The Fallout video game franchise has risen over the years to become one of Bethesda's most popular properties alongside Elder Scrolls and many others, but it is often forgotten how many games there have been in the series since the very beginning in 1997.
Initially created by Interplay Entertainment, there have been multiple studios that have tried their hand at making an entry to the Fallout series, but Bethesda is now the name that is most commonly tied to the franchise. There have been both good and bad Fallout games, but the natural progression has seen concepts and ideas becoming more bold and imaginative, even if the execution hasn't necessarily been on point every time.
9 Fallout 76's Launch Crisis Will Haunt It Forever (53)
Fallout 76 will always be remembered for its failings upon release, but the truth is that it was an ambitious project that took risks despite being rushed. However, for all of its critics, there are still players who enjoy it for what it is, a multiplayer Fallout game.
The negative press and reviews that it received upon release in 2018 have not necessarily all gone away, but the game has received many fixes and improvements since then. One such fix was releasing a DLC called Wastelanders that saw NPCs introduced to the game, helping to fill out the game while responding to critics. Wastelanders specifically has received an average Metacritic score of 69 for PC, which compares favorably to the scores of 49, 52, and 53 given to the base game on its various platforms.
8 Fallout: Brotherhood Of Steel Was The First Fallout To Be Released On Console (66)
Not to be confused with Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood Of Steel, Fallout: Brotherhood Of Steel actually followed it as the next release in the franchise in 2004, with Interplay back at the helm. It released on Xbox and PlayStation 2, making it the first of the series to make its way onto console.
It went back to being an action role-playing adventure, but with linear gameplay instead of being open-world, with this restriction arguably contributing to its overall poor reviews and general reception, with Metacritic giving it a 64 average score for PlayStation 2 and 66 for Xbox.
7 Fallout Shelter Is The Free-To-Play Game That Adds A New Dimension To The Franchise (71)
Released in 2015, the same year as Fallout 4, Fallout Shelter is a simulation game that has made its way onto several platforms, this time including the Nintendo Switch and mobile devices. Shelter is a free-to-play game but has plenty of microtransactions, which has contributed to many of the poor reviews this game has received.
Other than that however, Fallout Shelter is a decent addition to the franchise, albeit with a completely different concept probably targeting a different collective of players. Managing vault dwellers and leveling them up in order to maintain order and survival is fun enough, but it does eventually come to a standstill with no real ending to aim towards. According to Metacritic, the IOS version is held in much higher regard than other platform versions, with a 71 compared to 61 and 63 on the Switch and PC respectively.
6 Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood Of Steel Was The Decent First Deviation Away From The Main Series (82)
Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood Of Steel was released in 2001 and was the next instalment of the Fallout franchise after Fallout 2. As a tactical turn-based game that developed the combat of the previous Fallout games, it added variety to the franchise early on and even provided options for gameplay with three modes of combat.
With Individual Turn-Based gameplay being utilized in the previous games, Fallout Tactics left that as an option but added Continuous Turn-Based and Squad Turn-Based. Considered a tactical role-playing game, Fallout Tactics is often forgotten about but it was by no means a bad addition to the franchise.
5 Fallout: New Vegas Is Generally Better Received Than Its Metacritic Scores Suggest (84)
Fallout: New Vegas is often talked about as being one of the best entries in the Fallout franchise, but as with the other games, fans are forever divided in their opinions, with its Metacritic scores settling at 84 for PC and Xbox 360, and 82 for PlayStation 3. Released in 2010, New Vegas is considered a spinoff of the Fallout games.
While it is indeed set only four years after the events of Fallout 3, it is considered its own entity with Obsidian Entertainment and Bethesda at the helm. As the name would suggest, New Vegas represents a post-apocalyptic Las Vegas, allowing for new landscapes and fresh ideas to be explored, without having an impact on the main series.
4 Fallout 2 Added To The Successful First Game But Wasn't As Well Received (86)
The second entry in the Fallout series of games came a year after the first, with Fallout 2 being released in 1998. It is set 80 years after the events of the original game, following the grandchild of the Vault Dweller, the first game’s protagonist.
This time, Fallout 2 was developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay Productions, with the game seeing the utilization of an improved engine and numerous improved-upon features, trying to build on the success of the first game rather than ignoring it.
3 Fallout 4 Divided Opinions But Did A Lot To Advance The Franchise (88)
Released in 2015, Fallout 4 was the highly anticipated follow-up to the hugely popular Fallout 3 and brought the franchise to the next generation of consoles, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Although it is set 10 years after the events of the third game, Fallout 4 starts on the day the bombs dropped in 2077, with the protagonist then going into cryogenic sleep, waking up alone in the wasteland of the apocalyptic Commonwealth in 2287.
Fallout 4 added base building and crafting among many other concepts to the franchise, but still proved to be divisive within the Fallout community, especially when compared to its predecessor. Mods were even accessible for the first time and allowed for a high level of creative freedom in gameplay. The game's Metacritic scores average at 88 for Xbox One and go as low as 84 on PC.
2 Fallout Was A Solid Entry To Start The Series (89)
While the original Fallout is seen as the game that kickstarted the Fallout franchise upon its release in 1997, it is also considered to be the spiritual successor to the 1988 role-playing game Wasteland, made by the same company, Interplay Productions.
With Tim Cain allegedly planning it since 1994, Fallout would prove to be revolutionary for role-playing games, with its premise of a post-apocalyptic South California in the year 2161 establishing a solid foundation that future Fallout games have both built upon and altered accordingly.
1 Fallout 3 Is Where The Franchise Began To Shift To Keep Up With Modern Role-Playing Games (93)
Fallout 3 is undoubtedly the most universally loved game in the Fallout series, with a major reason being its accessibility, being released on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles and not just on the PC like its predecessors. It boasts Metacritic scores going as high as 93 for the Xbox 360, proving its general popularity.
Fallout 3 was Bethesda’s introduction to the franchise, and they really made it their own with its release in 2008, 10 years after Fallout 2. Fallout 3 once again ventured into the future, with it being set 30 years after the events of the 2nd entry in the franchise.