Fallout is a popular series of electronic games set in a post-nuclear wasteland—that is, a landscape ravaged by nuclear war. Small human populations have survived the war by living underground in shelters called vaults. “Fallout” players take on the role of survivors, scavenging the game world for weapons and supplies while fighting off mutants—that is, people and animals turned into monsters by exposure to radiation . Most “Fallout” games are role-playing games with sprawling maps and many playable missions, or quests. Role-playing games tend to focus on problem solving and exploring the game world, rather than fast action. Choices that players make within the game can change how the game unfolds.
Each “Fallout” game is different, but most share several common elements. The game takes place in a devastated world influenced by the technology and culture of the American 1950’s. Devices are large and bulky, made up of such outdated parts as vacuum tubes and monochromatic (single color) display screens. Game characters carry a wrist-worn device called a Pip-Boy that enables players to monitor their health, radiation levels, and equipment. Bottle caps from the fictional soft drink brand Nuka-Cola serve as currency.
“Fallout” was created by the American company Interplay Entertainment. The first game, Fallout (1997), was a strategic role-playing game played on personal computers . Using a mouse, players clicked on the game map to move their character to a certain point or interact with an item or another character. Battles were turn-based—that is, players planned and characters performed actions in turns. Fallout 2 (1998) was set almost a century after the first game, continuing its story and improving on its play.
In 2007, the American company Bethesda Softworks purchased the rights to “Fallout.” Bethesda released Fallout 3 in 2008. Fallout 3 updated the series in many ways, adding elements of a type of game called a first-person shooter . The game abandoned turn-based battles in favor of real-time combat, and enabled the player to see from the character’s perspective. Fallout 3 was set in a huge game world with realistic graphics.
Bethesda hired the American company Obsidian Entertainment to produce a related game, Fallout: New Vegas (2010). Fallout 4 (2015) enabled players to build and manage settlements of survivors. In Fallout 76 (2018), multiple players could work together to explore, scavenge, and fight in the wasteland.
