The Fallout franchise, known for its retro-futuristic apocalypse, mutated monsters, and power-armored soldiers, offers a deeply rich setting that has captivated players for over two decades. With new entries and a popular television adaptation expanding the universe, there's an opportune moment to dive into this post-apocalyptic world. For those looking to experience the series in its narrative sequence, understanding the chronological order of events is key.

The Fallout Timeline Unveiled

While the franchise boasts nine main games, including two mobile titles, and thirteen major expansions, not all entries directly contribute to a singular chronological narrative. Fallout Shelter and its online counterpart, while set within the lore of Fallout's vaults, feature characters and items that predate or exist outside the main storyline, rendering them non-canonical to the primary timeline. Similarly, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel has been confirmed by Bethesda to exist in its own distinct continuity. Fallout Tactics, however, is considered at least semi-canon, as certain narrative elements have been referenced in subsequent games.

Fallout 76 (2102)

Bethesda's most recent addition to the canon, Fallout 76, initiates the chronological timeline. Set in Appalachia, this online experience follows the very first vault dwellers as they emerge 25 years after a nuclear war has devastated the world. Players exit Vault 76 to find a wasteland transformed into a dangerous landscape filled with mutated creatures, killer robots, and irradiated humans. The game encourages cooperation, base building, and questing as players strive to reestablish a community among the ruins. Despite a rocky launch, Fallout 76 has seen significant updates, including the Wastelanders and Steel Reign expansions that introduced NPCs and new questlines.

Fallout (1997)

Fifty-nine years after Fallout 76, the original Fallout game unfolds. Developed by Interplay Productions, it centers on a vault dweller from Vault 13 tasked with venturing into the wasteland to retrieve a new water chip. This seemingly simple mission escalates as the player encounters Super Mutants and their leader, the Master, who pose a significant threat to both the vault and the wider wasteland. The first Fallout established the series' core tenets of player choice and immersive role-playing, featuring turn-based combat and a top-down perspective.

Fallout Tactics (2001)

Three decades after the events of Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics offers a strategic spin-off. Players command a squad of Brotherhood of Steel initiates through various missions across the wasteland, facing iconic Fallout enemies. While some of its lore has been retconned, certain events remain semi-canon.

Fallout 2 (1998)

Set forty-four years after Fallout Tactics, Fallout 2, developed by Black Isle Studios, follows the Chosen One, a descendant of the original game's Vault Dweller. Driven by a drought plaguing their settlement, the Chosen One embarks on a quest for a G.E.C.K., a terraforming device. This journey brings them into conflict with the highly advanced and sinister Enclave faction.

Fallout 3 (2008)

Taking place three decades after Fallout 2, Bethesda Game Studios' Fallout 3 introduced a fully 3D world with first-person combat and the V.A.T.S. targeting system. Players assume the role of the Lone Wanderer from Vault 101, who is exiled after their father's mysterious disappearance. This quest leads them into the Capital Wasteland and embroils them in a plot involving the Enclave.

Fallout 3 Expansions

Several expansions for Fallout 3 fit within its main campaign's timeline. Operation Anchorage transports the Lone Wanderer into a simulation of the Battle of Anchorage prior to the nuclear war. The Pitt sees the Lone Wanderer travel to a plague-infested city in Pittsburgh to find a cure for a rampant disease, becoming entangled in the conflict between slaves and raiders. Point Lookout takes the player to a haunting coastal town in Maryland to help find a missing daughter, uncovering local rivalries and dark secrets. Finally, Mothership Zeta offers a unique sci-fi twist, with the Lone Wanderer abducted by aliens and forced to escape their spacecraft. Broken Steel, however, acts as an epilogue, taking place after the main story and allowing players to continue their adventure with new missions, including assisting the Brotherhood of Steel in eradicating the remaining Enclave forces.

Fallout: New Vegas (2010)

Four years after Fallout 3, Obsidian Entertainment's Fallout: New Vegas places players in the shoes of a courier ambushed and left for dead in the Mojave Wasteland. After recovering, the courier pursues their attacker, becoming entangled in a power struggle between various factions vying for control of New Vegas. The player's decisions significantly impact the fate of the Mojave.

Fallout: New Vegas Expansions

  • Dead Money: Set during the main campaign, this expansion sends the Courier to the Sierra Madre, where they must execute a dangerous heist in a casino surrounded by toxic gas and deadly survivors.
  • Honest Hearts: Also within the main campaign's timeline, Honest Hearts finds the Courier in Zion National Park, involved in a conflict between Joshua Graham, the "Burned Man," and the White Legs tribe.
  • Old World Blues: This expansion begins with the Courier investigating a mysterious satellite signal, leading them to Big Mountain and a scientific facility where they must retrieve their stolen brain from a nefarious robot named Doctor Morbius.
  • Lonesome Road: This final New Vegas expansion occurs before the main game's conclusion but ties up loose story threads. The Courier ventures into The Divide to confront Ulysses, the original recipient of the platinum chip, unveiling dark pasts.

Fallout 4 (2015)

Fallout 4 begins on the day the bombs fell, with the player character, the Sole Survivor, taking refuge in Vault 111. Two hundred years later, emerging into the Commonwealth—Fallout's take on the Greater Boston region—the Sole Survivor searches for their missing son. This quest leads to conflict with the Institute, a faction of advanced scientists creating sentient robots known as synths.

Fallout 4 Expansions

  • Automatron: This expansion involves the Sole Survivor battling the Mechanist and their robotic army, while also introducing the ability to build and customize companion robots.
  • Far Harbour: The Sole Survivor travels to an eerie island to find a missing girl, becoming involved in a conflict between a community of independent synths and a radiation-worshipping cult known as the Children of Atom.
  • Vault-Tec Workshop: Players assist an overseer in building and managing their own vault, recruiting dwellers and optimizing its systems.
  • Nuka World: This expansion gives the Sole Survivor control of a Nuka-Cola themed amusement park, forcing them to manage three raider factions within the park.