In chronological order, the core Fallout games run from Fallout 76 (around 2102) through Fallout 4 (2287); the TV series is set later, in 2296. Fallout Tactics, a spin-off placed in 2197 by a secondary-source timeline, belongs between the original Fallout and Fallout 2.
Fallout games and TV series in chronological order
The dates below are in-universe setting years, not release years. Bethesda’s official 2022 timeline gives the dates for the six mainline games; Windows Central supplies the reported dates for Fallout Tactics and the television series.
| Chronological order | Entry | Setting | Date source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fallout 76 | Around 2102, 25 years after the Great War of 2077 | Bethesda states the 25-year interval, which places the opening around 2102. |
| 2 | Fallout | 2161, Southern California | Bethesda |
| 3 | Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel | 2197, Midwest | Windows Central’s reported chronology; Bethesda’s retrospective does not give a date for this spin-off. |
| 4 | Fallout 2 | 2241, opening in Arroyo | Bethesda |
| 5 | Fallout 3 | 2277, Capital Wasteland | Bethesda |
| 6 | Fallout: New Vegas | 2281, Mojave Wasteland | Bethesda |
| 7 | Fallout 4 | 2287, Boston and the Commonwealth | Bethesda |
| 8 | Fallout television series | 2296 | Windows Central’s reported chronology; not a date stated in Bethesda’s game retrospective. |
Bethesda’s retrospective says the games’ timeline “formally kicks off with Fallout 76,” while also noting that Fallout’s canonical history reaches back before pre-war America. Its six dated mainline entries therefore provide the official backbone of this list, rather than an exhaustive chronology of every release or every event in the setting. Bethesda’s Fallout 25 timeline
Where Fallout Tactics fits
Fallout Tactics is commonly misplaced after Fallout 2 when titles are listed by release order. The Windows Central chronology places it in 2197, which is after the original game’s 2161 setting but before Fallout 2 in 2241. Bethesda identifies Tactics as a spin-off in its retrospective but does not date it there, so 2197 should be treated as a reported placement, not a date established by that Bethesda source. Windows Central’s Fallout timeline and series guide
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Is the Fallout TV series canon to the games?
The show is positioned after the games in this chronology: Windows Central reports a 2296 setting, nine years after Fallout 4. That placement does not mean the show settles every player-dependent event from the games. In a December 5, 2025 report, Windows Central quoted executive producer and co-showrunner Geneva Robertson-Dworet describing a “fog of war” approach to New Vegas’s possible endings. The stated goal was to avoid declaring one player’s ending the single canonical outcome that led to the show. Windows Central on the show’s approach to New Vegas endings
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What order should you play the Fallout games in?
If you want to follow the story world’s timeline, play the dated core games in this order: Fallout 76, Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, then Fallout 4. If you also want to include Fallout Tactics, place it between Fallout and Fallout 2, while keeping in mind that its 2197 date comes from a secondary-source chronology. The TV series follows Fallout 4 by setting year, but it is not a game in the play order.
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Chronological play is a way to follow the setting’s dates, not a claim that every entry forms one continuous, required narrative. Bethesda’s dated mainline sequence is the clearest guide to the core games; its retrospective does not date or adjudicate every spin-off.
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