Fallout is a role-playing game developed and published by Interplay Productions in 1997 for MS-DOS and Windows, with a Mac version from MacPlay. Tim Cain started the project in early 1994 and was its only developer for the first six months, working in his spare time. It was conceived as a spiritual successor to Wasteland (1988), because Electronic Arts would not license a direct sequel. Development took three and a half years and cost about $3 million.
The game was built on the GURPS rules, but Interplay dropped the license in March 1997 — according to Interplay, Steve Jackson objected to the game's violence. Christopher Taylor and Tim Cain replaced it with the SPECIAL system, each part designed and coded in about a week.
The first release gave the player a hard time limit; patch 1.1 removed the 500-day limit on the later main quests. Fallout later appeared in the Fallout Trilogy, Fallout Anthology and Fallout Legacy Collection compilations, and for its 20th anniversary it was given away free on Steam for a limited time on 30 September 2017.1
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | FalloutClassic Mac OS version. | Mac | 1997 | MacPlay | 1 |
| NA | Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing GameMS-DOS and Windows on one release. English Wikipedia gives 10 October 1997; GOG lists 30 September 1997. | MS-DOS | 1997 | Interplay Productions | 1 |
| WW | FalloutMac OS X port in MacPlay's Value Series. | Mac | 2002 | MacPlay | 1 |
| WW | Fallout TrilogyCompilation with Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics. | Windows | April 2009 | — | 1 |
| WW | Fallout Legacy CollectionCompilation; the game was also part of Fallout Anthology (2015). | Windows | October 2019 | — | 1 |
Also known as: Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game WW2
Box art by region
NA Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: Wikipedia.
Version differences
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CensorshipEU (v1.2)Steam InternationalGOG
Fallout was at first held back from Europe because the player could kill children. Version 1.2 removed the child characters for the European release, and today's Steam and GOG copies lack them too; a fan-made Child Patch restores them.3
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Bug fixv1.1
Patch 1.1 (13 November 1997) fixed many bugs and removed the 500-day time limit on the other two main quests.1
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GraphicsSteamGOGMicrosoft Store
The Steam, GOG and Microsoft Store releases bundle the fan-made Fallout 1 High Resolution Patch, which adds a windowed mode and higher resolutions.3
Translations
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German Official
InterplayWindowsReleased · complete
German text and audio are included in the GOG edition.4
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Spanish Official
InterplayWindowsReleased · complete
Spanish text and audio are included in the GOG edition, and Steam lists Spanish (Spain).4
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French Official
InterplayWindowsReleased · complete
French text and audio are included in the GOG edition.4
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Russian Official
1С-СофтКлабWindowsReleased
The official Russian localization by 1C-SoftClub was sold at retail in Russia; PCGamingWiki notes it can also be installed over the Steam version.3
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Russian Pirate
ФаргусWindowsReleased
An unofficial Russian translation by Fargus Multimedia, listed by PCGamingWiki.3
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zh-Hans Fan
BN13WindowsReleased
A Simplified Chinese fan translation by BN13; on GOG and Steam it requires the classic Fallout.exe launcher.3
Where to play legally today
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GOG Purchase
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Steam Purchase
Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game
Windows version (International, no child NPCs)
Checked: 2026-10-132store.steampowered.com
How to run it today
Buy the GOG or Steam edition: both run on Windows 10 and 11 and include the High Resolution Patch, and GOG adds cloud saves. If an old CD copy shows "Error Initializing Video Mode 640x480", create a custom 640x480 8-bit resolution, and install CD versions in Windows 95 compatibility mode. If the colors turn into rainbows, set mode=4 or mode=5 under [Graphics] in ddraw.ini. Another option is Fallout Community Edition (fallout1-ce), an open-source re-implementation of the engine for Windows, Linux, macOS, Android and iOS; it needs master.dat, critter.dat and the data folder from a purchased copy. The old Mac OS X version does not run on macOS Catalina or later.
- fallout1-ce on GitHub github.com
- Fallout on PCGamingWiki pcgamingwiki.com
Best version
PCGamingWiki considers the GOG release the most compatible with modern systems. It includes the High Resolution Patch, and GOG verified it for Windows 10 and 11 in a November 2024 update.3
Reception
Fallout scored 89/100 on Metacritic and was named Role-Playing Game of the Year by GameSpot and Computer Games Magazine. Early sales were modest — 53,777 copies in the US by the end of 1997 — but Brian Fargo said in 2017 that it had sold 600,000 copies.1
In lists
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
Spotted a mistake? Write to atlas@old-games.net.