Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game

Interplay Inc. · Bethesda Softworks

Released: Nov 1, 2015
Platforms: Windows
Last updated: 04 Sep 2026, 14:55 GMT

Updates & announcements

20 posts

22 Aug 2026PC Gamer
Fallout dev Tim Cain says we should pay more attention to bad games: '[Publishers] often don't learn from failure because they only look at the games that sold well'
"Jesus Christ, I could write this shit:" The great Alan Moore once said that the sort of negative inspiration you get from reading drivel is even more fruitful for aspiring authors than the kind you get from reading the classics. Fallout co-creator and prolific video blogger Tim
17 Aug 2026PC Gamer
Even though turn-based and real time RPGs 'have their loud, vocal advocates,' Fallout developer Tim Cain thinks they both have a place in the genre
In a recent video on his YouTube channel , legendary developer Tim Cain weighed in on one of the great RPG debates: Turn-based, or real time? But Cain doesn't see it as a zero sum game, instead staking out a sensible, radical moderate position on a topic that can prompt forum kni
12 Jun 2026PC Gamer
Microsoft is looking to speed up development of future Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Halo games
The resuscitation of Xbox has begun in earnest, but there's still much to be done, and still great uncertainty: Console exclusives are back but to what extent remains unclear, and of course the "reset" for a better future will almost certainly mean putting hundreds of people out
22 May 2026PC Gamer
Fallout lead Tim Cain argues games industry crisis hasn't reached the level of the 1983 crash: 'I don't think there's ever been a worse time in the games industry'
In a recent video on his YouTube channel , veteran RPG developer Tim Cain shared his memories of the 1983 videogame industry crash. In particular, he emphasized that, although bad⁠—like, really bad⁠—he doesn't believe the current employment and studio closure crisis matches the i
16 May 2026PC Gamer
Fallout's creator reveals you could have played as a snoring cow hater who believes in UFOs, had Black Isle stuck with its original licensed roleplaying system
The character system used in Fallout is famously based upon its roleplaying system called SPECIAL. But this wasn't always the case. In fact, for most of the original game's development, Fallout's mechanics were based upon a licensed, table-top roleplaying system called GURPS, whi
08 May 2026PC Gamer
Immediately after putting The Elder Scrolls in Fallout 4, hero modder gets Fallout 1 working on the Pip-Boy too: 'This was so heavily requested, I couldn't pass it up'
Modder RPGKing117 has had a busy month: He committed the blasphemy of putting Skyrim quest markers in Morrowind , achieved the triumph of cramming Morrowind into Fallout 4 , and has no come back for one last job: Making Fallout 1 playable on Fallout 4's Pip-Boys and assorted vacu
02 May 2026PC Gamer
Fallout designer Tim Cain thinks influencers have changed how people make and play games: 'more people seem to be abdicating their own judgement to that of people they see online'
In a new video on his YouTube channel , veteran RPG designer Tim Cain outlined how he's seen the internet change games and game development, from the first message boards to the ubiquity of streaming content. As with everything, there are pluses and minuses, but he seemed deeply
22 Apr 2026PC Gamer
Fallout co-creator says non-linear design is all about never assuming how players will act, illustrates his point by fantasising about an NPC guard he seems to really hate
Fallout co-creator Tim Cain has a new video going over some of his principles for game design, and as you might expect has some strong opinions on the intersection between design intention, and what players actually end up doing... Read more.
18 Apr 2026PC Gamer
We owe Fallout's existence to an admiral and his officers teaching its designer to play D&D in 1979
In a new video on his YouTube channel , RPG veteran and Fallout Designer Tim Cain talked about the first time he was ever exposed to Dungeons & Dragons, a pivotal influence on the developer: Some of his mother's coworkers showed him the ropes all the way back in the Carter ad
10 Apr 2026PC Gamer
Former Bethesda artist says 'every single developer' has already brought up 95% of the complaints that made it to launch, but as Todd Howard told him, 'we can't do everything'
Bethesda games certainly aren't lacking in launch issues—the presence of charming bugs and funny physics glitches are sort of the studio's maker's mark at this point, although with the lukewarm reception of Starfield , that reputation's also begun to tip over into subpar features
10 Mar 2026PC Gamer
Tim Cain says he got hired at Interplay because he knew THAC0 better than the other guy, and went out of his way to prove it
It's not overstating things to say Tim Cain is a legend among PC RPG fans. The man's got credits on a roster of games that would make other developers green with envy: Stonekeep, Fallout, Arcanum, ToEE, Pillars of Eternity, and more. And it all began, as he recounted in his most
13 Feb 2026PC Gamer
You can pick up $1000+-worth of Fallout tabletop gubbins for $25 right now, with a portion going to the ACLU
Fallout, so the large box that PC games used to come in when life was good tells me, is a post-nuclear roleplaying game. It's also, it turns out, a post-nuclear tabletop roleplaying game, a fact I think I've never really consciously registered until now... Read more.
11 Feb 2026PC Gamer
Fallout's co-creator again recalls nixing 'Terminator-style' robots in the original game, which has me rubbing my chin real hard at Fallout 4's entire plot: 'Mr Handy and Terminator robot do not belong in the same universe'
Tim Cain is back with another YouTube video and that means two things. The first: my career, such as it is, can continue for at least another day. The second: it's time for some delicious original Fallout reflections ... Read more.
10 Feb 2026PC Gamer
I am once again tapping my 'Todd Howard genuinely loves Fallout' sign: He's an OG Fallout 1 fan and still hasn't given back the disc he nicked from his brother
The cross I bear—probably the heaviest burden borne by a human being in history—is that I'm doomed to annoy basically all the loudest segments of the Fallout fan community. Do I love the direction Bethesda took the series in with FO3 and FO4? Not really. Do I think the studio—and
09 Feb 2026PC Gamer
Fallout's origin can be traced back to a pizza party Tim Cain threw
In the mid-1990s Interplay Entertainment acquired the Dungeons & Dragons licence, and would go on to publish Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, and Icewind Dale. The team working on a little post-apocalyptic RPG that would eventually be called Fallout was largely left to its
08 Feb 2026PC Gamer
Fallout was a 'B-tier product' that lost both the licenses it was banking on and had its lead dev joking, 'In a week, we’re going to be asking whether people want fries with their meal,' but now he thinks those trials 'turned out to be positives'
Fallout's everywhere now, with half a dozen games and two seasons of television under its belt, but it used to be "a B-tier product," as series co-creator Tim Cain recently told Game Informer . A lot went wrong during development and the team didn't have much power to do anything
01 Feb 2026PC Gamer
The whole Fallout series is at a steep discount on Steam, so if you've been waiting 29 years to begin your journey in the wasteland, your time is now
Every Fallout game is meaningfully different from the last, and the series includes some of the best games you'll ever play . It's an easy recommendation to anyone with a passing interest in computer roleplay, and even easier now that you can get every game in the series (includi
29 Jan 2026PC Gamer
Psst, hey, Fallout season 1 is going free on YouTube until they yank it all back down in February
Hey, pal. You want some free Fallout season 1 streams , fresh out the oven? Of course you do. Look, don't tell Bezos, but just between you and me, you can watch it right here on YouTube , on the, uh, official Amazon account? Oh... Read more.
24 Jan 2026PC Gamer
Fallout lead Tim Cain worked 70+ hours a week for 2 years to make the classic RPG: 'I'm glad things have changed, that was unsustainable⁠—but it was also absolutely amazing'
In a new video on his YouTube channel , prolific RPG developer Tim Cain broke down what his average daily schedule looked like while working on the original Fallout at Interplay Entertainment. Along the way, he reflected on the grueling pace of work he took on, and why it felt mo
16 Jan 2026PC Gamer
Fallout co-creator Tim Cain boils RPGs down into 9 different types of quests, but warns "more of one thing means less of another"
Have you ever sat down and counted how many different types of quests there are in an RPG? We often hear how many total quests are in a game— Skyrim has 273—but how much variety is there really? Fallout co-creator Tim Cain explains the nine core types of missions you can be given