Fallout Games Tier List: Every Game Ranked
Nine games, one irradiated family tree. We're ranking every mainline and spinoff Fallout title, from the 1997 original that built the whole wasteland to the latest live-service detour through Appalachia.
This covers the isometric classics, the Bethesda-era open worlds, the console misfire a lot of people have tried to forget, and the mobile vault sim everyone's parents accidentally got addicted to. Where the fandom argues (and it argues a lot about Fallout 3 versus New Vegas), we've picked a side and explained why.
Agree, disagree, or think we buried something too low? That's half the fun of a list like this.
The tier list
The community’s tier list fills in as members vote. It appears once 5 members have ranked or voted on these.
Think you can rank them better?
Make your own tier listFree account. Your ranking stays private unless you share it, and it counts toward the community tier list.Vote
SS Tier: The wasteland classics
Fallout: New Vegas
Obsidian took Bethesda's engine and did something Bethesda itself has never quite matched: factions that actually feel like they matter. The Legion versus NCR versus Mr. House fight gives every playthrough real teeth, and companions like Veronica and ED-E still get brought up in arguments about the series' best writing.
About Fallout: New Vegas
Obsidian's 2010 spinoff built on Bethesda's engine, set in a post-war Las Vegas and praised for its factions, writing, and branching storylines.
- Released
- 2010
- Developer
- Obsidian Entertainment
- Setting
- Mojave Wasteland (Las Vegas)
Fallout 2
Bigger, weirder, and funnier than the original, with a map that finally made California feel like a world instead of a few connected dots. The pop culture gags haven't all aged gracefully, but the depth of dialogue and the sheer number of ways to solve a quest still impresses people who go back to it.
About Fallout 2
The 1998 sequel that expanded the world, the humor, and the jank in roughly equal measure. Widely considered the high point of the isometric era by series purists.
- Released
- 1998
- Developer
- Black Isle Studios
- Setting
- Post-apocalyptic California, years later
Fallout
The game that invented the SPECIAL system, the ghoul, and the whole tone of jokes next to nuclear horror. It's rough by modern standards, the water chip timer stresses newcomers out, but as a piece of design history it earns its spot at the top.
About Fallout
The original 1997 isometric RPG that started it all, built by Interplay and Black Isle. Set in a retro-futuristic post-nuclear California, it introduced the SPECIAL system and the series' trademark dark humor.
- Released
- 1997
- Developer
- Interplay
- Setting
- Post-apocalyptic California
AA Tier: Essential detours
Fallout 3
The reboot that introduced a generation to the wasteland, and it holds up as an atmosphere piece even if the writing is simpler than New Vegas. Megaton's binary good-or-evil choice feels a bit blunt now, but exploring the Capital Wasteland's ruined monuments is still a genuine thrill.
About Fallout 3
Bethesda's 2008 reboot that moved the series to Washington D.C. and first-person 3D, introducing the franchise to a massive new audience with V.A.T.S. combat.
- Released
- 2008
- Developer
- Bethesda Game Studios
- Setting
- Capital Wasteland (D.C.)
Fallout 4
The settlement building hooked people for hundreds of hours even as the dialogue wheel and dumbed-down conversation options annoyed longtime fans. Far Harbor is one of the best DLCs the series has produced, and the gunplay finally feels good instead of just serviceable.
About Fallout 4
Bethesda's 2015 entry set in and around Boston, adding base-building and a voiced protagonist to the usual open-world scavenging and shooting.
- Released
- 2015
- Developer
- Bethesda Game Studios
- Setting
- Commonwealth (Boston)
BB Tier: Solid, with asterisks
Fallout 76
Launched broken, buggy, and missing the human NPCs that make Fallout feel like Fallout, which is why its reputation still hasn't fully recovered. Wastelanders and the updates since have turned it into something genuinely decent, so judge it by 2024 76, not 2018 76.
About Fallout 76
An online multiplayer entry set in West Virginia, launched in 2018 to a rough reception before years of updates reworked it substantially.
- Released
- 2018
- Developer
- Bethesda Game Studios
- Setting
- Appalachia (West Virginia)
Fallout Shelter
A surprisingly sticky little management sim where keeping your Vault dwellers fed, happy, and not eaten by radroaches becomes oddly compelling. It's not trying to be an RPG and never pretends otherwise, which is exactly why it works.
About Fallout Shelter
A free-to-play mobile management sim released in 2015, where players build and manage their own underground Vault.
- Released
- 2015
- Developer
- Bethesda Game Studios
- Platform
- Mobile, later consoles/PC
CC Tier: Flawed but defensible
Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel
A decent tactical squad game on its own terms, with satisfying turn-based combat, but it drifts far from the series' RPG roots and its canon status has always been shaky. Worth a look if you like XCOM-style strategy more than dialogue trees.
About Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel
A 2001 squad-based spinoff focused on tactical combat with the Brotherhood of Steel, developed by Micro Forte rather than the original team.
- Released
- 2001
- Developer
- Micro Forte
- Genre
- Tactical RPG
FF Tier: Best left irradiated
Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
Hack-and-slash combat, a loot-drop structure, and barely any of the choice-and-consequence design that defines the series. Even diehard fans who'll defend almost anything with the Fallout name tend to just skip over this one.
About Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
A 2004 action RPG spinoff for consoles that dropped most of the series' RPG depth for hack-and-slash combat. Developed by Interplay itself, it's generally regarded as the low point of the franchise.
- Released
- 2004
- Developer
- Interplay
- Platforms
- PS2, Xbox
How we ranked them
We weighed writing and world-building, how well each game's systems hold up, its lasting influence on the series, and where fan and critic opinion has settled over time. Spinoffs are judged against their own goals, not against mainline entries, but a tactical spinoff still has to be a good tactics game. Launch state matters, but so does what a game became after patches and expansions.
Think we got it wrong?
Drag all 9 fallout games into your own tier list, then download the image or share a link.
Rank these yourselfFAQ
What is the best Fallout game?
Most fans and critics point to Fallout: New Vegas, thanks to its writing, factions, and sheer player choice. The original Fallout and Fallout 2 are right behind it for people who prefer the classic isometric style.
What is the worst Fallout game?
Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel (2004) is the consensus low point. It ditched the RPG systems for generic action combat and is barely considered canon by most fans.
Is Fallout 76 worth playing now?
It's in a much better state than its 2018 launch. Years of updates added NPCs, quests, and story content that the game badly needed at release, though it still plays differently from the single-player entries.
Should I play Fallout 3 or New Vegas first?
Chronologically Fallout 3 comes first, but a lot of players jump straight to New Vegas for the stronger writing. Either order works since the stories aren't directly connected.
Is Fallout Shelter a real Fallout game?
It's a spinoff mobile management sim rather than an RPG, but it's well made for what it is and connects to the main series through loading screens and lore references.
More rankings
Image credits
- Fallout: New VegasPhoto: Xbox México, CC BY 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Fallout 2Cover: Wikipedia · Source
- FalloutCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Fallout 3Cover: Wikipedia · Source
- Fallout 4Cover: Wikipedia · Source
- Fallout 76Cover: Wikipedia · Source
- Fallout ShelterCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of SteelCover: Wikipedia · Source
- Fallout: Brotherhood of SteelCover: Wikipedia · Source