The best Fallout games ranked

Perhaps one of our favourite gaming experiences of all time (let alone our favourite Fallout game), Fallout: New Vegas is the quintessential post-apocalyptic RPG experience you've been longing for. Enthralling from the get-go, with a gripping central premise that leaves players begging for more, Fallout New Vegas radiates with a colourful, dynamic cast of thoroughly fleshed-out (or sometimes flesh-deprived) characters, and one of the most advanced decision-making dialogue systems in gaming to this very day.

The tale of Fallout: New Vegas begins after the player-character 'Courier Six' catches a bullet to the head. Shot by an elusive, Trans-Atlantic accented new-world gangster named Benny, who steals from you a rare and precious package; an enigmatic platinum poker chip. Left for dead, buried alive and freshly robbed - The Courier is sent on a long route of revenge, where all roads lead inevitably to New Vegas.

The utter beauty of New Vegas lies in its threading, winding narratives that spin and tangle across each other, characters influencing characters, your decisions sparing or taking lives, and at its sheer scale, with its endless multiplicity of choices and paths that fundamentally change the outcome of New Vegas's narrative.

From the game's primary story, with an all-out war on the brink between the numberless, corrupt New California Republic, and the despotic Caesar's Legion, to the vast ocean of side stories, distant towns, tribes and strongholds populated with some of the most compelling storytelling in all of gaming - New Vegas's world is alive with the buzz of character, the whimsy of post-armageddon anarchy, and the litany of awe-inspiring locations to gnaw through.

Much like its predecessors, however, the pinnacle of Fallout: New Vegas's design lies in its conversation. Dialogue is at the very heart of the Fallout series, where player decisions shape the very world of New Vegas. The lead writer of New Vegas, Chris Avellone, places choice and consequences at the game's epicentre, handing the reigns over to players almost entirely. NCR, Caesar's Legion, Mr House, Yes Man - players are given a staggering amount of choices, and thousands of different ways to explore and progress.

Crawling through the dark in the terrifying Vault 22, coming face-to-face with the formidable Legate Lanius, and sauntering across valleys fraught with danger - Fallout: New Vegas is peak RPG storytelling which rarely has a dull moment.

PC players, you may, unfortunately, find your game struggling to load even without copious mods installed, as such - we'd highly, highly recommend spending some time following the Viva New Vegas mod guide to discover the absolute best way to experience New Vegas - not only is modding a ton of fun, you'll have the best experience of the game you could possibly have.

Before New Vegas, there was Fallout 3; Bethesda's first proper foray into the post-apocalyptic world of The Wasteland. For many vault dwellers, Fallout 3 was their first experience in this uncharted, post-apocalyptic world, so it's certainly near and dear to the fanbase, despite some of its storytelling issues.

The Capital Wasteland is a far darker, more atmospheric place than the Mojave Desert, it's permeated with a dinge and grime that occupies every corner, with a far larger centralised cityscape that looms with a multitude of terrifying creatures, secrets and challenging skirmishes with the Capital's irradiated residents.

Fallout 3's strengths derive from both its environmental storytelling, a cornerstone of the Fallout series, and its grand-scope narrative, where players feel far more ingratiated into the world than any other title preceding it. Starting as a child, experiencing the harsh, yet favourable life as a vault dweller - progress through Fallout 3's narrative feels epic, spanning years upon years of in-game time.

The gameplay is as exciting as ever - whether you're tearing through hordes of tanky super mutants with a mini-gun, or tactfully picking off foes from afar with all manner of whacky weaponry, Fallout 3's blend of intense scavenger shooting, where every bullet counts and its thick, terrifying atmosphere blends together to keep us returning over and over again to its dismal world.

Fallout 3's problems, however, arise when facing what is New Vegas's greatest strength; choice and consequence. The factions and quests of Fallout 3 don't have the same potency as New Vegas, that is - they suffer from a slight detachment from player choices, wherein the consequences of questlines feel as though you truly have no impact upon the world.

Factions in Fallout 3 feel comparatively limited to New Vegas, with a dwindling number of different endings, all of which fall flat - with players having no real impact on the outcome of events. What's more, Fallout 3 lacks a great antagonist - for a lack of a better word, the final showdown against the underwritten lackey of the Enclave, Colonel Autumn is pathetic. Any capable player can settle the conflict instantaneously, with no real gut satisfaction to its otherwise fairly compelling narrative.

Despite its weaknesses, however, the world of Fallout 3 feels memorable and is populated with some of the most heartbreaking, comedic, hair-raising and bewitching characters in gaming (we're looking at you, Harold), alongside some genuinely exciting battles alongside the colossal Liberty Prime.

In 1997, after several name and identity changes, from Wasteland to Vault 13, the first iteration of Fallout was released. Encompassing some of the most groundbreaking, innovative ideas from earlier tabletop games such as Dungeons and Dragons that have seeped into the very core of CRPGs since its launch, giving us our first true glimpse into what on Earth a post-apocalyptic nuclear-powered society could look like.

The S.P.E.C.I.A.L system, the very foundations of Fallout's voluminous lore, the incredible, thought-provoking dialogue - it all began with Fallout. In many ways, dialogue and interactions in the first instance of Fallout are some of the strongest, with some genuinely tragic and chilling concepts that are beautifully poignant and memorable.

Of course, there's something significantly withdrawn and distant about Fallout 1's isometric view, which just isn't quite as stirring as the later implemented first-person perspective. Thankfully, the game's conversations draw you into a far more unique first-person screen, equipped with some wonderfully creepy (albeit dated) face-to-face animations that, in the most bizarre and uncanny way, hold up to the test of time.

What doesn't quite hold up, however, is the slow-paced turn-based combat, which neither looks nor feels particularly exciting and yet we still cannot help but recommend giving Fallout a try.

A thrilling, provocative first look into post-apocalyptic America, a unique and memorable story, and some excellent dialogue and optionality - Fallout is without question a title you shouldn't sleep on.

Interplay's second installation in the series expanded on precisely what the first game lacked with smoother mechanics, a larger world and some refinement of the S.P.E.C.I.A.L system - giving players precisely what we wanted from Fallout: more.

In tune with the first title in the series, Fallout 2 is oozing with memorable characters, excellent voice acting, and a treasure trove of intriguing puzzles and quests to delve into. This much larger world gives players their first interactions with some of the Fallout series's mainstay factions such as the sinister Enclave, whose brutality echoes throughout the later titles in the series.

Expansive, challenging, improvements made to the game's CRPG turn-based mechanics, so why have we ranked Fallout 2 lower than the first game of the series? For our taste, we just found the original first game's story to be much more satisfying, in a major part thanks to its chilling ending. Fallout 2 is littered with filler dialogue, and awkward, clunky fourth-wall-breaking commentary on current events at the time (which is even more insufferable over 20 years later).

Then there's the glitchiness of the game, many players suffered game-breaking glitches and bugs nearing Fallout 2's ending, leaving devout fans of the series both puzzled and infuriated, to say the least.

Nevertheless, Fallout 2 is a classic CRPG that, despite its years, still plays impeccably well. If you happen to be a fan of the Fallout universe, it's a title we can wholeheartedly recommend.

Surrounded with controversy and intrigue since its release, Fallout 4 was perhaps the most hyped game of 2015. Base building, cutting-edge graphics, a whole new massive world to explore, and that seriously amazing beefed-up power armour, Fallout 4 gave players big, lofty dreams of just what they'll be playing solidly for the next few months or so, but it was not meant to be.

Among some fun, satisfying combat that blows even the likes of New Vegas and Fallout 3 out of the water, it just wasn't enough to save Fallout 4's incredibly lacklustre story. Saturated with tropes, cliches, and some frankly embarrassing dialogue - Bethesda stripped the flesh off of Fallout's character-driven world, trading witty, dramatic, thought-provoking dialogue for some utterly tone-deaf narratives.

In and amongst Fallout 4's trying dialogue, is a game littered with empty, endless fetch quests and needless busy work to bulk out a largely empty game world, bar the occasionally enticing factory, or heart-pumping raider stronghold. Fallout 4's base building is perhaps its worst and most critically panned feature, where players are given little incentive to construct bases incapable of any real variety or aesthetic intrigue.

In truth, Fallout 4 is far from the perfect game, but it remains a Fallout game, and if you happen to be well-versed in modding on your excellent PC (or are looking to try your hand at it), then you're well and truly in luck. The sheer variety of mods is astounding, cutting the dull, bloated filler, the endless settlement building, and even Preston Garvey himself - the power is in your hands to play however you want.

Perhaps one of the most disappointing titles of the series, Fallout 76 gave avid wasteland wanderers megatonnes of optimism and anticipation prior to its release, in a large part thanks to a particularly epic trailer, paired with the sweet, sultry tones of John Denver's 'Take Me Home, Country Roads' anthem.

Fallout 76, however, was anything but sweet - plagued with awful, cringe-inducing writing, copious filler, a poorly implemented multiplayer system, and even some visual downgrades from Fallout 4. Fallout 76 is a largely empty experience that is occasionally lifted by some show-stopping boss fights against the cryptids of America's mid-west.

Perhaps the largest insult of Fallout 76 is its sheer lack of compelling characters and storylines - its narrative being tenuously linked to the original series at best. The base game almost entirely lacks any and all human characters, being populated almost entirely by robots and, of course, other players, in what is perhaps the most foolish decision Bethesda could make.

The very backbone of the original games is its wonderful dialogue, its haunting stories and the very 'human' moments of connection that kept players feeling like a part of the post-apocalyptic wasteland, all of this passion for storytelling is stripped away, and in its stead are bloated fetch quests that provide the slightest hint of satisfaction that gamers can enjoy for a solid 20-30 hours before uninstalling Fallout 76 entirely.

If you're not a fan of the series and are looking for a game with an interesting setting (not from its own steam, mind you), with some fun creature design, exciting boss fights and a decent sense of PvE collaboration, it may very well be worth it to pick up Fallout 76, but fans of the series should probably stay well away from the series before they blow a fuse.