Fallout 2 is a role-playing game developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay Productions for Windows in 1998. Tim Cain announced it on Usenet in December 1997, saying it should take 11 months to make, and Feargus Urquhart later said Interplay's financial problems left the team about nine months for the whole game. The story begins on 25 July 2241, 80 years after the first Fallout, as the hero searches for a G.E.C.K. The game ends automatically after 13 in-game years; there is no other time limit. Fallout 2 is often cited as one of the first games to feature same-sex marriage.
Interplay's last official patch, 1.02, came out on 11 February 1999 and could even be ordered on a 3.5-inch floppy disk. Retail versions differed by country: the UK release removed children's textures and the German release cut blood and violent death animations.
In the CIS the game was not officially sold in 1998, and players knew it through pirate Russian translations. The official Russian release by 1C-SoftClub arrived only in May 2006, eight years after the original. A Mac OS X version followed in 2002, and the game has been on Steam since 2009.12
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | Fallout 2Some sources (e.g. Spanish Wikipedia, GOG) give 30 September 1998. | Windows | Oct 29, 1998 | Interplay Productions | 1 |
| NA | Fallout 2Mac OS X version (1.02a). | Mac | Aug 23, 2002 | — | 1 |
| RU | Fallout 2First official Russian release, eight years after the original; publisher name per PCGamingWiki (1C-SoftClub). | Windows | May 19, 2006 | 1С-СофтКлаб | 2 |
| WW | Fallout 2: A Post Nuclear Role Playing GameSteam release date as listed on Steam. | Windows | Aug 19, 2009 | Bethesda Softworks | 3 |
Also known as: Fallout 2: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game WW3
Box art by region
NA Fallout 2 
RU Fallout 2
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: Wikipedia.
Version differences
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CensorshipUK/European retail
The UK release removed the textures of children, but the children still exist as invisible characters: the player can talk to an unseen speaker, and invisible pickpockets can still steal items.2
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TextUK retail
The UK version renamed 'drugs' to 'chems' in character trait names.2
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CensorshipGerman retail
The German release removed blood and violent death animations; the 'Bloody Mess' trait is still there but has nothing extra to show.2
Translations
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German Official
Interplay1998WindowsReleased · complete
German text and audio from Interplay's 1998 release are included in the current digital editions.4
-
Spanish Fan
Clan DLAN2013Windows · English versionReleased
A Spanish fan translation by Clan DLAN (main translators Wenck and darkpadawan), developed from July 2011 to June 2013 and re-hosted on Nexus Mods in 2023 after the Clan DLAN site went down.5
-
French Official
Interplay1998WindowsReleased · complete
French text and audio from Interplay's 1998 release are included in the current digital editions.4
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Russian Official
1С-СофтКлаб2006Windows · Windows versionReleased
The official Russian localization by 1C-SoftClub, released in Russia on 19 May 2006. According to PCGamingWiki, it can also be installed over the Steam version.6
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Russian Pirate
ФаргусWindowsReleased
A pirate Russian translation by Fargus (Фаргус), one of the two best known in the CIS in the late 1990s; its character and place names differ from the original.2
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Russian Pirate
Левая корпорацияWindowsReleased
A pirate Russian translation by «Левая корпорация», whose intro used the song «Дорога» by АукцЫон; it is also known for mismatched names and places.2
Where to play legally today
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Xbox Game Pass Subscription
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Epic Games Store Purchase
Fallout 2: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game
Windows; English/French/German
Checked: 2026-10-138store.epicgames.com
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GOG Purchase
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Steam Purchase
Fallout 2: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game
Windows; English/French/German
Checked: 2026-10-133store.steampowered.com
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Microsoft Store (Xbox) Purchase
How to run it today
Buy Fallout 2 on GOG, Steam, Epic or the Microsoft Store, or play it through PC Game Pass. The GOG build is marked as verified for Windows 10 and 11 and comes with sfall 4.4.5. If colors are wrong or a '640x480 video mode' error appears, PCGamingWiki documents fixes using the sfall ddraw.ini graphics mode and a custom 640x480 resolution. For a modern source port there is Fallout 2 Community Edition (fallout2-ce): it replaces fallout2.exe and needs master.dat, critter.dat, patch000.dat and the data folder from a purchased copy. Fan patches such as the Unofficial Fallout 2 Patch or the Restoration Project change the game, and PCGamingWiki advises installing only one of them.
- fallout2-ce on GitHub github.com
- PCGamingWiki: Fallout 2 pcgamingwiki.com
Best version
For most players the GOG or Steam release is the easiest starting point: it is patched to 1.02 and includes sfall and the High Resolution Patch. The fallout2-ce engine is an alternative that runs on Windows, Linux, macOS, Android and iOS using the files from a purchased copy.6
Reception
Fallout 2 sold about 123,000 copies in the US by March 2000 and has a Metacritic score of 86/100. In 2015 PC Gamer ranked it the third best RPG.1
In lists
Sources
- 1en.wikipedia.org
- 2ru.wikipedia.org
- 3store.steampowered.com
- 4gog.com
- 5nexusmods.com
- 6pcgamingwiki.com
- 7xbox.com
- 8store.epicgames.com
- 9store.steampowered.com
- 10github.com
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
Spotted a mistake? Write to atlas@old-games.net.