Report #29

Release Date: 1997

Fallout is an open-world RPG set in a post-apocalyptic USA, in the aftermath of a global nuclear war in an alternate history timeline mid-22nd century. The protagonist of Fallout is an inhabitant of a Vault, long-term shelters, who is tasked to find a replacement Water Chip and save their Vault.

This is going to be a different kind of review, with a more personal note: When put into historical context, I understand why this game got so much praise. The graphics, though completely outdated, are still nice to look at, and the open possibilites to roam the land and search for quests and their solutions are still impressive. Most of the time, you are able to solve quests either peacefully or with brutal force, mostly depending on the character build you pick at the start. It has a lot of different places to visit and a lot of people to talk to. It's baffeling that this is a game that is more than 20 years old. A milestone.

However! We're not living in 1997 anymore. And computer games evolved a lot since then, particularly in accessability and Quality-of-Life-improvements. Fallout gives you absolutely no clues what to do next and is unforgivingly hard if you don't know what to do. And while some may take that as a challenge, I took it as mere nuisances. I used a guide from almost start to finish, because the old-fashioned controls and constant struggle to stay alive made me want to go through the game as quickly as possible. I'm glad it is that short, I think I would've stopped playing it otherwise. I had no nostalgia, since I never played it when it came out, so that wasn't a factor for me either.

That leaves me with an interesting peek in the past, the realization how astonishing Fallout must've been at its time and the joy that I don't have to deal with this kind of game anymore. I have no problem with diving deeper into unaccessible games (like Dwarf Fortress or Aurora 4X), but only if they give me a unique gaming experience, something Fallout doesn't offer for me. Like the original Deus Ex, FarCry or Just Cause, it was interesting to see how games played like back then, but I prefer modern gaming. After all, I like going by car more than going by a horse carriage and nobody complains about that either, do they?

Achievements: None, thankfully.

Verdict: Unless you want to know what gaming was like in 1997, I don't recommend getting this game in 2019.