The war never changes

Novyevropa says what you need to know about Fallout before watching a new series from Amazon and the creators of the Wild West World

On March 11, Follaut was released - a show based on the series of the video game about post -apocalypse in the United States. Fans call the series exemplary adaptation in which the spirit and aesthetics of Fallout are correctly conveyed. Spectators and critics, unfamiliar with the franchise, also highly appreciate the show and want the second season to come out as soon as possible.

New Europe tells about the Fallout franchise: what the original games were about and why they became popular, what it is worth knowing about the Fallout universe and from which part to start acquaintance with the series, and also shares impressions of the series and compares it with the original source.

What you need to know about the Fallout universe

The world of Follaut was no different from ours until the 1950s. Humanity never opened semiconductors and microprocessors, but created smart robots and the first computers. In 1969, the US government changed the state system and divided the territories into 13 communities. California and Nevada united into the southwestern community, and Massachusetts entered the community of New England. The updated United States retained the name, but changed the flag.

The story went a completely different path. The Cold War not just did not come to naught, but intensified. The Soviet Union did not break up, the USA enormity began to compose communist China. American society was stuck in development , the fashion and technology of the 1950s, like bulky black and white TVs, remained in place. In the 2050s, there was a shortage of resources, wars began in the world for territories with oil and gas. The United States invades Mexico and Canada, the UN breaks up due to its inefficiency, China lands on Alaska. The friction between the global powers is so intensified that in 2077 a nuclear war begins and bombs fall on the largest cities.

However, humanity has not disappeared. Some people took refuge in shelters - underground bunkers with food supplies, electricity and filters for water purification. The lucky ones basically got there - the rich people who bought their place in the shelters, politicians, businessmen, actors and other influential people. Others remained on the surface. Many of them, under the influence of radiation, turned into ghouls - similar to zombies of creatures that can live for hundreds of years. But the part hid and was able to survive the nuclear winter.

After more than a hundred years, the descendants of the inhabitants of the shelters began to get to the surface. They were surprised to find that society was gradually being restored in the radioactive wasteland. People trade and pay covers from glass bottles with nuclear-cooles, build settlements, look for resources in ruins and even breed livestock, among which there are two-headed cows, which are called braminates. Many survivors become bandits, but there are those who enter the fraction. There are armed groups in the wasteland - for example, a militarized fraternity of steel, which is looking for the surviving pre -war technologies in the US ruins. And there are also their states like the new California Republic.

The descendants of the survivors retained the culture of the ancestors and behave appropriately. In Nevada, a wild West was recreated - with their cowboys, sheriffs and salons. Radio stations are located along all the wasteland, where songs of the mid -20th century are twisted non -stop. Young people and old people listen to The Ink Spots , Bob Crosby , Net King Cole and Skiter Davis.

How many parts are in Fallout and what are they about

The first Fallout was released in 1997. Since then, three license plates and four spin-offs have been released. They were engaged in different studios with their vision of the universe, so over 27 years the series has changed significantly.

The original Fallout, created by Black Isle Studios, set the franchise framework and determined its aesthetics. The action takes place in 2161, 84 years after the nuclear war. The main character is a resident of the California shelter-13, who goes into the wasteland behind a new chip for water purification. He is told that the device may be in the neighboring shelter-15, where you need to go.

Fallout is an isometric game with a view of the top. The battles take place in step -by -step mode, and the character has an action glasses for attack and movement. Now playing Fallout is slightly unusual, but everything pays off an interesting plot and characters. The native of the shelter solves conflicts between cities and bandits, meets the guards and brotherhood of steel, and also determines the fate of the western coast of the Wasteland.

Fallout 2 from the same developers left in 1998, just a year after the first part. The gameplay is not different from the original, but there are much more quests and locations, and history has become longer. The action of Fallout 2 begins in 2241, 83 years after the first part. The main character is the chosen, a descendant of the native of the shelter. He must find a GECC device in the wasteland, which will improve natural conditions in the desert.

Players often call Fallout 2 the best part of the series. Its complete passage takes about 83 hours. It is hard to believe that they developed it in just nine months.

In the next six years, only spin-offs from other companies went to Fallout. In the 2001 Fallout Tactics, created by Micro Forté, you control the Steel Brotherhood detachment. There is no non -linear plot and open world in the game, and the emphasis is shifted with participation in dialogues for tactical battles.

And Fallout: Brotherhouse of Steel 2004, which was developed by InterPlay, is an action with a view of the top. The game was criticized for a primitive gameplay, where you only need to kill the same type of enemies. In addition, both games were recognized as non -canonical for the franchise.

In 2008, ten years after Fallout 2, a full -fledged third part came out. Fallout 3 created another company - Bethesda Game Studios, known for the Elder Scrolls series. The action was transferred from California to Washington, and the main character is a native of refuge-101. In the capital's wasteland, he must find the missing father.

The third Fallout adopted the gameplay The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - there is also a large open world that you can explore as you like. But recognizable Fallout elements in place: aesthetics of retro -futurism, fierce battles, black humor and plot with a native of asylum.

Fallout 3 actually restarted the franchise and made it truly popular among players. The third part diverged 12 million copies in seven years, and its average rating among critics - 93 out of 100 points. Neither before nor after Fallout received such recognition.

Two years later, in 2010, the spin -offs with the NEW VEGAS subtitle came out. It was created by the Obsidian Entertainment studio, founded by the developers of the first two Fallout from Black Isle. New Vegas works on the same engine as the third part, and is almost no different by gameplay and graphics.

The action takes place in Nevada, in the vicinity of the former Las Vegas. The main character, unlike the protagonists of the previous parts, is in no way connected with the refuge and works as a simple courier. He is killed by a mysterious stranger named Benny, who wanted to get a platinum chip from a courier cargo.

The New Vegas has significantly expanded nonlinearity and improved dialogs. This part is loved as strongly as the second, and they call the best modern Fallout.

The next Fallout had to wait five years. In 2015, Fallout 4 came out, which Bethesda again created. A native of Boston shelter-111 is looking for a missing son in the wasteland.

The graphics were significantly improved, and the responsiveness of control during shooting has accurately increased. But the system of dialogs and nonlinearity was greatly simplified: the game is no longer reminiscent of the old parts of Fallout, but modern shooters in an open world like Borderlands.

This did not prevent Fallout 4 from becoming the best -selling game in the series: 25 million copies were sold . The assessments of critics and players sank : simplifications in the gameplay were accepted with hostility.

The fifth has not yet come out. All these years, fans were content with spin-offs. In 2015, the casual Fallout Shelter was released - a cartoon strategy where you control your own refuge and follow its residents. The game is conditionally free and available on phones.

In 2018, Fallout 76 appeared-a multiplayer branch of the series. The action was transferred from Boston to Western Virginia. Chronologically, this is the first franchise game, its action begins in 2102, 25 years after the nuclear war. The exit game was criticized for a controversial gameplay: there were no non -game characters in the wasteland, and players performed the same type of tasks like the murder of ten mutants. Over time, the game was updated and significantly improved: now it is a full part of Fallout, which you can play with friends.

Why Fallout is so popular among players

Games of the Fallout series, with rare exceptions, have always retained a high quality bar and remained relevant for decades. The secret of success is a few significant reasons.

Fallout has a unique universe with excellent aesthetics. There are not so many games in the setting of retrofuturism - only anti -utopian Bioshock and Atomic Heart are remembered on the move. But there are simply no other retrofuturistic games, the action of which occurs after the apocalypse. In Fallout, robots in felt hats and trenches get along, fanatics from the Caesar Legion, reflecting on the Roman Empire, and the soldiers of the fraternity armed to the teeth became in force armor. I always want to return to this world in order to collect the lids from bottles in ruins, listen to jazz music on the radio and shoot radocorpions.

Fallout is also remarkable with an excellent role -playing waging. In almost all games of the series, you yourself create a hero, determine his characteristics and unique features. Nothing interferes with the creation of a seductive impudent that can convince the main villain to surrender - this was the case in the first Fallout. Or become a bastard who is ready to sacrifice people for the sake of covers - in Fallout 3 you are free to blow up the atomic bomb and destroy the whole settlement. And in many Fallouts allow you to create a character with intelligence at the mark of 1 out of 10: in this case, the characters will not even understand your speech.

Fallout also clings to unpredictability. In the open world, anything can happen: in the first part there is a possibility of accidentally stumble upon a broken UFO, and in New Vegas - to find a complex with intelligent ghouls that they want to fly from the ground on space missiles.

The last important reason for the popularity of Fallout is the excellent balance of drama and comedy. In the games of the series, a gloomy future is presented, in which people are ready to go to everything for survival. But the authors show that humanity does not change even in such harsh conditions. Fans have been creating funny franchise memes for years: they make fun of the excessively aggressive sergeant Dornan from the second part, dance under Big Iron Marty Robbins and ironically mock Harvie’s throne, who intrudally offers the hero of the fourth part to help the next settlement.

What games should be newcomers go

The first and second Fallout is strongly outdated - both gameplay and visually. They should be postponed, and the acquaintance is better to start with the third or fourth Fallout. The tricel looks good now, and gameplain all modern Fallout is based on her gameplay. The fourth has the best graphics and the most convenient gameplay, but it loses to the rest of Fallout.

A compromise option is Fallout: New Vegas. She continues the ideas of the first two parts and combines them with the gameplay of the third. And this is an excellent independent game that you want to re -process several times, the ways of passing the main plot at least three. As you go through modern parts of Fallout, you can start the first two games or spin-offs Fallout 76-you can play with friends there.

But Tactics, Brotherhouse of Steel and Shelter can be missed. The first two actually crossed out of the franchise both modern Fallout developers and players. And Shelter, although a pleasant strategy, is not at all obligatory for passing.

What you need to know about the series and whether it is possible to watch it without playing games

The action of the Follout show unfolds in 2296, after the events of all the games of the series. In the California wasteland, they are looking for a scientist Wilzig, who escaped with the technology of nuclear synthesis from the clinic organization "Enclave". Three main characters go to his search: a resident of the shelter-33 Lucy, the soldier of the fraternity became named Maximus and the mercenary-gul Cooper Howard, a formerly the famous Hollywood actor. Lucy got out of the shelter to exchange Wilzig for her stolen father. Maximus is looking for Wilzig on the instructions of the brotherhood, and Cooper Howard pursues his own, not fully understandable goals.

The idea of ​​creating the series belongs to Jonathan Nolan - the showrander of the fantastic show HBO “The World of the Wild West”. He is also known as the younger brother of Christopher Nolan and one of the scriptwriters of the Dark Knight, Interstellar and Prestige.

Jonathan produces Follaut with his wife Lisa Joy and Todd Howard, the head of the development of Fallout 3 and Fallout 4. Nolan also became the director of the first three episodes. The showranders of the Follaut are the author of Captain Marvel Geneva Robertson-Duoret and the screenwriter of the comedy series Portlandia Graham Wagner.

According to Todd Howard, the events of the "Follaut" are canonical for games, and the series itself is part of the game universe. It is not necessary to go through the series games before watching the show: two main characters - Lucy and Maximus - get acquainted with the wasteland and the rules of the world along with the audience.

What the series turned out

Fallout perfectly tolerates the universe of the games onto the screen and does not depart from the folklore of the universe. Fans will be happy with the careful attitude of the creators to all Fallout elements - from armor of characters to design boxes with pre -war food. There is no long exposition and tedious clarifications of every little thing, the audience quickly draws into what is happening. The series is valuable to the expansion of the background: the pre -war world of Fallout is first shown in detail here.

Third -party spectators are lured with an intriguing and integrated plot about a global conflict in the wasteland. Most of all, Follaut resembles the “world of the Wild West” - primarily the structure of the plot and characters. The naive and kind Lucy resembles Dolores, who also excessively trusted people. Maximus, uncertain in his beliefs, is similar to Bernard Lowe - an ideological person who casts doubt on the words of the leader. Cooper Howard seemed to be completely written off from a person in black - he is also a cruel antihero in a hat, who thoroughly knows the rules of the world and does not put other people in anything.

The creators perfectly conveyed the spirit of a cheerful adventure for which original games appreciate. On the way to the plot goal, the heroes experience a lot: a shootout in the town, a battle with a large amphibian mutant, acquaintance with another refuge and a clash with sellers of organs in an abandoned supermarket. No episode looks superfluous, in each the plot moves forward, and the characters are developing markedly. The experiences of the heroes are also shown through well -set flashbacks, they best revealed Cooper Howard and the secrets of his past.

The disadvantages, of course, are. Due to the limited budget, the creators are not able to show the world of Fallout in all its glory: for eight episodes we see only one full settlement, and the action scenes-especially with the participation of mutants-quite a bit. In some elements, the series loses the source, for example, in the elaboration of fractions and their motives.

Even in isolation from the Follout source, one of the best series of the year. Unlike “one of us” and many other video game films and the show, the series of Jonathan Nolan is an independent work that does not rely on the existing plot. Its authors came up with a story that is not inferior to original games and even surpasses them in some ways. The central storyline, despite the banal paths about an ominous corporation, captures attention better than all the main stories of games.

What will happen to Fallout further

A full -fledged fifth of Fallout will not be released soon: first, Bethesda should finish the work on The Elder Scrolls VI. Game journalists suggest that the release of Fallout 5 will happen only by 2031.

Until then, Bethesda plans to develop existing games. For online Fallout 76, large -scale updates and additions with new plot content continue to come out. And on April 25, Fallout 4 will be upheld for computers and modern consoles: the game will improve graphics and performance.

In separation from these games, the fans remain only the series. It has already been extended for the second season, the date of the premiere is still unknown. There is no information about the development of other Fallout projects either.