Fallout is a post-apocalyptic role-playing game series and TV story set in a retro-futurist world transformed by nuclear war. The games and the Prime Video series share a universe, but each follows different characters and regional conflicts. You can start with the show or any game; there is no required play order.
What is the Fallout universe?
Fallout imagines a future shaped by the Atomic Age: a retro-futurist society that developed along an alternate path before the Great War destroyed much of civilization. Its stories take place in the societies and wastelands that emerge afterward. The tone combines exploration, dark humor, danger, and choices about who should hold power.
The war divides the setting between people who survived in underground shelters and people who endured the surface. Those groups did not simply return to the old world: generations passed, communities formed, and the remains of prewar society became part of new struggles.
Are the Fallout show and games connected?
Yes. Bethesda describes the Prime Video series as taking place in the same universe as the role-playing games, more than 200 years after the familiar world ends. The show follows Lucy, a resident of Vault 33, as she leaves the shelter and encounters life above ground. It is not presented as an adaptation of one particular game’s plot.
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#1 Best Overall
- Freedom and Liberty Do whatever you want in a massive open world with hundreds of locations, characters, and quests. Join multiple factions vying for power or go it alone, the choices are all yours
- Be whoever you want with the special character system. From a power Armored soldier to the charismatic smooth talker, you can choose from hundreds of perks and develop your own playstyle
- New next generation graphics and lighting engine brings to life the world of fallout. From the blasted forests of the common wealth to the ruins of Boston, every location is packed with dynamic detail
- Intense first or third person combat can also be slowed down with the new dynamic Vault Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S) that lets you choose your attacks and enjoy cinematic carnage
That shared setting means the series and games draw on familiar institutions, creatures, and history, while telling stories in different places and with different characters. The show can be an entry point even if you have never played a game.
What happened in the Great War?
The Great War of 2077 is the defining break in Fallout history: a nuclear conflict that devastates the world and creates the wasteland setting. Bethesda’s official timeline places Fallout 76 25 years after the war, followed by the later games across the next two centuries.
Rank #2
- Freedom and Liberty Do whatever you want in a massive open world with hundreds of locations, characters, and quests. Join multiple factions vying for power or go it alone, the choices are all yours
- Be whoever you want with the special character system. From a power Armored soldier to the charismatic smooth talker, you can choose from hundreds of perks and develop your own playstyle
- New next generation graphics and lighting engine brings to life the world of fallout. From the blasted forests of the common wealth to the ruins of Boston, every location is packed with dynamic detail
- Intense first or third person combat can also be slowed down with the new dynamic Vault Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S) that lets you choose your attacks and enjoy cinematic carnage
The dates below are the in-world settings for the major games presented on Bethesda’s timeline. They are not release dates, and this is not a complete chronology of every spin-off or event in the franchise.
| Game | In-world setting | Regional context |
|---|---|---|
| Fallout 76 | 25 years after the 2077 Great War | Appalachia |
| Fallout | 2161 | Southern California |
| Fallout 2 | 2241 | California and the surrounding region |
| Fallout 3 | 2277 | Washington, D.C., and the Capital Wasteland |
| Fallout: New Vegas | 2281 | The Mojave |
| Fallout 4 | 2287 | Boston and the Commonwealth |
What are Vault-Tec and the vault experiments?
Vault-Tec is the corporation behind the underground shelters known as Vaults. They are central to the setting because they are not just safe places to wait out a catastrophe: Bethesda’s guide describes each Vault as the product of an experiment. The resulting stories often hinge on what happened to the people inside and what they face when they emerge.
Rank #3
- Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition PS3
- console-video-games
- Vault 33: Lucy’s home and the starting point for the television series.
- Vault 111: A Fallout 4 Vault associated with a cryostasis experiment.
What makes the wastelands and factions different?
Fallout is not one continuous map. Each game’s place and time shape its communities, conflicts, and atmosphere: Appalachia, the Mojave, and Boston’s Commonwealth are distinct regional stories. Groups compete over resources, security, and the future of the wasteland, and some games let players choose which factions to support.
Bethesda’s guide names the Brotherhood of Steel, the Enclave, and the New California Republic among the factions connected with the series and franchise. Their presence is part of a wider pattern: groups that claim to offer order can disagree sharply about who deserves power and what kind of society should follow the war.
Rank #4
![Fallout 4 | Anniversary Edition | Nintendo Switch 2 [Code in Box]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41nB7eUArSL._SL160_.jpg)
- ANNIVERSARY EDITION — Celebrate ten years of Fallout 4 with the complete post‑nuclear RPG experience, winner of over 200 Best Of awards including DICE and BAFTA Game of the Year.
- COMPLETE BASE GAME INCLUDED — Experience the full Fallout 4 main campaign as the Sole Survivor of Vault 111, shaping the fate of the Commonwealth through meaningful choices, factions, and exploration.
- ALL 6 OFFICIAL EXPANSIONS — Includes Automatron, Wasteland Workshop, Far Harbor, Contraptions Workshop, Vault‑Tec Workshop, and Nuka‑World for massive story, settlement, and gameplay additions.
- 150+ CREATION CLUB ITEMS — Expand your adventure with curated Creation Club content featuring unique weapons, power armor sets, building packs, paint jobs, player homes, and Dogmeat cosmetic variants.
- OPEN‑WORLD FREEDOM — Explore hundreds of locations, craft weapons and armor, build and manage settlements, and customize your playstyle using the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system and perk progression.
Recurring people, creatures, and companions
- Ghouls: In the franchise’s fiction, these are humans changed by radiation and chems. Some remain individuals; others become feral monsters. This is a fictional world-building concept, not a guide to real-world radiation exposure.
- Companions: Characters who travel with the player can provide gameplay support as well as personal relationships. Dogmeat recurs across several games; New Vegas features Rex, a cybernetic dog.
- Creatures and character systems: The original Fallout introduced enduring elements including S.P.E.C.I.A.L., companions, ghouls, deathclaws, radscorpions, Super Mutants, and the Brotherhood of Steel.
What order do the Fallout games take place in?
For the six major games on Bethesda’s timeline, the order is Fallout 76, Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, then Fallout 4. That is chronological order within the fiction, not the order in which the games were released. It also does not mean you need to play them in that sequence: Bethesda says any Fallout game can be your first.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Where should you start with Fallout?
Choose by the setting or style that interests you rather than treating one game as a required starting point. These are different entry points, not a ranking of quality.
Best Value
- Not even nuclear fallout could slow the hustle of Sin City. Explore the vast expanses of the desert wastelands
- Feuding Factions, Colorful Characters and a Host of Hostiles
- Enjoy new additions to Fallout: Special melee combat moves have been added to bring new meaning to the phrase "up close and personal"
- With double the amount of weapons found in Fallout 3
- In a huge, open world with unlimited options you can see the sights, choose sides, or go it alone
| If you want… | Consider starting with… | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The Mojave setting linked to the show | Fallout: New Vegas | Bethesda’s show guide connects the series’ Mojave setting with this game. |
| Boston and the Commonwealth | Fallout 4 | It is the series entry set in that region. |
| Appalachia and an online world | Fallout 76 | Bethesda describes it as the franchise’s online-first game and places it in Appalachia. |
| The original Southern California story | Fallout | The first game is set in 2161 and follows a Vault Dweller’s water-chip mission. |
Bethesda’s current guide identifies the Mojave as the setting for Season 2 and recommends Fallout: New Vegas to viewers who want to explore that same setting. That is a setting-based recommendation, not a claim that the game is necessary to understand the series. Season and streaming details can change, and platform and edition availability for games depends on where and how you play.
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