Fallout is currently seeing a huge number of new players entering the wasteland for the very first time, but what’s really the best way for them to get into this classic franchise? As it turns out, the answer’s a bit complicated…
Fallout: New Vegas on Steam – https://store.steampowered.com/app/22380/Fallout_New_Vegas/
Fallout 4 on Steam – https://store.steampowered.com/app/377160/Fallout_4/
Fallout 3 on Steam – https://store.steampowered.com/app/22370/Fallout_3_Game_of_the_Year_Edition/
Fallout 76 on Steam – https://store.steampowered.com/app/1151340/Fallout_76/
Fallout 1 on Steam – https://store.steampowered.com/app/38400/Fallout_A_Post_Nuclear_Role_Playing_Game
Fallout 2 on Steam – https://store.steampowered.com/app/38410/Fallout_2_A_Post_Nuclear_Role_Playing_Game/
Fallout Tactics on Steam – https://store.steampowered.com/app/38420/Fallout_Tactics_Brotherhood_of_Steel/
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Fallout 1 is great 2 is okay and the rest are not Fallout they are Skyrim with guns.
Wonderful guide! Even if you aren't looking for your first game, I think this does a great job of comparing and contrasting the different games and what made them excellent.
I played Fallout 1 and 2 when they were first released. Isometric strategy games were common at the time, and I was playing Dungeons and Dragons too, so everything about the games felt familiar and interesting. I especially liked how flexible the game was with the narrative and making your choices really matter. They sure could be punishing, though; especially with the random encounters.
And yeah, Fallout 2 started with a clear focus and then suddenly dumped you into a huge world that you had to learn about from scratch. I guess that was part of the theme, though, since you were a descendent many generations removed from a shelter dweller and were part of a simple tribe living largely in isolation. The intro in the village makes it quite clear that you are being sent off on a special journey and nobody even knows what it might be like out there. Dumping you in the wider world and having you figure out what's going on in general was largely the point. It's only by understanding the wider world that you can put together the pieces and figure out where to go, bringing you to the larger, more interesting plot.
I remember when Fallout 3 came out and fans of the series were up in arms that it was first-person, real-time, and had the VATS system. I really enjoyed everything they did in Fallout 3, but it was certainly a departure from the earlier games. It's a shame it has become relatively inaccessible, because in it's day it worked wonderfully; I never encountered a single bug or glitch. There were lots of interesting story lines, you still had quite a few (but not nearly as much) ways to approach the world. It did an excellent job even from the start of showing you that your choices actually mattered and would effect the entire world around you. It really felt alive and responsive and is one of the few games where I actually felt like a hero because of what I could accomplish and how the rest of the world acknowledged that.
I expected Fallout 4 to be quite similar to Fallout 3, but was really surprised how little it felt like your actions mattered. Sure, you could build a base, but to what end? You could clear out entire dungeons and get some experience and money, but very little else came of it, even on the world stage. Especially in the early game, the areas all kind of felt the same. Sure, the gun play was good and there were some interesting parts to the story, but even the opening hook of the story didn't catch me. It really did feel a lot like the modern open world adventure RPG – a little bit of everything that combined to be a whole not of nothing special. For people touching Fallout for the first time, I'd say it's the most approachable because it's so similar to what has become standard fare in modern games. But I think all the games before it were stronger in narrative and world building.
I tried Fallout: New Vegas when it first came out, but it was so buggy that I eventually gave up. I had key NPCs become stuck in the ground and unresponsive. I had the main story quest line break and not be able to continue. I had enemies somehow attacking me from underneath the terrain – completely invisible. It was a broken mess. I've heard it had improved later, but I didn't care at all for it at that point. It wasn't until seeing your videos going over it in detail that I came to appreciate what made it special.
Fallout 76 was an instant NO for me. I don't want an open-world MMO live service game that makes you grind so they can keep you paying a subscription fee and then tries to bilk you for more with microtransactions. From what I've seen, it really has no redeeming qualities. Maybe if you actually want a playground in the Fallout universe, but even then it seems to be a white washed and uninteresting version of that; Fallout 4 gave you far more options for actually building something and making a mark on the world.
This is the kind of detailed recommendation needed instead of game x or play in x order.
Fallout Tactics is an odd one. It's solely combat focused so there are scarcely any RPG elements, the combat system from earlier Fallouts is there with a few upgrades but isn't really quite deep or diverse enough to carry that length of game, when most other aspects are light and a bit lacking (though the game makes an impressive effort to turn Fallout combat into something deeper and more strategic, with factors such as ammo efficiency mission to mission becoming significant because there's only so much of each ammo type in the world).
There is an overarching story but it's disjointed and slow with a lot of filler, and doesn't often throw curve balls into the narrative (though that in itself makes it very impactful when it does). Some of the humour won't have aged well, it got a bit risky with poking fun at native americans and homosexuals which these days are into transgressive territory (though to be fair, in ways that weren't unusual for the mainstream of the very late 90s and early 00s when it was made).
So it's a very mixed bag, there are some missions that genuinely hit classic fallout notes with dark themes and really hard choices, you get attached to your squad as you build them up, sometimes you lose people and it really stings more than (say) losing Ian or Myron does. But the humour is often weirdly childish and scatological, it flip flops almost randomly between laughing off dark topics with fart jokes but then next mission is all about wallowing in the human drama of it all, the story pacing is all over the place with some immense jumps in difficulty, and a lot of content is just forgettable filler. I don't doubt I've forgotten a bunch as I last played sometime around FO3's release!
Overall I'd not recommend it except to dedicated Fallout fans, it's an interesting experiment in ways to make a very different style of game work in the Fallout universe and despite its flaws I do think it succeeded at that – but not well enough to be more than an interesting experiment, unfortunately.
It might make for an interesting series for you someday though – claiming the last frontier of Fallout not already on the channel!
Fallout 4 is the best imo
Surival mode is wat fallout would be without a story
No, no, you start with Fallout Brotherhood of Steel if you want to hate the franchise and not bother investing more time in it!
Fallout Tactics is good. It doesn't have the same narrative appeal as the early ones, and it's less choice driven than even the third game, but it tells a more interesting story than 3 and 4. Mechanically it's also very appealing, and it looks good (for its time). Some parts feel non-canon and iffy, like the existence of Vault 0, but a lot of it's very interesting stuff. The Super Mutant scientist trying to solve Super Mutant sterility. The beast masters. The Brotherhood bases are cool. The voice acting for the briefings is top-notch. The vehicles are neat. The missions are well-designed.
You get to drive and escort a hummer through a town loaded up with mines and checkpoints and ambushes. You get to defend a church of a nuke cult from attacks on all sides. You get to experience the best adaption of Heart of Darkness in Fallout (and there's like three? attempts at it!)
It's a very underrated game. I probably wouldn't make it top 3 in the franchise, but it's not that far. (1>NV>2>Tactics>76>4>>>>>>>>3 or something. Numbers 2-5 are difficult.)
I've played and beat Fallout Tactics. I actually have some fond memories of it. I actually don't like it as much as Fallout 2 or the original Fallout, but it's really a good game. The plot is very linear and it's more of a squad tactical simulator than a role-playing game per se. It has a lot of RPG elements carried forward from Fallout 1 & 2. The multiplayer is amusing but poorly balanced. If you've played and enjoyed the classic Fallout games, I do recommend playing Fallout: Tactics. If you tried the other classic fallout games and didn't like them, you probably wouldn't like Fallout: Tactics either…
That said, a bit of a tangent. My introduction to the Fallout series was actually Fallout 2 and I loved it. Notably, this was back in 1998. I love classic RPGs, and figuring out how the game works and trying different character builds to approach the game in different ways is a large part of the appeal to me. And despite the dated graphics, IMHO, if you like Baldur's Gate 3 you'd probably enjoy the classic Fallout games.
I've heard a few people saying to start with fallout 3, then play new vegas (which I probably should have done as someone who's played new vegas many times but still hasn't beaten fallout 3 because it feels wrong considering all the changes that new vegas made from it's engine.)
Jon, you are wrong about Fallout 2, and you keep perpetuating this misconception that at some point it stops telling you where to go. It directs a player to Vault City, and in Vault City you absolutely can be directed to Vault 13. You are pointed to Vault 15 and then from there Vault 13. You are wrong in what you say. Perhaps that this confusion once reaching Vault City is so great is a sign it wasn't clear enough, but you are wrong about what you say.
Thanks for understanding the appeal of FO4 for those new to the world. It's where i started, and every point you made was exactly why i liked it, or at least got me hooked and wanting to delve deeper.
With regards to Fallout Tactics, Oxhorn did a full playthrough of Tactics several years back on his channel. Its canonicity is dubious at best and that makes it perfect
Play fallout new vegas first. I hear theres a super easy shortcut close to the beginning of the game
Yup. Fallout player since FO2; completely agree with FO4 being a good place to start for a lot of players.
This is Fallout Shelter erasure!
I tried Fallout 4 when it first released and could not get into it at all…I think it was the poor performance on console (PS4) that put me off. I have low tolerance for low fps, it really ruins the experience for me.
really good essay on the differences. Useful….
important to note that a lot of these new people are coming to the series with the context of the Show.
New Vegas is a terrible starting point, for one you're basically asking someone to commit to modding their game in order to have the best experience which is quite daunting for people who aren't savvy enough to know how it works. I might sound sacrilegious to some folks but 76 does a pretty decent job of introducing players to the core feel of a Fallout experience both before and after Wastelanders, it really doesn't ask much if anything of new players. Of course not everyone likes lite-MMO elements, like myself, a big barrier to entry is the Online component and because of that I would simply recommend Fallout 4.
If you have experience with CRPGs yet somehow haven't played the classic games it should go without saying that you missed out big time.
Once you've accustomed yourself to Bethesda's design quirks jump into Fallout 3 (don't worry about Fo4 spoiling any of the plot they have little to with each other and playing them out of order might even a better experience) but instead of playing it for it's own sake treat it as a sandbox for getting the hang of Modding that way you aren't completely naked for when it comes to dealing with New Vegas' issues.
In the little time I spent in Fallout 76, I spent so much time wolfing down random consumables to top up my health, that I didn't realise it even had a hunger and/or thirst mechanic. As for Fallout 2, the tutorial dungeon turned me off of it. The opening of the original has a bat of something for everybody (a few early rats for combat, or easily outrun them and beeline a nearby town). Fallout 2 claims to offer a wide world, but locks it behind a dungeon so hard, it stonewalls any non-melee build. Admittedly, I only played it back in 2018, and buying it on Steam doesn't come with the manual it would have shipped with in the 90s, so I probably got impatient and quit before understanding it properly.
No Fallout Shelter?
insert general grumpy griping, about 76 and why no one should play it here grrrr grrr.
I hated all the invisible walls in NV and couldn't make it more than 4 hours in before I gave up, nice open world ya got there.
I loved Fallout: Tactics, a lot more combat focused version of Fallout 2. My two main problems were, that a lot of skills because of this combat focus were useless, and that at half time the Small Guns skill (that you needed until then) became useless. For me it was a good expansion on the world and the lore. I much preferred Tactics' version of the main overseeing vault (Vault 0), than what we got in later lore.
Leave the vault…. Then proceed to get sidetracked. Thats fallout.
The best answer of Fallout 4: Survival Mode.
I wish I could play 3 & NV on my PS5
Now now, fallout: brotherhood of steel also has decent voice acting.
Fallout 2 for me, every time. It just ticked all my RPG boxes. I did enjoy FO1 and Tactics quite a lot, but never got into the 'newer' Fallouts as the game formula was too changed for me.
Why the scorpions? A throwback to the development of Fallout 1 where they had a pet-scorpion in the office, according to Tim Cain.
Oh no, you definitely should not start with New Vegas, unless you think crashing to desktop is the theme of the series.
i really can't recommend playing Fallout Tactics even if your an experienced gamer, i've only gotten as far as the mission that introduces the deathclaws and because of the 1.27 patch they're stronger and harder to kill
The Fallout show got me to try Fallout 4 again (I wasn't a big fan after starting with 3 and then loving New Vegas). I still just can't like Fallout 4 the dialogue is sooooo bland and even the open world is just dull compared with 3 and New Vegas. I played Fallout 1 and 2 after Fallout 3 and New Vegas and even those games appeal to me so much more despite their dated gameplay.
I've played Fallout: Tactics quite a bit. I'd love to see it on the channel. The trouble with Tactics is that it isn't an RPG, it's a squad-based tactical game. It does a good job at that, but you'll be disappointed if you're expecting a go-everywhere-talk-to-everyone-explore-the-world RPG. It's a good game on its own merits.
In the spirit of the video, start with Fallout: Tactics if you really like the style of Fallout but can't be bothered with dialogue trees and side quests; you just want to shoot someone.
If you are a fan of CRPG's, then starting with the original Fallout would be my recommendation. It's old, it's janky, but it is a really good game and the actual starting point of the series.
Then go Fallout 2 into New Vegas to get the best experience of what this setting is all about and a glimpse of the original creators' vision.
After those you can play Fallout 3 and 4, which are set on the other side of the continent and also have a completely different vision behind them. The Bethesda Fallouts are about wandering around in a big, shallow world with shallow characters and a meh story – just like all their other games. Essentially, Elder Scrolls with guns.
If you're not a fan of RPG's or are a fan of Bethesda games, just play Fallout 4. It has a stupid main quest, but it is the most modern and accessible game.
I finished 3 today, spend 120 hours on it but have not even seen the whole world😅
Fallout Tactics is an adequate Fallout game. If you're really into tactical squad games and less into story, that may be the Fallout game to start for you. But keep in mind it's dated and this was possibly the first time we had real-time combat options in a squad.
Save often.
19:32 it was kinda fun.
Fallout Tactics playthrough when?!
I’d argue NV isn’t a good starting point cause it tells you very little about the Great War and how that happened
Fallout 4 is obviously the best to start with it's the most dumbed down and easy to comprehend
I actually started with Fallout: Tactics, as my friend told me how great Fallout was (without specifying that there was more than one), and it was the first one I found. Back then you needed to physically locate a copy.
For me, as an 11 year old, I actually really quite enjoyed it, but by this point I had already played Icewindale one and two as well as X-Com: UFO Defense. It is by far the most linear of the fallout games, it maintains the overworld travel, but this is purely so you can have overworld encounters going from mission to mission.
The writing is okay, and there are only a few impactful choices you can make, of which there are objectively correct actions but the missions are interesting, and the combat challanging and quite engaging, with the story being so so.
Compare to falllout 1 and two, if you really had fun with the combat, Tactics is definitely worth a try, but if like with most people, it was the story and exploration that drew you, you can easily give it a miss.
Overall, not a good place to start if you're new to the franchise unless you really like x-com.
But Daaaad!! I already beat those! I want a new one! ðŸ˜
Edit: except BoS. Obviously.
Honeslty just start whit shelter, then 3 then 1 and 2, then 4 then 76 (just for the feel, quit after 2 days), then 3 end on the best one
I’d think that if you’re coming fresh off of the show and digging into the franchise, the best place to start would be Fallout 4. Much of the aesthetic mirrors 4, and then you can treat every other game as a prologue to 4.
Ideally Id think that the order should be 4 then 3, then either 76 or start old fallout with NV and play the CRPGs
The one Fallout game I've played that I haven't seen Jon play also has multiplayer. Specifically Fallout Tactics, as apparently I am one of the few people that has played it and loved it? But yes, it has multiplayer. Even the title screen that Jon shows shows that button. Granted, you'd likely need to do it over a LAN system… but still. I'm sure there are work arounds. It also has both turn based and real time with pause options, delves deep into the Brotherhood of Steel and shows why Elder Lyons breaking away isn't something new with FO3.
For a first game? No, I wouldn't suggest it as a first game unless you are familiar with squad based tactical games like BattleTech and keeping your squad in shape for missions with gear and levels (and yes, you get full level control of your team mates, allowing you to customize them as you like after they join either doubling down on what they already do or spreading them out in a different direction). I'd suggest having played either the first or second before even trying this. It is also very linear, because you go on missions. But you also can use vehicles in combat and is the only one I know of where you can use them in combat as anything other than cover. Because it's mission based you get to select from your crew of team mates on who you are bringing on mission. This doesn't mean that other skills aren't important. Having a medic on your team is a damn good idea, for instance. Your MC having good persuasion or barter skills is a good idea, as you can often get alternate routes in missions with talking to people, or better returns on gear you turn over to the BOS or the like. It also features two currencies, the Brotherhood currency and the wasteland currency, which is quite interesting for those who like a bit of economics in their games.
I really wished Jon would have made a normal New Vegas let's play or one showing most things of the game…
I liked Fallout Tactics. Plays a lot better with the Equilibrium Mod.