TheFalloutfranchise is more popular and well-known than ever before thanks to the financial success and widespread acclaim of Amazon’sFalloutshow. In response to the show’s popularity, manyFalloutplayers new and old have gone back to play some of the most celebratedFalloutgames, such asFallout 3,Fallout: New Vegas,Fallout 4, andFallout 76. However, there’s one game that hasn’t received as much attention as its first-person, Bethesda-published counterparts:Fallout 1. Released in 1997 by Interplay Productions,Fallout 1is often skipped today by many thanks to its near 28-year-old graphics and rudimentary RPG gameplay. However, players today can still benefit from playingFallout 1for its influential lore and historical significance in the gaming world.
Fallout 1’s Influential and Memorable Lore
The entireFalloutfranchise can trace its roots back to the dialogue-driven, turn-based third-person gameplay ofFallout 1. While it’s no longer the earliest game or event depicted in the franchise,Fallout 1’s story had an immense impact on the post-apocalyptic United States that can still be felt today. Set in the year 2161,Fallout 1has players embody the Vault Dweller, an inhabitant of Vault-Tec’s Vault 13, as they’re sent out to save their Vault from catastrophe after its water purification chip is damaged. From this objective, the Vault Dweller goes on to encounter the varied people, societies, and monsters that inhabit the wasteland 84 years after the world was destroyed by a nuclear war.
WhileFallout 1is an RPG and does allow players to customize characters and make their own decisions in pivotal events and simple conversations, there are canon endings to most plotlines that reverberate throughout the game intoFallout 2and beyond. One of the most important events to happen inFallout 1is the rescue of Tandi of Shady Sands, who would go on to help found and becomethe second President of the New California Republic. Shady Sands and the NCR would become highly important entities in theFalloutuniverse, playing major roles inFallout 2,New Vegas, and the show. ThroughFallout 1,Falloutshow fans can see how the metropolitan capital city of Shady Sands originated from a small struggling settlement.
The Master and The Creation of Western Super Mutants
Another ofFallout 1’s most notable events is the thwarting ofthe cybernetic Master and his army of Super Mutants. These gigantic green humanoids are prevalent throughout the post-apocalyptic United States, but many can trace their origins to The Master’s machinations to use the remnant Forced Evolutionary Virus from the Mariposa Military Base to mutate all human survivors. The Master serves asFallout 1’s main antagonist and, while he is ultimately defeated, his surviving Super Mutants would continue to cause trouble and sometimes integrate themselves into other civilizations for over 100 years. WithFalloutseason 2 taking place in and around New Vegas, it’s possible one of the Master’s original Super Mutants could appear in the show.
The Significance of Fallout 1 in Video Game History
Fallout 1may seem outdated to many modern gamers, but it’s still a very important title in gaming history. Development onFalloutbegan in 1994, initially as a 3D, first-person game similar toFallout 3, but developers instead created their own engine with a primarily trimetric perspective similar to earlySimCitygames. Backgrounds remained 2D while the player and NPCs were rendered in simplistic 3D models.Fallout 1additionally offered a unique 1950s-inspired aestheticseldom seen among other video games and media and would directly inspire other properties to use peak Atomic Age design influences. Despite a costly $3 million development,Fallout 1managed to sell over 100,000 copies within its first year of release, leading to the development of 1998’sFallout 2.
The unique gameplay, aesthetic, dialogue, and world ofFallout 1ensured it would be remembered as one of the great isometric RPGs of the 1990s, alongside fellow celebrated titlesBaldur’s GateandDiablo. Without the establishment of key features and entities such as the Pip-Boy, S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats, branching dialogue, the Brotherhood of Steel, Super Mutants, Ghouls, Vaults, Deathclaws, and more, theFalloutseries may not have stood out and become successful compared to its fantasy-focused counterparts. Isometric games are seldom made today or reach the heights of popularity as they did in the 1990s and 2000s, but theearlyFalloutgames stand as remarkable relics of gaming historythat showcase not only how far gaming has developed over the years, but how great stories can be told in any form. Assuming players are willing to dabble in the isometric genre, then the originalFalloutis worth a playthrough in 2025.
While BethesdaFalloutgames can be played on most modern gaming platforms,Fallout 1andFallout 2can only be played on PC.
