Fallout has always been the greatest role-playing game of them all

A reader argues that not only is Fallout better than Skyrim but that it’s the best role-playing franchise of any kind.

As a massive fan of Fallout, I couldn’t be happier with it suddenly becoming the biggest show on the planet. I realise the fact that it’s actually a good series has helped with this, with many people watching it who have no idea what the game is, but judging by the sales and player numbers recently many have been inspired to go out and find out more about it.

All of the Bethesda games have been cheap or free for the last few weeks and Fallout 4 has become the best-selling game of the month, which is incredible for a nine-year-old game that has never really been thought of as that big of a seller before.

For me, it has always been my favourite series though, even more so than The Elder Scrolls, and that’s because of the same reason I think the show has been so successful: the world it’s set in. Gamers probably think of post-apocalypse as a common setting but it’s actually quite rare in movies and TV, especially the completely destroyed look of Fallout, and I think that’s really ignited people’s imagination.

By comparison, Skyrim and co. have a really generic setting that could be any random fantasy world. Does anyone know what the actual Elder Scrolls are or what the story was in Skyrim? Other than the dragons are coming back.

To be fair, you could say something similar about most of the Fallout games, since I’ll admit storytelling isn’t Bethesda’s strongest suit. But that’s why New Vegas is so beloved, that game in particular I would say is easily better than Skyrim and it’s only the bugs, which are a lot even by Bethesda standards (they might not have made it but they did make Obsidian rush its development), which stop it from being acknowledge as a top 10 game of all time.

Instead, the question of which Fallout game is best is kind of shared between it, Fallout 3, and Fallout 4. Heck, even Fallout 1 and 2 are great, if you can put up with the old-fashioned graphics and tech. Fallout 76 is a clear step down but it has got a lot better since launch.

It’s the power of that setting, the freedom and wonder it provides that means even lesser entries are elevated into something you want to play for hundreds of hours. Bethesda has their failings, everyone likes to go on about them, but nobody beats them when it comes to the detail of the worlds they make. Instead of massive, bloated maps with nothing in them, Bethesda’s are always much smaller but with much more to see and do.

Bethesda might not be that great when it comes to plot, but their environmental storytelling is the standard everyone else copies. So much of the Fallout games involves piecing together what’s previously happened in an area you’ve stumbled on, and it always makes sense, with a clear story to discover.

Fallout gets all the other role-playing stuff right, like levelling up and earning new skills, and a proper dialogue system, but it goes far beyond that with endless customisation options that lead up to being able to make even your own home base. Not only does Fallout feel like a real world, it feels like one you have an impact on, in multiple ways.

This, to me, is what is most important in a role-playing game, not the dialogue or plot. If I wanted a linear story I’d go watch a movie (or, in this case, the Fallout TV show) but for a great role-playing game I want to be able to do anything I want in the world and to interact with everyone I meet in a way they’ll react to realistically.

Fallout makes that sort of stuff look easy and that’s why it’ll always be my favourite role-playing game and my favourite video game franchise overall. And I’m so happy that so many other people have learned to love it too.

By reader Loveall