Best Parts Of Fallout 1 That Need To Make A Return

Despite its modern titles, the Fallout series began as a top-down isometric adventure game in which players faced off against the tough post-nuclear wasteland using their skills, scavenged weapons, and some cunning strategy. While the newer FPS games have gathered a huge number of fans, the original game is still a cult classic with a mass of die-hard followers who appreciate the clever gameplay and the incredible writing as well as the little quirks that make the game something special that is worth playing to this day. Although the newer titles have ported over a lot of what made the games exciting and fresh, some aspects have been left behind which can make it feel like some of the uniqueness of the series is lost.

Here are 7 of the elements from Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game that should return in the next entry in the series.

6 Roleplay And Speech

SPECIAL Stats Have A Real Effect On Roleplay

Fallout uses its SPECIAL system to base player character statistics on. Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intellect, Agility and Luck each play a large part in any adventure in the wasteland. However, speech checks and Charisma effects in the modern Fallout games are typically made just a dice roll, and the real effects of these stats can rarely be felt in normal gameplay. Fallout 1 was different and allowed for many clever solutions to problems. Players could talk their way out of almost any predicament and could use their intelligence to outsmart foes and find holes in evil schemes. The other side of this meant that any characters with very low Charisma would be terrible at talking to people, and those with low Intellect can barely put words together. These might feel like restrictions, but they allow for players to put together compelling characters with consistent characterization.

5 Game-Changing Traits

Unique Effects Meant That Characters Could Be Specialized And Chaos Could Heighten

The traits, that have only reappeared in Fallout New Vegas were a classic part of what made the first two Fallout games so incredible. By inflicting a negative on the player character, fans could improve their own stats in small ways. Whether by making drugs less effective but decreasing chances of addiction, or by reducing overall damage while increasing Critical Chance these quirks made every character unique. Allowing players to better customize their characters, and to make highly specialized stats and useful builds is sadly missing in the most recent title and Fallout 3. These small changes also meant more variety and insanity in the core gameplay, with fun traits like Bloody Mess always giving players the most violent kill animations, or Jinxed making the player and every other NPC Critically fail more often.

4 Recruiting Small Armies

No Cap On The Number Of Companions Means More Attacks And More Heartbreak

One of the most beloved parts of the new games are the companions that can be recruited along the journey. These are characters that fans grow to love, and who consistently become one of the best parts of the whole series. Friends like Piper or Dogmeat are remembered fondly, but there are never really any stakes when bringing them into combat. Fallout 1 is massively different. There are a lot of companions who can be recruited across the Wasteland, some more effective than others, including another puppy called Dogmeat and quick-talking quippy raiders. Unlike the recent games players can have all of these companions accompany them at once, meaning players can roll into combat with a whole host of allies who will even the odds against throngs of enemies. These characters can die in combat though, even to the player’s own accidental shots or misses. Losing a faithful ally gives the whole game more weight and allows for those connections to feel more real.

3 Time Limits

A Countdown To The Extinction Of The Player’s Vault

While the main storylines of the Fallout games can feel like a mad dash to seek out lost loved ones or to find revenge in the harsh wasteland, the meandering plots and the massive scale of the worlds that players find themselves in often lend themselves to those players who wish to take their time and explore the intricacies of the world. Fallout 1, however, took a different approach. When the Vault Dweller is given the mission to leave the Vault, they are given specific instructions to find a water chip that will allow the people of their vault to continue to exist in safety. Players are given a generous time limit, but a limit all the same and if players are unable to meet the requirements the people of the vault will die and the game will end. This allows for some real stakes, and while the limit is generous it does make the quest feel more like a life-and-death mission.

2 Climactic Ending

Facing Off Against The Evil Plot Of The Master

While the hunt for the water chip to save the vault forms the first half of the game, the Overseer of the players vault will tell the player about their concerns regarding the large numbers of super mutants in the wasteland. The player must journey across the irradiated plains to discover more about this oddity and will find out about a cult, a plot to alter all humans into the freakish mutations and an evil genius called the Master who is trying to create a new world. Having a super powerful enemy that can present a strange tangible threat to the wasteland and the status quo of the Fallout world has taken a back seat in the newer titles to focus on the human struggles and various factions wrestling for power. Having a major plot thread that threatens everywhere on the map changes the game, pulling it into something tragic and terrifying.

1 Super Story Beats

Introducing A Police Raid, A Sci-Fi Fantasy And Wild West Tropes

While the newer Fallout titles utilize wacky plots that can often border on the ridiculous, the original game’s dedication to bringing special missions that are at once homages to classic tropes as well as straight-faced adventures in the satirical wasteland. The best example might be an early one, where players are tasked by a town sheriff with wearing a wire in a raid on a crooked casino run by the slimy businessman, Gizmo. The whole exercise is loaded with iconic heist tension and the tonal expertise with which this mission is delivered continues throughout the whole game. Fans should fight to see such quality writing in the next installment in the series.