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    Fallout 3

    Bethesda Game Studios · 2008 · 3 platforms

    Fallout 3

    Fallout 3 from the creators of the award-winning Oblivion, featuring one of the most realized game worlds ever created.

    Role-playing (RPG)Shooter

    01 — About

    The story

    Fallout 3 from the creators of the award-winning Oblivion, featuring one of the most realized game worlds ever created. Create any kind of character you want and explore the open wastes of post-apocalyptic Washington D.C. Every minute is a fight for survival as you encounter Super Mutants, Ghouls, Raiders and other dangers of the Wasteland. Prepare for the future. The third game in the Fallout series, Fallout 3 is a singleplayer action role-playing game (RPG) set in a post-apocalyptic Washington DC. Combining the horrific insanity of the Cold War era theory of mutually assured destruction gone terribly wrong, with the kitschy naivety of American 1950s nuclear propaganda, Fallout 3 will satisfy both players familiar with the popular first two games in its series as well as those coming to the franchise for the first time.

    The introductory sequence introduces the player to their character's father James, a doctor and scientist in Vault 101. James frequently makes comments about the player character's deceased mother Catherine, and her favorite Bible passage, Revelation 21:6, which speaks of "the waters of life". The main quest begins after the player is forced to flee Vault 101 when James leaves the vault, throwing it into anarchy and causing the paranoid Overseer to send his security force after the player. The search for James takes the character on a journey through the Wasteland, first to the nearby town of Megaton, named for the undetonated atomic bomb at the center of town, then the Galaxy News Radio station, whose enthusiastic DJ Three Dog gives the player the moniker of "The Lone Wanderer". The player travels to Rivet City, a derelict aircraft carrier now serving as a fortified human settlement. Here the player meets Doctor Li, a scientist who worked alongside the player's father. Doctor Li informs the player of Project Purity, a plan conceived by Catherine and James to purify all the water in the Tidal Basin and eventually the entire Potomac River with a giant water purifier built in the Jefferson Memorial. However, continued delays and Catherine's death during childbirth put an end to the project, and James took the player's character as a newborn to raise them in the safety of Vault 101. After investigating the Jefferson Memorial, the Lone Wanderer tracks James to Vault 112, and frees him from a virtual reality program being run by the Vault's sadistic Overseer, Dr. Braun. James and the player return to Rivet City, and James reveals he sought out Braun for information on the Garden of Eden Creation Kit (G.E.C.K.), a device that contains the components needed to finally activate Project Purity. James and Doctor Li lead a team of Rivet City scientists to the memorial with intent to restart the project, but the memorial is invaded by the Enclave, a powerful military organization formed from the remnants of the pre-War United States government. James floods the project's control room with radiation to stop the Enclave military leader, Colonel Augustus Autumn, from taking control of it, killing himself (but Autumn survives), his last words urging his child to run. The Lone Wanderer and Dr. Li flee to the ruins of the Pentagon, now a base for the Brotherhood of Steel and now known as the Citadel. With Project Purity still inoperable even with the Enclave occupying the site, the player travels to Vault 87 to find a G.E.C.K. and finish James's work. The player finds the Vault to be a testing site for the FEV (Forced Evolutionary Virus), and the source of the Super Mutants in the Capital Wasteland. After the player acquires the G.E.C.K., the Wanderer is ambushed by the Enclave and captured. At the Enclave base at Raven Rock, the player is freed from their cell by the Enclave leader, President John Henry Eden, who requests a private audience with them. En route to his office however, Colonel Autumn defies Eden's orders and takes command of the Enclave military, ordering them to kill the player. Fighting their way to Eden's office, the player discovers Eden is actually a sentient ZAX series supercomputer who took control of the Enclave after their defeat in Fallout 2 on the West Coast thirty years ago. Eden wishes to repeat the plan of then-President Dick Richardson using Project Purity, infecting the water with a modified strain of FEV that will make it toxic to any mutated life. This plan will kill most life in the wasteland including humans, but the Enclave, due to their genetic "purity" as a result of their isolation, will be immune and free to take control of the area. The Wanderer, provided with a sample of the new F.E.V., is given a choice to either leave peacefully or convince Eden to self-destruct the entire base. The Lone Wanderer escapes Raven Rock and returns to the Citadel. With the knowledge they possess, the G.E.C.K. and the means to activate Project Purity, the Brotherhood assault the Jefferson Memorial, spearheaded by a giant robot named Liberty Prime. In the control room of Project Purity the player confronts Colonel Autumn, and has the choice to persuade him to give up or kill him. Dr. Li informs the player that the purifier is ready to be activated, but the activation code must be input manually, and also that the control room is flooded with lethal amounts of radiation. The Lone Wanderer is forced to choose between sending Sarah Lyons of the Brotherhood inside the extremely irradiated purifier or entering themselves. Whoever enters into the chamber inputs the code hinted at through the game, that being 21:6, and dies from a radiation spike.

    02 — At a glance

    Metascore

    93/100

    Exceptional — among the best of the year.

    Age

    PEGI 18+

    Released

    Oct 28 2008

    Platforms

    PlayStation 3PC (Microsoft Windows)Xbox 360

    Developer

    Bethesda Game Studios

    Publisher

    Bethesda Softworks

    Genres

    Role-playing (RPG)Shooter

    03 — World & gameplay

    Technical sheet

    Classification

    Franchise
    • Fallout
    Themes
    • Action
    • Open world
    • Sandbox
    • Science fiction
    • Stealth
    • Survival
    Game modes
    • Single player
    Perspective
    • First person
    • Third person
    Engine
    • Gamebryo

    Links

    • Official website(opens in a new tab)
    • Steam(opens in a new tab)
    • Epic Games Store(opens in a new tab)
    • GOG(opens in a new tab)
    • Xbox(opens in a new tab)
    • Wikipedia(opens in a new tab)
    • Community wiki(opens in a new tab)
    • Reddit(opens in a new tab)
    • YouTube(opens in a new tab)
    • Twitch(opens in a new tab)
    • X (Twitter)(opens in a new tab)
    • Facebook(opens in a new tab)
    • Instagram(opens in a new tab)

    04 — Age ratings

    Mature audiences

    PEGI18+

    PEGI 18

    PEGI

    Content descriptors

    • Strong Language
    • Blood
    ACB15+

    ACB MA 15+

    ACB

    CERO18+

    CERO Z

    CERO

    Content descriptors

    • Language
    • Violence
    CLASS_IND18+

    CLASS_IND 18

    CLASS_IND

    Content descriptors

    • Cartoon Violence
    • Blood and Gore
    ESRB17+

    Mature 17+

    ESRB

    Content descriptors

    • Blood and Gore
    • Violence
    • Blood
    • Sexual Themes
    GRAC18+

    GRAC 18

    GRAC

    Content descriptors

    • Intense Violence
    • Blood and Gore
    • Suggestive Themes
    • Use of Drugs
    • Strong Language

    05 — Languages

    Available worldwide

    6 languages supported

    LanguageInterfaceAudioSubtitles
    German
    Spanish
    English
    French
    Italian
    Japanese

    06 — How long is this game?

    Source: HowLongToBeat

    Estimated duration

    • Main Story30.0h
    • Main + Extras52.5h
    • Completionist175.0h

    07 — Media

    See it in action

    5 screenshots · 1 videos

    Fallout 3 screenshot
    Fallout 3 screenshot
    Fallout 3 screenshot
    Trailer

    Trailer

    08 — Editions

    Pick your version

    Survival Edition

    Survival Edition

    An Amazon.com Exclusive, the Fallout 3: Survival Edition, is the ultimate Fallout 3 package that includes a life-size replica of the Pip-Boy 3000, the wrist-mounted device worn by characters in-game. The Pip-Boy 3000 has been painstakingly recreated and modified for real world display as a digital clock. In addition to the Pip-Boy 3000, the Survival Edition will include all of the items from the Fallout 3 Collector’s Edition including the Fallout 3 game, a customized, metal Vault-Tec lunch box, 5" Vault Boy Bobblehead, The Art of Fallout 3 hardcover book, and The Making of Fallout 3 DVD.

    Game of the Year Edition

    Game of the Year Edition

    Prepare for the Future with Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition, experience the most acclaimed game of 2008 like never before. Create a character of your choosing and descend into an awe-inspiring, post-apocalyptic world where every minute is a fight for survival.

    Collector's Edition

    Collector's Edition

    Fallout 3 from the creators of the award-winning Oblivion, featuring one of the most realized game worlds ever created. Create any kind of character you want and explore the open wastes of post-apocalyptic Washington D.C. Every minute is a fight for survival as you encounter Super Mutants, Ghouls, Raiders and other dangers of the Wasteland. Prepare for the future. The third game in the Fallout series, Fallout 3 is a singleplayer action role-playing game (RPG) set in a post-apocalyptic Washington DC. Combining the horrific insanity of the Cold War era theory of mutually assured destruction gone terribly wrong, with the kitschy naivety of American 1950s nuclear propaganda, Fallout 3 will satisfy both players familiar with the popular first two games in its series as well as those coming to the franchise for the first time.

    09 — Expansions

    DLC & extensions

    Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition

    Oct 13, 2009

    Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition

    Prepare for the Future with Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition, experience the most acclaimed game of 2008 like never before. Create a character of your choosing and descend into an awe-inspiring, post-apocalyptic world where every minute is a fight for survival.

    Fallout 3 / Oblivion Duo Pack

    Sep 15, 2012

    Fallout 3 / Oblivion Duo Pack

    Fallout 3: Operation Anchorage

    Jan 27, 2009

    Fallout 3: Operation Anchorage

    Enter a military simulation and fight in one of the greatest battles of the Fallout universe – the liberation of Anchorage, Alaska from its Chinese Communist invaders.

    Fallout 3: The Pitt

    Mar 24, 2009

    Fallout 3: The Pitt

    Explore a sprawling settlement ravaged by time, neglect, nuclear radiation, and moral degradation. The Pitt is filled with morally grey choices, shady NPCs, new enemies, new weapons, and much more.

    Fallout 3: Broken Steel

    May 5, 2009

    Fallout 3: Broken Steel

    You may have dealt the Enclave a serious blow at Project Purity, but their forces are still out there, and still pose a grave threat to the people and security of the Capital Wasteland. In Broken Steel, you’ll continue your current Fallout 3 character past the events of Project Purity, and work with the Brotherhood of Steel to eradicate the Enclave threat once and for all. You’ll travel to new locations like the Olney Powerworks, wield destructive new weapons like the Tesla Cannon, fight powerful new creatures like the Super Mutant Overlord, marvel at the destructive power of Liberty Prime, earn new Perks like the devastating Nuclear Anomaly… and play Fallout 3 all the way to level 30.

    Fallout 3: Point Lookout

    Jun 23, 2009

    Fallout 3: Point Lookout

    Buy a ticket and hop onboard the Duchess Gambit, as Tobar the Ferryman takes you to the strange seaside town of Point Lookout. What secrets does the dilapidated boardwalk hold? Who lives in the sprawling mansion? Why is the Punga Fruit so important? And what horrors lie in the depths of the murky swamp? Point Lookout is the most open-ended DLC yet, and allows you to explore an entirely new and expansive gameplay area any way you’d like. A completely new quest line allows you uncover the town’s hidden secrets, and wield powerful new weapons like the Double-Barrel Shotgun against the swamp’s dangerous, and deformed, denizens. So venture to Point Lookout, if you dare. Just pray it’s not a one-way trip.

    Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta

    Aug 3, 2009

    Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta

    Defy hostile alien abductors and fight your way off of the massive Mothership Zeta, orbiting Earth miles above the Capital Wasteland. Mothership Zeta takes Fallout 3 in an entirely new direction – outer space. Meet new characters and join with them in a desperate bid to escape the Aliens’ clutches. To do so, you’ll wield powerful new weapons, like the Alien Atomizer, Alien Disintegrator, and Drone Cannon, and deck yourself out in brand new outfits, like the Gemini-Era Spacesuit and even Samurai Armor.

    12 — Price history

    Last 90 days

    13 — Community voice

    What players say

    14 — In the same franchise

    More from the franchise

    • View Fallout
    Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game

    Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game

    Interplay Entertainment·10/1997
    Fallout: New Vegas
    84

    Fallout: New Vegas

    Obsidian Entertainment·10/2010
    Fallout 76
    52

    Fallout 76

    Bethesda Game Studios·11/2018

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