Summary
Since its first release in 1997, theFalloutseries has remained one of the most popular in all gaming. The games tell a massive story that spans hundreds of years of lore, featuring many epic stories that are both self-contained and part of a greater sharedFalloutuniverse.
Set in an alternate timeline post-apocalyptic United States, players throughout the existence of the franchise have been able to explore a number ofreimagined iconic American settingswith that trademarkFalloutaesthetic. With so many games and so many stories spanning such a large amount of time, keeping track of theFallout games in chronological ordercan certainly be a challenge, but it’s absolutely worthwhile for fans of the series.
Updated on Jun 25, 2025, by Ritwik Mitra:Fallout is one of the most popular video game series of all time, and the success of its TV adaptation has led to even more eyes toward it, allowing even non-gamers to experience one of the most fascinating settings ever explored in a video game. With the threat of nuclear war being ever-present, Fallout takes a bleak look at what life would be like in a world ravaged by a nuclear apocalypse, where wildlife and humans themselves have evolved in a bid to live life in a post-nuclear wasteland where lawlessness runs rampant. Each game in the series occupies its own space in the timeline, forking up some amazing stories that Fallout fans feel right at home with. For newcomers looking to give the series a try or those who simply wish to brush up on their knowledge of the timeline, here isevery Fallout game in chronological order.
Releasing in 2018,Fallout 76is chronologically set earliest. The game takes place in the year 2102 and covers an event that is incredibly significant to the wider lore ofFallout. Serving as a prequel to the main games, it is set 25 years after the nuclear war that devastated the world during the era of reconstruction.
The player controls one of the lucky (or arguably unlucky) few who survived the bombs in the Vault-tec-made shelter, Vault 76. These are the characters controlled by real people who populate the world ofFallout 76. The goal of these chosen few is to re-settle the wastelands and try and get the world back on track.
When the game was first released, discussions about it were, unfortunately, not about the story, world, or online play, but about the number of glitches that many players were encountering. Thankfully,Fallout 76is ina far better state today, which will undoubtedly please Microsoft, as its purchase of Bethesda has made theFalloutseries one of its flagship franchises.
While the residents of Vault 76 returned to the surface just 25 years after the great war, many of the people living in vaults were still underground by the time of the firstFalloutgame. This includes the player character, a dweller in Vault 13. The protagonist is sent by the vault’s overseer to the wastelands to replace the water chip, a device used for the recycling of water.
Development on the surface world at this point in the chronology is fairly modest, even by the standards of the wastelands. But there is a settlement in the game called Shady Sands.The protagonist of the first gameis unable to return to their home vault at the end and, by remaining on the surface, helps to kickstart the development of the wastelands.
The originalFalloutkicked off the series with a bang, wowing fans and critics alike and winning GameSpot’s Role-Playing Game of the Year award in the same year thatFinal Fantasy 7was released. The game does, of course, fail to hold up visually compared to the series' modern releases, though in terms of gameplay, particularly the freedom of choice available to players,Falloutis still an engrossing experience.
The world ofFalloutat this point in the timeline is still far from the landscape of many major factions and civilizations that many are familiar with. However, in the late 2100s, there were still early signs of what the world would become. This is because ofFalloutTactics' look into one of the franchise’s most consistently represented factions — the titular Brotherhood of Steel.
Fallout Tacticsisan interesting entry, as while most of the games will allow the player to explore different factions and groups as an individual and then decide if they wish to join one, this game starts the player out as an Initiate of the notorious Brotherhood of Steel. By the later games, the brotherhood has become a militaristic and technological superpower, so it’s fascinating to see them at a much earlier stage of building up their military strength.
AlthoughFallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steellacks many of the series' quintessential features, its fairly central placement in both the chronological and release order of the games gives players a nice change of pace when playing through the franchise in order. Moreover, the game’s turn-based combat has a surprising amount of strategic depth to it, which makes it a great alternative togames likeXCOMforFalloutfans.
Not to be confused withFallout Tactics, 2004’sBrotherhood of Steelis an action RPG released exclusively on consoles. While not considered one of the bestFalloutgames, this entry did introduce the franchise to PlayStation and Xbox owners, so it is still an important part of the franchise’s legacy. That said, the game is not considered canon, and its events are essentially never referenced by any of the other releases. Consequently, there is really no reason to play this title if someone is specifically looking toconsume all ofFallout’s lore.
Taking inspiration from console dungeon-crawlers,Brotherhood of Steelis far more action-oriented than the typicalFalloutproject, something that works both in the game’s favor and as a detriment. The combat is competent enough for an isometric hack-and-slash style game, and it can provide mindless entertainment; however, the system is quite shallow and struggles to remain interesting throughout the fairly short campaign. The story is quite uninspired and does not add much to the overallFalloutmythos.
Fallout Shelteris also not canon and does not quite fit inFallout’s timeline, although it is assumed to place betweenFallout 3and4.
Although it takes place almost 100 years after the first game,Fallout 2serves as a kind of direct narrative sequel to it. The player takes control of a descendant of the original game’s main character who leads the humble surface village of Arroyo (originally founded by the vault dweller of the first game).
This is a major point in time for theFalloutchronology as it shows the first signs of major development in the new America. After the player obtains the Garden of Eden Creation Kit, they help the village of Arroyo become a major city as part of the New California Republic, which would go on to become one of the biggest and most significant factions in the whole series.
Fallout 2didn’t try to reinvent the wheel and kept its core gameplay very similar to its ground-breaking predecessor. Although this drew some criticism at the time, the second game refined many of the original’s features and mechanics, making it the best way to playthe old-school styleofFalloutgames.
The first of the 3D games and likely the first game a lot of fans played,Fallout 3continues the series of world events established previously. However, it does jump to the opposite side of the country from New California over to the remains of Washington DC, giving the player a fresh andoddly beautiful new locationto explore. By now in the chronology, a proper sense of civilization can be felt in the post-war United States, though it’s still a somewhat crude one.
Fallout 3’s placement on the timeline puts it well after the age of vaults. Despite this, players will remember that, in the introduction of the game, the protagonist is shown to have been born and raised into adulthood within a vault. This is because Vault 101 was intended as an experiment to see a group of survivors living indefinitely in a vault, rather than until they can return to the surface to settle the wastelands. This makes the primary vault of the game rather unique as it continues its activities after everyone else has moved on.
Despite its huge mainstream success upon release,Fallout 3doesn’t always seem to get the respect that it deserves today. Granted, many of its mechanics and open-world features have been improved upon since, but it’s important to remember that, for many people,Fallout 3was thefirst open-world game that they played. Because of this, the moment when the player left the vault was special for many people as they suddenly found themselves with a level of freedom they had never experienced in gaming before.
Returning to the West 40 years after the first great cities were built inFallout 2,the New California Republic is now a fully operational federal government with territory spanning almost the entirety of the West coast of the US and stretching into Nevada. They still face struggles, however, as they fight a brutal war for control against Caesar’s Legion. This game takes placefour years afterFallout 3on the timeline.
Uniquely, the player character ofFallout: New Vegasis a courier instead of a vault dweller, making it the only main game to have a protagonist entirely from the new society developed from the wastelands. The region may be more developed than in games further back on the timeline, but in trueFalloutfashion, there are stillplenty of terrifying monsterspopulating the vast desert region.
Fallout: New Vegasis one of the key reasons why, as mentioned before,Fallout 3doesn’t seem to get much adulation today. Although there was little to no visual improvement,Fallout: New Vegasdid raise the bar for role-playing freedom, not just for theFalloutseries but for the role-playing genre as a whole. Bethesda handedNew Vegas’development duties to Obsidian Entertainment, who certainly didn’t disappoint, creating one of gaming’s most diverse and engrossing adventures.
Fallout 4takes place 10 years after the events ofFallout 3and only a few years afterFallout: New Vegas.The player can now explore a region known as “The Commonwealth,” which is the remains of Boston and some of the wider New England region.
While officially the furthest game into the future chronologically so far,Fallout 4’s opening does provide a playable glimpse of pre-war America. Initially set in 2077, which is the earliest playable time in the franchise, the bulk of the game takes place 210 years after the bombs dropped, as the main character (known as the sole survivor) is cryogenically frozen, finally emerging in 2287.
Fallout 4is a somewhat divisive entry in the series. Although it offered one of the best open worlds, new base-building mechanics, and some impressive technical features, the game stripped away much of the player’s freedom in favor of a more railroaded adventure. This wasn’t seen as a bad thing by some people, and the game reachedan impressive 88 Metascore, though many were disappointed that the excellent role-playing aspects ofNew Vegasweren’t expanded upon.
Special Mention: The Fallout TV Adaptation (2296 - 2297)
TheFalloutTV adaptation is considered by many to be the finestvideo game-inspired TV showto date, which is hefty praise given the sheer quality of recent video game adaptations that fans have been graced with. The love that oozes out of every pore of this show for the series is simply amazing, and it’s easy to see why the show has caused many veteran gamers and newcomers alike to go back to the titles that started it all.
Featuring several clever references to the video games coupled with an original story that’s as engaging as they come, it’s easy to see whyFalloutfans are more than happy to sink their teeth into this adaptation. With a second season now greenlit, many are likely eager to find out what will happen next, especially since the show takes place evenfurther into the future than the games.
