Fallout

Fallout drops the player into a California ravaged by nuclear war, where the inhabitants of the underground Vault 13 set out to find a replacement water chip to save their home shelter from drying up. The journey across the wasteland soon tangles into a much wider conflict between factions, mutants, and remnants of the old civilization, and the player decides for themselves whether to be a diplomat, a thief, or someone who solves problems with a gun. The world is open and full of alternative solutions, so the same question can be resolved in dozens of ways depending on the chosen skills and morality, and the player's path leads through towns like Junktown, The Hub, or the contaminated Necropolis.

The game runs on an isometric view with turn-based combat under the SPECIAL system, which combines seven basic attributes with dozens of skills and traits, making each character differently capable in combat, hacking, persuasion, or healing. Combat runs on action points and allows targeting specific body parts, so even a minor firefight becomes a tactical puzzle of where to aim and how many points to save for an escape. Choices in dialogue and actions in the field feed into a reputation and karma system that affects how individual factions treat the player and, ultimately, how the game ends. Visually, the game leans on a dark, ironic retro atmosphere of the mid-20th century with pin-up posters and robotic helpers, accompanied by melancholic swing and jazz music that contrasts with the brutality of the world, and the atmosphere is further reinforced by radio broadcasts and lines from random encounters in the wasteland.

Fallout became one of the most influential CRPGs of the nineties and defined the post-apocalyptic genre for years to come, thanks in part to its black humor and uncompromising, mature tone free of embellishment. It spawned a whole line of sequels, from the direct Fallout 2 to the later Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, which built on the same world and its rules. Today the game's emphasis on text and systems still feels fresh, even though the graphics and controls have understandably aged; for fans of deep RPGs with real consequences to their decisions, though, it's a must-play.

Why play it: For fans of deep RPGs with real consequences to their decisions and black humor - Fallout defined the post-apocalyptic genre for years to come and still feels fresh today thanks to its emphasis on text.