Summary

• Fallout games have a continuous timeline but are only loosely connected, each telling its own story.
• Fallout games are best played in release order, with a few exceptions in chronological order.
• The Fallout series can be split into "classic" and "modern" games, each revealing different parts of its timeline.

As one of the classic franchises of the RPG genre, Fallout has built up an extensive timeline across its many games — one that can be confusing to keep track of with each new addition. Developed first by the now-defunct Black Isle Studios and then by Bethesda (and Obsidian, for New Vegas), Fallout as a series has gone through a number of distinct changes, with each game putting a post-apocalyptic spin on a new region of the United States.

While every Fallout game takes place in the same world and is part of a continuous timeline, individual entries are only loosely connected — while certain factions, like the Brotherhood of Steel, might appear across multiple games, each game tells its own standalone story. In part, this is because each entry takes place in a different location, making reoccurring characters a rarity, but it also serves as a way to deal with the relatively open-ended stories that are typical of Fallout, allowing developers to progress the series without having to designate certain endings as "canon."

The Entire Timeline Of Fallout

From 2102 To 2296

It might be best for newcomers to play Fallout games in a certain order, but the series also has a canonical timeline for when each game takes place, and though it's not necessary to know any game's specific place in the timeline to enjoy its story or gameplay, it can provide additional context. For the most part, Fallout games chronologically take place in the order that they were released, with only a few notable exceptions, but the different games are often set years apart, sometimes by as much as multiple decades.

The Early Fallout Timeline

Fallout 76 (2102)

Broadly speaking, the Fallout series can be split into two categories, with the first being the "classic" games - the original Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel. For the most part, these games form the earliest parts of the timeline, taking place before the "modern" games of Fallout 3, New Vegas, and Fallout 4. The only exception is Fallout 76 - despite being the most recently released game in the series, it takes place in 2102, decades before the original game, making it the earliest entry in the timeline so far.

Set primarily in and around Appalachia, the former state of West Virginia, Fallout 76 follows a vault dweller from Vault 76 as they work to recolonize the Appalachia region and serves as a sort of prequel to the rest of the series, hinting at and expanding on aspects of lore and history from other games. While primarily focused on its own story, surrounding the mysteries of the missing Vault 76 Overseer and the deadly Scorched Plague, Fallout 76 does flesh out the origins of some longstanding Fallout fixtures, like the FEV and Brotherhood of Steel.

Fallout 76 officially starts for players on Reclamation Day, October 23, 2102, with subsequent updates marking a new year and taking place 25 years after the Great War. In Fallout's lore, the Great War refers to the thermonuclear warfare that took place on Reclamation Day 2077, which resulted in the eradication and destruction of most of society. As a result of being the first game in the canonical timeline, Fallout 76 has numerous references for other games in the franchise in its gameplay, items, and setting. In many respects, it retroactively helps set the foundation for the subsequent Fallout games.

Wastelanders takes place in 2103, Steel Reign takes place in 2104, and Expeditions: Atlantic City happens in 2105.

The Original Fallout Established A Universe

Fallout (2161)

The original Fallout takes place just under 60 years later, in 2161, and features another Vault Dweller, this time from Vault 13, venturing out into the wasteland to find a new Water Chip and ensure their vault's supply of clean water. Taking place in southern California, Fallout firmly establishes many of the franchise's most iconic traits, like the Brotherhood of Steel, and comes to revolve around a conflict with the Master - the leader of the Unity, a faction dedicated to using the FEV (Forced Evolutionary Virus) to turn humans into Super Mutants for the supposed long-term survival of humanity.

Although Fallout 76 introduces the Pip-Boy in the chronological timeline, the original Fallout game is where many of the iconic Fallout items and mechanics, including the Pip-Boy, were first introduced to players. This is also the origin of locations like Shady Sands, Junktown, and the Boneyard — with Shady Sands being formed by a small group of Vault 15 inhabitants and persisting through subsequent Fallout games like New Vegas and the Fallout television show.

Fallout Tactics & Fallout 2 Set The Stage

Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel (2197) To Fallout 2 (2241)

Taking place between Fallout and Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel takes place in 2197 and explores the origins of the Brotherhood of Steel and the faction's roots in the pre-war military. Although the exact degree to which Tactics is technically canon is up for debate, as there are several aspects of Tactics that don't appear anywhere else in the series, it does serve as an explanation for the Brotherhood of Steel's presence in the western regions of later Fallout games.

Another game, the similarly-titled Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, is set in 2208, which would make it the next game in the timeline — unlike Tactics, however, Brotherhood of Steel has been rendered entirely non-canon to the overarching timeline, both by the original creators and Bethesda.

Fallout 2 takes place in 2241, and its protagonist is "The Chosen One" of Arroyo, a village established by the main character of Fallout after the events of that game. In response to drought, The Chosen One is sent out to find a G.E.C.K., a terraforming device that would help the village, but eventually comes into conflict with the Enclave, remnants of the pre-war American government who deem all humans outside the faction to be inferior and seek to conquer the wasteland.

Notably, the NCR (New California Republic) is also fleshed out more from the ending of the original Fallout, having been established between Fallout and Fallout 2. A reformed pseudo-government, the group was officially founded in New California in 2189. This group will have a huge presence in Fallout: New Vegas, serving as one of the game's main factions that can be sided with. They also have a presence in the Fallout TV series, with the possibility that they will be around in the second season of the show.

The "Modern" Fallout Timeline

Fallout 3 (2277) To Fallout 4 (2287)

The first of the mostly Bethesda-developed "modern" Fallout games, which made the transition from isometric RPG to a first-person shooter, Fallout 3 takes place in the year 2277, and unlike the first two Fallout games, is set on the East Coast, in and around Washington. The game's protagonist, the Lone Wanderer, is a dweller of Vault 101 who ends up venturing into the wasteland to search for their missing father, eventually becoming entangled in a wider conflict between the Brotherhood of Steel and the Enclave, the latter faction having regrouped from their defeat in Fallout 2.

Next in the timeline is the Obsidian-developed Fallout: New Vegas, which takes place in 2281 and moves back towards the West Coast to focus on a conflict in the Mojave Desert. Being somewhat more separate from the rest of the series, New Vegas has distinct lore and history and centers around a war being fought for control over the Mojave and the New Vegas Strip by the expanding NCR and a new faction, Caesar's Legion. The main character, a wandering Courier, is drawn into the conflict after miraculously surviving a shot to the head and journeying across the desert.

For the foreseeable future, Fallout 4 remains the latest game in the timeline, taking place in the year 2287 and being set in the Commonwealth (post-war New England). Uniquely, the game's protagonist, the Sole Survivor, is a pre-war citizen, cryogenically preserved in Vault 111, who journeys out into the wasteland after their spouse is killed and their child, Shaun, is kidnapped by a mysterious assailant. Along the way, they get embroiled in the conflict around synths, living androids who are practically indistinguishable from humans, and the shadowy, scientifically advanced organization known as the Institute.

[Warning: This section has minor spoilers for the Fallout TV Series]

The Most Current Fallout Timeline

The Fallout TV Series (2296)

Set in 2296, over two centuries since the Great War, the Fallout TV Series is set nine years after the last game in the series so far, Fallout 4, and nearly two decades after the events in Fallout: New Vegas. Following vault dweller Lucy MacLean from Vault 33, the show follows her journey upon her vault being breached by raiders, leading to a quest to find her father. What's perhaps more interesting, however, is that the show also delves into time periods before and leading up to 2077 via flashbacks from Fallout's titular Ghoul.

These flashbacks provide glimpses into Fallout history preceding any game, including Fallout 76, which takes place in 2102. In this way, some portions of the Fallout TV Series are simultaneously the most current and oldest shown events in the universe. By the end of the series, it's already 2297, which means that the show is the most up-to-date in terms of the canonical and chronological timeline. Ultimately, what will be most interesting in the following seasons will be how dedicated the showrunners are to sticking to the Fallout games' lore, as each setting is a reflection of past game events.

As a series that deals heavily in alternate American history, the Fallout series has built up a comprehensive history of its own across several games, with the Fallout TV series, set in 2296, being the latest piece of media on the timeline so far. While the largely open-ended nature of each game means that what, exactly, is "canon" in terms of how the games relate to each other can sometimes be hard to pin down, a comprehensive timeline can help players to at least roughly understand the overarching events of Fallout as a whole.