the name. The court denied Bethesda’s second injunction on August 4, 2011. Bethesda appealed this decision but lost.

Bethesda then sued Masthead Studios and asked for a court order to stop them from working on a game. This request was denied before Masthead could respond. Bethesda also lost its appeal.

Bethesda and Interplay both filed motions in limine to limit what evidence could be used in the trial. The trial was originally scheduled to be judged by a jury, but the APA contract stated all legal matters must be decided by a court. The trial began on December 12, 2010.

In 2012, Bethesda announced at a press conference that Interplay sold them the full rights to Fallout Online for $2 million. Interplay’s rights to sell and use Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel expired on December 31, 2013.