‘Fallout’ is full of details from the games — here’s a handy guide
Activate those Pip-Boys, Vault Dwellers!
The beloved post-apocalyptic game franchise Fallout has received the TV treatment from Prime Video, and the series wisely integrates tons of game details along the way.
Co-showrunners Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner, alongside executive producers Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan (Westworld), have successfully translated the aesthetic, narrative, and sprawling gadget inventory of the Fallout games into a “wild nuclear Western,” as Mashable’s Belen Edwards dubs it. Wastelanders who’ve spent time in the Fallout universe might recognise the minute game details embedded in the show itself, but Vault Dwellers who haven’t played the games (yet) might need a little help sorting their stimpaks from their Sugar Bombs.
Of course, as a modern TV game adaptation, it’s inevitable viewers may compare the series to HBO’s The Last of Us, arguably one of the best game adaptations of all time, and how elements of the Naughty Dog game shone through every frame. Luckily, Fallout doesn’t scrimp on the details. From its “Please stand by” screens to its Nuka-Cola vending machines, Fallout finds its own way to bring the signature characteristics of the games to TV. It embraces the games’ post-apocalyptic retro-futurism and wonderfully incorporates all those weird weapons, mammoth armor, crucial companions, irradiated enemies, and of course, swingin’ tunes.
Here’s a handy guide to the more niche bits and pieces the Fallout show emulates from the games, which began way back in 1997 at Interplay Entertainment.
Fallout includes a handful of specific game locations.
The Fallout TV series covers a lot of ground within the so-called New California Republic (NCR), a post-apocalyptic land featured in multiple Fallout games. Within this map, there’s plenty of locations visited by Lucy (Ella Purnell), Maximus (Aaron Moten), and Cooper Howard/The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) that aren’t the show’s main settings.
Across the series, the characters come across the games’ famous Red Rocket gas stations and crumbling Super Duper Marts, Vault-Tec’s Hawthorne Medical Laboratories, and a ramshackle town that could be found in pretty much any of the Fallout games — Megaton, Rivet City, New Reno, Diamond City, take your pick. Shady Sands itself, a neighbourhood featured in the very first Fallout game, plays a massive role in the TV series.
In the final episode, there’s also a nod to the games’ obsession with pirate radio stations, with a rogue broadcaster (Fred Armisen, in a delightful cameo) paying homage to Fallout stations like Galaxy News Radio (GNR), hosted by the legendary Three Dog (Fallout 3), Diamond City Radio (Fallout 4), and Mojave Music Radio (Fallout: New Vegas).
Fallout brings the weapons, armor, and gadgets of the game to life.
If there’s one thing the Fallout series really attempts to stick like glue to, it’s the weapons and armor of the games. Of course, your weapons often get pretty banged up in Fallout games and repairing them is a constant necessity, as well as a way to level up and use all of the junk you’ve been collecting. In the series, Maximus needs to have his suit repaired in the marketplace for caps in episode 3, which he gets for selling his own teeth. In the game, you do not have to do this.
While the series doesn’t use the games’ signature V.A.T.S. system — Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, which allows players to maximise their aim — it does right by the core components, including Pip-Boys and power armor.
Pip-Boys
First, you’ll find the franchise’s signature Pip-Boy on the wrist of every Vault Dweller, which is a handy wearable computer that the show replicates in extreme detail. The device shows a wearer’s statistics, inventory, data, map, and the radio; it can also scan for “rads” or radiation levels, and it enables navigation. Lucy’s Pip-Boy is invaluable to her as a map; she punches in coordinates from Ma June (Dale Dickey) in episode 2 and uses it to track down a certain item, much as you would in the game. Every time you hear the sound of a Geiger counter in the show, that’s her Pip-Boy scanning for rads. Plus, it’s a handy torch in episode 6. Additionally, Lucy’s brother Norm (Moisés Arias) looks at photos on his Pip-Boy, just as you can store notes on them in the game. Neat!
If you look closely, the show’s Pip-Boys also feature the game’s ubiquitous Vault Boy, the overtly chipper animated figure devised as a branding mascot by Vault-Tec.
T-60 armor
That super chonky armor favoured by the Brotherhood of Steel? That’s right out of Fallout 4; it’s an evolution of the T-45 power armor. You’ll first get up close with the armor in episode 1, as Maximus (Aaron Moten) and his Brotherhood recruit pal take a peek when a group of knights, who are allowed to wear and operate these massive suits, visit the barracks. Recruited as a squire to assist Knight Titus (Michael Rapaport), Maximus learns, “You earn the suit for an act of bravery.” In game, you can buy them, steal them, or earn them by joining the Brotherhood. In the series, you can see the health of the armor appearing in Maximus’ vision, and the show also makes several narrative moments out of the suits being powered by a fusion core, which you need to procure in the games.
Most effectively, the show really captures the lumbering weight and limited mobility of the armor; in both the games and the show, it’s awful in hand-to-hand combat but great for battling mutant beasts. A cool Easter egg? Twice, characters remark on the “tempered lining” of the armor, which is a type of mod in the games.
Junk Jets
There’s a fair few weapons used throughout the Fallout TV series, from automatic turrets to miniguns. One of the more novelty weapons, the Junk Jet from Fallout 4, uses just about anything as ammunition; it’s similar to Fallout 3‘s Rock-It Launcher. In episode 1, you’ll see a raider fire a plastic baby doll’s arm through a man’s chest using one, and Lucy sees one for sale in Ma June’s shop in episode 2. Horrific, but practical.
Fallout relies on aid just as much as you do in the game.
If there’s one thing that has quite the prominence in the Fallout series, it’s aid items — both organic and chemical. You literally cannot get enough of them (if you play games as badly as me), and the characters in the series constantly need to patch themselves up and fuel their hunger with pre-blast canned goods. Here’s what’s in the show:
Food
The Fallout franchise’s love of an Atomic Age food item made for nuclear blast vaults is on constant display throughout the series. Mysterious scientist Siggi Wilzig (Michael Emerson) eats a can of Cram in episode 2; Lucy eats YumYum Deviled Eggs in episode 3; and there’s many a scene filled with Sugar Bombs, Insta-Mash, and of course, the omnipresent Nuka-Cola. All of these are health items from the game.
Purified water, which is a valuable means of aid in the game, means just as much in the series. Lucy is tempted by radiation-filled water in episode 3, after Cooper doesn’t give her any of his clean water to drink; she gets radiation poisoning that’s only curable by the drug RadAway, which is also a crucial in-game item. Luckily, Maximus offers her some in episode 5.
But pre-blast, pre-packaged food isn’t the only thing on offer in Fallout — you’ll spot a market hawker selling crispy iguana sticks in episode 2, a Wasteland delicacy from the games.
Drugs
Across the series, you’ll notice characters keep injecting all kinds of shit into themselves, which is exactly what you do in the Fallout games. A raider uses Jet, a chemical stimulant, in episode 1, and characters constantly use injections called “stimpaks” to nurse others back to health across the episodes. Having experienced extreme radiation effects, Cooper takes a serious amount of Jet through inhalers, including the series’ only scene that emulates the game’s constant looting action; in episode 4, after the ordeal in the Super Duper Mart, Cooper goes to absolute town on the various aid items left lying around. If you’ve ever played Fallout, watching this scene is deeply relatable, but it would absolutely result in addiction. (Yes, you can get addicted to chems in the games!)
Fallout includes a cute nod to the game’s skill tree and character customisation.
In the Fallout games, you build up your S.P.E.C.I.A.L. (Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck) attributes across a huge array of skills depending on how you want to play the game. In the opening of episode 1, there’s a sweet nod to this skill tree system, when Lucy details her skills — repair, science, speech, gymnastics, fencing, and riflery — to the board, some of which Fallout players will recognise as skills to earn in the games.
In another cute nod to the game’s signature character-builder, the Fallout series hair and makeup team have included one of the most recognisable hairstyles you can pick for your character in the game: the terribly named “Domestic Goddess.” A ’50s-style bob, it’s worn by Vault 33 resident Stephanie Harper (Annabel O’Hagan). And in episode 2, when Lucy arrives at the marketplace that resembles many a town in the Fallout series, you can spy various businesses — one of which is a barber. In the game, this is where you can change up your appearance.
Fallout appreciates the value of a companion.
In the Fallout games, you’re often presented with opportunities to recruit companions to join you on your travels across the Wasteland. They’re always a good idea, as you’ll often find yourself outnumbered. Each one offers different perks, adventures, and special items to unlock.
In the TV series, companions are equally important. One of the very best from the game is a dog named CX404, a title which has been changed from the game’s Dogmeat. (There’s a few references to Dogmeat in the show, including a terrible hawker stall and Cooper referring to the dog as such in a later episode).
Another companion from the games comes in the form of a Mister Handy robot butler, who is voiced to perfection by Matt Berry in the series. There are plenty of generic Mister Handy robots across the game series, but in Fallout 4, you can invite a Mister Handy robot named Codsworth along as a companion. In the series finale, we find out that Berry’s human character is named Bartholomew Cogsworth, a fun nod to the game.
Fallout‘s enemies are straight out of the game.
If there’s one thing Fallout isn’t short of in either medium, it’s enemies. Whether it be Raiders (gangs of outlaws), Fiends (cannibals), or mutant bears, Lucy, Maximus, and Cooper have their work cut out for them.
Creature-wise, there’s plenty of threatening animals throughout the episodes. In episode 2, you’ll spy a Radroach (an irradiated cockroach), and Maximus battles a mutant bear known as a Yao Guai. In episode 3, Cooper uses Lucy as bait to lure what appears to be a pink and spiky type of anglerfish. Plus, not all Ghouls are chill gunslingers like Cooper; in episode 4, Lucy comes face to face with what’s known in the games as “Feral Ghouls” — basically, zombie versions of the mutated humans.
One type of common foe missing from the Fallout TV series? The game’s fierce Super Mutants, which are difficult to fight but nearly everywhere in the game franchise; you can spot one for a second on a “Wanted!” poster in episode 6. Perhaps Lucy, Maximus, and Cooper might come across these tough opponents in Season 2?
Wastelanders, I hope all of this gives you more of a brutally chewed-up leg to stand on while you’re watching the series. Now you know your Pip-Boys from your Junk Jets, your Fiends from your Yao Guai. Including this level of detail is what we’ve come to expect from video game screen adaptations these days, with fans like myself spending every frame searching for Easter eggs and references that bolster the authenticity of the show. And if anything, it’s this level of detail that makes me want to play the games all over again.