Fallout Official Timeline Confirmed: How the Present Matches In With the Video games

One of many joys of Fallout as a fan is to sit down down and deep-dive into its alternate-reality tackle United States historical past. The lore masters at Bethesda have total occasions mapped out into canon, from the liberation of Alaska from the Chinese language authorities to the recall of Teddy Concern bears in 2072 and past.

Till lately this alternate historical past has existed primarily by way of the numerous Fallout video video games developed by studios like Interaction Leisure, Black Isle, Bethesda, and Obsidian. However with the brand new present from Prime Video now obtainable to stream, there’s a brand new entry within the canon. We all know this as a result of IGN sat down with Bethesda Recreation Studios director Todd Howard and Fallout: The Collection govt producer Jonathan Nolan to speak about how the brand new present matches into the grand timeline of Fallout.

Spoilers for the ending of Fallout Season 1 and particulars on each Fallout recreation under.

How Does the Fallout Present Match into the General Timeline?

Formally the Fallout present is ready within the yr 2296, which takes place later than another Fallout recreation at present launched. For instance, Fallout 4 takes place within the yr 2287, whereas Fallout: New Vegas is ready within the yr 2281, a full 15 years previous to the occasions of the present.

For the reason that showrunners and Howard beforehand confirmed the present exists inside the canon of the video games, meaning occasions within the present have large lore implications for the sequence. The largest might be the destiny of Shady Sands, the primary capital of the New California Republic and a key location within the Fallout video video games. Within the closing episode of the primary season it’s revealed Shady Sands was destroyed by Hank MacLean, overseer of Vault 33 and secret Vault-Tec worker.

Shady Sands appeared within the very first Fallout online game set within the yr 2161 and is referenced once more in Fallout: New Vegas set within the yr 2281. However with the Fallout present happening in 2296, 15 years after the occasions of New Vegas, so much can change in that point.

In response to Howard, showrunners Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet got here to him with the thought to explode Shady Sands, one thing Howard says shocked him at first. However the occasion would function a catalyst for the principle characters of the Fallout present and the showrunners labored with Howard and the Bethesda workforce to make sure it remained according to the video games.

“And we talked by way of it and it was, ‘This could be a fairly impactful story second that quite a lot of issues anchor on,”‘ Howard says.

However for anybody confused about how the town may very well be blown up by the point the present takes place, Howard explains all the main points of the timeline ought to line up. “We’re cautious in regards to the timeline,” he says. “There may be a bit of little bit of confusion in some locations. However all the things that occurred within the earlier video games, together with New Vegas, occurred. We’re very cautious about that.”

“All I can say is we’re threading it tighter there, however the bombs fall simply after the occasions of New Vegas.”

Why Is Shady Sands a Huge Deal? Is There a Retcon?

As revealed in Episode 6 of the Fallout present, sooner or later within the 2280s, Shady Sands is leveled by a nuclear bomb. It is revealed that Lucy MacLean’s father, Hank, bombed Shady Sands because it threatened the prevalence of Vault-Tec whose staff are nonetheless alive, albeit cryogenically frozen, and are ready to reclaim the Wasteland for themselves and their firm.

The revelation of Shady Sands’ destruction brought on a stir as the placement was nonetheless standing as lately because the occasions of Fallout: New Vegas, with some followers questioning if the present was retconning the occasions of New Vegas. In Episode 6, a chalkboard in Vault 4 depicts the identified historical past of Shady Sands and an ambiguous date for its destruction created some confusion over when the occasion passed off. However as Howard confirmed, the occasions of the sport and present each occur, although the window of occasions is “tight.”

How Todd Howard and Jonathan Nolan Agreed on the Fallout Timeline

Howard revealed that when Bethesda first started speaking with Jonathan Nolan a couple of potential Fallout TV adaptation, Howard wished one thing that “Would arise as one other entry within the sequence versus retelling one of many video games we did and type of deal with it like we do a recreation and transfer the timeline ahead and do some nice issues. And that’s what [Nolan] was pondering as properly.”

Nolan provides that the present got down to honor the meticulous and detailed timeline arrange by Bethesda and that making a present not linked to the video games was virtually a non-starter: “Everybody who labored on Fallout, all of the video games, have been so respectful and so cautious to maintain this constant universe. If we’d gone a special course, the present can be the one factor that doesn’t match with that universe… We didn’t wish to be in our personal personal nook of an elseworld or a special universe. I feel that will likely be much less significant to me watching the sequence, to understand it was fully divorced from the truth of the video games,” Nolan admits.

What Is the Full Fallout Timeline (To date)?

Now we all know the Fallout present is certainly canon and features up with the timeline set by the video games, listed here are the important thing occasions that mark the Fallout franchise from the primary recreation to the present.

Bombs Drop – Yr: 2077

Whereas the whole historical past of Fallout takes place in an alternate historical past the place the Chilly Warfare takes dramatically completely different turns than it does in our personal actuality, the important thing second that units off the franchise is the beginning of the Nice Warfare on October 23, 2077. A fruits of the Sino-American Warfare, each nation concerned within the battle was sucked right into a nuclear conflict, remodeling america and the remainder of the world into the Fallout wasteland we all know and love(?).

This occasion will be seen in each the Fallout present the place Walton Goggins’ Howard Cooper and his daughter are seen making an attempt to flee the nuclear blasts in Los Angeles, in addition to the opening moments of Fallout 4 the place the Sole Survivor and their household make their manner into Vault 111 simply earlier than the bomb lands in New England.

Fallout 76 – Yr: 2102

Fallout 76 begins on October 23, 2102, or Reclamation Day because it’s identified. 25 years after the bombs fell through the Nice Warfare, Fallout 76 is the earliest recreation within the sequence, with Howard even calling it a “prequel” to the opposite video games.

Set within the former state of West Virginia and now identified merely as Appalachia, the sport stars a Vault Dweller from Vault 76 who units out to search out the lacking Overseer. Fallout 76’s model of the wasteland is particularly harsh given how quickly it’s after the bombs have been dropped and lots of the sequence’ hallmarks just like the Brotherhood of Metal and mutations have their origins explored right here.

Fallout 1 – Yr: 2161

The very first Fallout recreation is definitely the second recreation within the timeline. Set 84 years after the Nice Warfare, Fallout begins in Vault 13 in Southern California, close to Shady Sands and Vault 33 from the Fallout present.

The Vault Dweller within the first Fallout is given the easy process of discovering a brand new Water Chip for his or her Vault earlier than the Vault’s provide of unpolluted water runs out. Nonetheless, through the course of this journey they arrive face-to-face with The Grasp and his military of mutants who’re bent on mutating the people below his rule.

Fallout Ways – Yr: 2197

Fallout Ways tells the origins of one of many Wasteland’s longest-lasting factions: The Brotherhood of Metal. When the Nice Warfare broke out, a bunch of navy males have been bunkered in a Vault-Tec Vault alongside a bunch of scientists. Nonetheless, when the navy unit discovers the scientists’ immoral experiments, they desert the military, kill the scientists, and collectively type the Brotherhood of Metal.

Ways follows the Brotherhood as they try to say the territory exterior of the previous Chicago, however in the end takes them on a journey west to search out the rumored Vault 0 which homes america’ most necessary authorities, navy, and scientific leaders.

Fallout 2 – Yr: 2241

A direct sequel to the occasions in Fallout 1, Fallout 2 follows a direct descendent of the Vault Dweller from Vault 13 who was exiled and began the village of Arroyo within the Wasteland. Fallout 2 tracks the rise of the New California Republic in addition to the group often called the Enclave, which claims to be the true successor to america. The Enclave briefly seems within the Fallout present because the group the scientist Siggi Wilzig escapes from with the Chilly Fusion Reactor.

Fallout 3 – Yr: 2277

Set within the East Coast close to the previous Washington D.C., Fallout 3 begins in Vault 101 and initially revolves across the Vault-Dweller’s seek for their lacking father. Whereas venturing throughout the D.C. space, a bigger plot is uncovered round a mysterious mission to purify the ingesting water of the Potomac River, together with clashes with the Enclave from Fallout 2.

Fallout: New Vegas – Yr: 2281

Fallout: New Vegas stars a Courier tasked with delivering a bundle to New Vegas which, you guessed it, is the post-nuclear conflict successor to Las Vegas, Nevada. Nonetheless, the Courier winds up caught between an area factional conflict between the New California Republic and Ceasar’s Legions that threatens to destabilize the whole area.

And as Howard tells IGN, Shady Sands is destroyed someday after the occasions of Fallout: New Vegas.

Fallout 4 – Yr: 2287

Set in a area often called the Commonwealth, which includes most of pre-war New England, Fallout 4 follows the Sole Survivor of Vault 111 who units out seeking their lacking child. Alongside the way in which, gamers will encounter new factions just like the Minutemen and The Institute in addition to acquainted Wasteland staples like The Brotherhood of Metal.

The first focus of Fallout 4 is round a brand new know-how known as Synths – humanlike machines who’ve since gained sentience, supposedly after quite a few generations have been created post-Nice Warfare.

Fallout TV Present – Yr: 2296

Lastly, we’ve the occasions in Fallout: The Collection. Much like the plot of Fallout 3, Prime Video’s Fallout present follows Lucy MacLean as she units out from Vault 33 into the Wasteland to search out her kidnapped father, the overseer Hank MacLean. Nonetheless, because the sequence continues we uncover the reality behind not solely the occasions main as much as The Nice Warfare in 2077, but additionally what occurred to the town of Shady Sands and the unique Vault-Tec.

That is the entire timeline of Fallout from each the video games and the present as confirmed by Todd Howard. With Fallout 5 already confirmed as a recreation Howard and Bethesda wish to finally make, who is aware of the place the way forward for the sequence will go? Particularly if Prime Video additionally greenlights a second season of Fallout: The Collection.

For extra from us on the good large Fallout wasteland, take a look at IGN’s full interview with Todd Howard and Jonathan Nolan.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s Senior Options Editor. You’ll be able to attain him @lawoftd.