Ways Fallout Makes The Apocalypse Fun

Summary

• Fallout series embraces absurdism, humor, and chaos in the post-apocalyptic world through snarky robots and dressed up gangs.
• The Pip-Boy offers customization and holotape games, while collectibles like Bobbleheads and outfits provide bonuses on top of fun.
• Players can customize houses, Settlements, and take on different roles like pacifists or aggressors in RPG elements of the Fallout universe.

The Fallout series has always embraced absurdism when portraying the irradiated wastelands of a post-apocalyptic world. Imagined through the lens of a 1950s futurist world where the transistor was never invented, Fallout displays the full spectrum of humanity surviving in remnants.

Every installment comes packed full of humor, chaos, and charm, as seen in snarky robots, Jet-crazed bandits, and gangs role-playing as Elvis clones. Despite the darkness in many topics of struggle and survival, Fallout intends to make the apocalypse fun in a number of ways.

8 The Pip-Boy

Customization & Video Games

The Pip-Boy is a series of wearable computers seen in every Fallout game, issued to all Vault-Tec Corporation Vaults meant for use by Vault dwellers. On a broad level, the Pip-Boy functions as the game menu and includes a map and radio. In Fallout 4 and Fallout 76, there are holotape games scattered about, and when collected they allow the player to play games on the Pip-Boy.

Another fun thing about the Pip-Boy found only in Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 are the customization options. Going further than just customizing the color of the screen and HUD, there are paints and skins to add to the Pip-Boy’s shell that add some flair.

7 Collectibles

Clothes, Bobbleheads, & Treasures

One of the most beneficial things to collect in the Fallout games are Bobbleheads, and not just because they come in a variety of styles. They also offer bonuses to stats. Other fun and useful collectibles are clothes, which provide bonuses on top of aesthetics. There are several different Vault jumpsuits, pre-war clothing, and fun costumes like Santa Claus or NPC outfits like Hancock’s red frock coat.

Outside of useful things to collect, Fallout games always offer an incredible amount of objects to pick up. In Fallout 4, players can steal as many potted plants as they want and turn their settlement into an arboretum.

6 Houses & Settlements

Shelters Or Fortresses

There are many ways to own a space and customize it in the Fallout games. In Fallout 3, players can get a house in Megaton or a suite at Tenpenny Tower, and fit them with laboratories, workbenches, and jukeboxes. Fallout 4 introduced Settlements, which gave players free rein to build their own colonies.

In Fallout 76, CAMPs give players the ability to build their own settlements as well, with tons of customization options like entertainment centers or elaborate mansions. In both Fallout 4 and Fallout 76, companions can be sent to populate their settlements to provide a slight boost to morale.

5 Companions

Never Alone

Traveling the wasteland may be intimidating, but it can be approachable with a companion. Some companions are effective in combat or dialogue, and others are just a joy to be around. Codsworth from Fallout 4 is a great mix of both these traits. His hilarious and charming personality keeps spirits high, while his buzz-saw and flamer keeps enemies low.

Cass from Fallout: New Vegas has a cowboy’s tongue with sass that will intimidate anyone in the way. And then, of course, Dogmeat from Fallout 4 is an invincible beast that will always be there to give players random items or hold enemies down.

4 Weird Technologies

Weapons, Armor, & Drugs

The universe of Fallout plays out in an alternate history timeline where strange technologies emerged out of nuclear power in the form of fission and fusion, to create a variety of things like weapons, armor, and medicines. The Cryolator freezes targets, and the Junk Blaster launches junk for massive damage. In Fallout 3 and 4, there’s energy-based alien weaponry from alien crash sites like the Alien Blaster, which has a retro-futuristic design.

There’s also Power Armor, which can withstand massive amounts of damage, and can be customized in Fallout 4 and 76. Other strange technologies are biomedical, like stimpacks, which swiftly heal minor wounds with frenzied cell replication, or humans-turned-robots at the Big MT.

3 Explosions

Absurd Weapons Of Destruction

The explosive weapons of Fallout are iconic, like the Fat Man launcher which launches a mini nuke, appearing in every game since Fallout 3. Explosives got a bit more creative in Fallout 4 and 76, with the likes of the Baseball Grenade. There’s also an Easter egg in Fallout: New Vegas called the Holy Frag Grenade, which does more than 5 times the damage of a standard grenade.

On top of minor explosions, Fallout 76 gave players the opportunity to launch their own nukes, creating blast zones on the map that leave behind irradiated areas. In Fallout 3, there is an unexploded atomic bomb in the center of the town of Megaton. The quest “The Power of the Atom” gives players the choice to disarm or detonate the bomb, deciding the fate of the town and its inhabitants.

2 Role-Playing

Pacifist, Aggressor, Or Jester?

The Fallout games are RPGs, and this means role-playing is always an option, especially since there are tons of weapons and armor to collect and choices to make. A player could be a kleptomaniac obsessed with caps and scraps, a charismatic smooth-talking cowboy, or a power-armored guardian with a soft spot for ghouls. They could even choose to set their intelligence so low that all dialogue options are ridiculous and rather unhelpful.

Fallout also supports pacifist runs, especially in Fallout 1, 2, and New Vegas. There are many indirect ways of finishing quests that don’t involve hurting anyone. The most memorable example of this is in Fallout 1, where players can convince the Master to off himself. And it’s possible to talk Legate Lanius out of war in Fallout: New Vegas.

1 Random Encounters

The Wacky, Wild Wasteland

No Fallout game is complete without random encounters. These can be anything from a pack of Radscorpions, to post-apocalyptic bard-hippies, to wandering traders, to an intense “who did it?” scenario. In Fallout 76, there’s a Protectron that wanders the wasteland just to insult anybody walking by. And in Fallout 2, there is a Bridge Keeper who presents a scenario that references Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

In Fallout: New Vegas, players can choose the trait Wild Wasteland, which unleashes bizarre and silly elements out in the wasteland. One example is the roaming gang, Maud’s Muggers, a group of three elderly women wielding rolling pins and switchblades. This can also replace lines of dialogue with references to movies like Robocop or Aliens.