What’s the best Fallout game? We asked, here’s what you said

The long-running, fan-favorite post-apocalyptic RPG franchise Fallout is now one year shy of its 30th anniversary, and it’s gone through a lot of change and growth throughout its nearly three-decade long history. From humble beginnings at Interplay Entertainment and the 1997 release of the very first game to the blockbuster success of Fallout 4 and the Fallout TV show, the series has become an absolute megahit.

Alongside spinoffs like Fallout Tactics and Fallout Shelter, we’ve gotten six mainline Fallout RPGs over the years, including Fallout 1, Fallout 2, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76. Developer Bethesda is working on Fallout 5, too, though it’s a long way off, as the studio’s next game will be The Elder Scrolls 6.

The games have always been popular, but there’s been a major resurgence in the last few months in particular thanks to Season 2 of the TV show driving player interest. That hype has brought plenty of interesting news and insight about the franchise, including our exclusive report that remasters for Fallout 3 and New Vegas are coming, and Game Informer’s wonderful An Oral History of Fallout multi-part interview.

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As I’ve covered the latest on the series these past few weeks, I’ve been running a poll across all my articles to see which of the main Fallout games you, our readers, think is the best of them all. As I write this, 1,501 of you have given your answer — and it’s a clear one, with one RPG far above the rest.

That title, probably to the surprise of very few, is Fallout: New Vegas, Obsidian Entertainment’s 2010 entry in the franchise that took players to the Mojave Wasteland. 869 of the folks who voted in the poll — 58% of the group — say New Vegas is their favorite game, with Fallout 4 and Fallout 3 neck and neck below it at roughly 17% with 259 and 248 votes, respectively.

Of the 1,501 readers who voted in our poll, 869 of them — 58% — say their favorite Fallout game is New Vegas. And you know what? I’m not surprised. (Image credit: Kwizly / Windows Central)

In online discussions about the Fallout games, New Vegas is very often listed as a favorite due to its impressive RPG depth, complete with multiple major and minor factions, countless potential quest outcomes, advanced speech and dialogue systems, and a high degree of reactivity to the player’s actions. The overall story and setting are top-notch, too, and allows you to do do pretty much anything you want without putting roadblocks in your way.

Thus, I was hardly surprised to see it take the win by a large margin here. I was surprised to see Fallout 3 so close to Fallout 4’s position, though. Fallout 4 is the latest single player entry in the series with the smoothest, most modern gameplay and combat mechanics. On top of that, it’s the most stable game for modding, and has gotten a ton of mod content — both free and sold as curated DLC in the Creations store — since its 2015 release.

But Fallout 4 is also often criticized for lacking the RPG “crunch” Interplay’s original games and New Vegas had, while Bethesda retained much of it with Fallout 3. So even though Fallout 4 is easier to get into, more polished, and serves as a better foundation for user-generated content, Fallout 3 features a direction that players prefer more overall.

Another unexpected result was Fallout 76 coming in below even Fallout 1 and Fallout 2, both of which are old-school CRPGs from the ’90s with rather archaic control schemes that make them difficult to smoothly engage with. The takeaway here seems to be that multiplayer is rarely anyone’s favorite way to experience Fallout, even though Fallout 76 still has a healthy player base even eight years post-launch.

No matter which Fallout game is your favorite, it’s a great time to be a Fallout fan — especially since every game in the series is available to play on Xbox and/or PC through Xbox Game Pass. Even Fallout 1, 2, and Tactics are on PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

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What’s your favorite Fallout game? Do you agree with everyone that thinks Fallout: New Vegas is the best, or do you feel differently? Share your thoughts in the comments, and make sure to vote in the poll yourself below.

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