Summary
TheFalloutfranchise is a strange one in terms of difficulty, with the majority of it often being self-imposed through making a more or less difficult build. This is the same for a lot of open-world RPGs, where players get to choose their own level of difficulty both in terms of the game mode they play on and the style in which they choose to play.
WhetherFalloutgames havebeen adored or panned, the franchise has always managed to keep consistent themes, but various factors have changed the difficulty of the games over time in surprising ways and to shocking degrees.
Updated on April 29th, 2024, by Chris Harkin:The Fallout franchise is experiencing a huge rejuvenation following the release of the live-action Fallout TV series on Amazon Prime. Many of the games in the franchise are experiencing all-time high player counts. From new fans to veteran players rediscovering their love of the series, the Fallout games continue to provide difficulty in a variety of ways. Though the future of the franchise looks bright, the difficulties seen in the Wasteland may not get any greater than what has already been seen across these existing games. While the franchise has been almost completely covered here, there were a couple games missing, and so this list was updated to feature them (and their difficulty level) as well.
Fallout 4hada variety of campaign choicesto make, and a lot of different ways to kill the various mutants and bandits of the Wasteland. Yet, several things madeFallout 4a lot easier than other entries in the mainFalloutfranchise, one of those things being the VATS system that improved the shooting combat in the game over previous attempts.
Melee was overly simplistic and didn’t make for fantastic combat generally, players, once they had leveled up enough, were able to competently square off against a majority of enemies with only a shiv in their hands or even unarmed, but there was some difficulty at times for players, particularly if they chose their perks poorly when leveling up.
WhileFallout 76isn’t necessarily the easiest of the games in theFalloutfranchise, it brings too many options along with it that make it a lot easier because of the online nature of the game. This means that it is much rarer for players to be going into the most difficult battles in the game on their own, and bringing friends along generally makes even the toughest fights in the game unreasonably simple.
It is a shame thatFallout 76didn’t do more to make challenges for multiple players.Falloutis a franchise that could have worked better in such an online format, but even with online friends, it only makes the game easier. Perhaps more features fromFallout 76will see a returnin a potentialFallout 5.
Fallout 3brought the franchise to the 3D world, with not only a vast open world to explore but an engaging story that fans adored even years after release. The biggest problem withFallout 3was the shooting mechanics, which were new to Bethesda, needing some adjustment.
The overall difficulty of the game was at a high level that Bethesda would reduce in later entries made by them. The Washington DC setting and the story told throughoutFallout 3helped make it Game of the Year for several publications, and it isstill considered one of the best gamesof all time, but it made for a trickier game to get through than other entries both before and after.
5Fallout: Brotherhood Of Steel
Game FAQ Difficulty Score: 3/5
Another earlyFalloutgame, albeit a spin-off which was linear in nature instead of open-world,Brotherhood of Steelexpanded upon an element that will be particularly interesting to fans of theFalloutTV series. This game follows an initiate in the Brotherhood, and as they begin to rise through the ranks, they uncover a conspiracy.
With several options to choose from as the player character (including the Vault Dweller from the firstFalloutgame), players will have a great but challenging time adjusting to this different style ofFalloutgame. The early concept ideas for the firstFalloutgame released for consoles made the controls unusual and difficult to come to grips with, although players were generally able to catch up in short order and play the latter parts of the game with less difficulty, particularly with some previous experience of the other games in the series.
Fallout: New Vegasis consideredone of the best entries in the franchise, despite not being technically a main entry. It took place four years after the events ofFallout 3and featured the return of some elements fromFallout 2, making it an ideal version of theFalloutexperience for many players. However, there was a solid level of difficulty throughoutFallout: New Vegas.
At this point, Bethesda still wasn’t used to the shooting mechanics they were trying to perfect, which added to the level of difficulty players experienced in combat. Mechanics fromFallout 3were refined and improved upon, which helped make several combat aspects more intuitive, but the ease of access which was important to Bethesda for this new game led them to make it easier than some of the earlier entries.
Released beforeFallout: Brotherhood of Steel, but after the first two games in the main series,Fallout Tacticsis a strategy game which was turn-based but took place in real-time, and focused on members of the Brotherhood that wanted to expand by initiating “Tribals,” or people from outside the Vaults, who were forced to join up to take on the remnants of the Super Mutant Army from the firstFalloutgame.
A somewhat forgotten entry that makes for a great strategy game, there is plenty of challenge toFallout Tactics,which can be surprising to fans of the other games in the franchise. While very different in many ways to mostFalloutgames,Tacticsis well-liked by many as a great strategy game and a truly challenging experience which forces players to realistically dive for cover at times. Learning how to play in the early missions is the most challenging part ofTactics, but it is generally considered worth it by players who fought through to the later levels.
Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game, was released in 1997 when the RPG genre was still fairly fresh.As the firstFalloutgame, the format was a top-down RPG about a Vault Dweller leaving the safety of their home to find a computer chip that could save their vault. In their journey, they must face off against the Master who wishes to turn everyone in the world into a super mutant.
The mechanics of this first game weren’t set in stone and there were several firsts as they tried to getFalloutright. This led to the originalFalloutnot being the best or easiest to play game in the franchise, as there was much refining to do in later entries when more of the mechanics players love about theFalloutfranchise would be introduced. The combat was turn-based at this stage, which would be majorly shifted later as the franchise continued to develop.
The most difficult overall game, although one that helped set the wacky tone for later games in the serieswith its deconstruction of America,Fallout 2was the same as the first game in the franchise in many ways. There was an incredible amount of choice available toFallout 2, but the turn-based RPG was a pretty difficult game.
Players were able to help themselves inFallout 2by upgrading the right perks and sticking to certain styles of combat, as is common with most RPGs whether they are turn-based or use real-time combat. But it was still overall a difficult game that made surviving in a post-apocalyptic wasteland feel like a real challenge.
