Fallout
The complete Fallout timeline: from the Great War to the NCR, the Mojave, the Commonwealth and Appalachia.
6 regions12 characters4 reading paths6 turning points
What is The Wasteland?
Fallout is a history of people trying to rebuild after the Great War of 2077. Every game visits a different wasteland, but the same arguments recur: who deserves power, whether technology can save people, and what the old world left behind.
This guide follows the principal game timeline through the West Coast, Capital Wasteland, Mojave, Commonwealth and Appalachia. It separates player-choice outcomes from established setting facts, so a faction route never pretends one player's ending is the only history.
Fallout 4 Anniversary Edition, the New Vegas anniversary and continuing Fallout 76 updates make this a live universe as well as a long-running one.
Fallout is most coherent when its regions are read as different generations of the same argument. The bombs do not erase politics: they leave behind corporations, military institutions, racial myths and resource systems that survivors either reproduce, reject or reshape.
The order of the games is deliberately useful rather than mandatory. Appalachia shows an early recovery, the West Coast follows civic reconstruction, and the Capital Wasteland, Mojave and Commonwealth each test a different answer to who deserves power after the old nation fails.
Quick paths
Short routes through the regions, in the order that makes the most sense.
- The Fallout timelineabout 20 min
A fast route from the pre-war world and the Great War to every major post-war region.
Pre-war America and the Great War → The West Coast → The Capital Wasteland → The Mojave and New Vegas → The Commonwealth → Appalachia
- New Vegas factions and endingsabout 12 min
Understand the NCR, Caesar, Mr. House and an independent Vegas before choosing a route.
- Fallout 4 explainedabout 11 min
The Commonwealth story from Vault 111 to the Institute, Railroad, Brotherhood and Minutemen routes.
- Vaults, experiments and rebuildingabout 14 min
Follow the institutions that survived the war and the communities that have to live with them.
Pre-war America and the Great War → The Capital Wasteland → Appalachia → The Commonwealth
Pick a region
Each page tells that place's story in four steps and says where to go next.
- FoundationPre-war America and the Great WarThe context every Fallout story inherits.6 steps
- Fallout 1 and 2The West CoastThe political foundation for the NCR and the Mojave era.6 steps
- Fallout 3The Capital WastelandThe East Coast struggle over Project Purity and the legacy of government power.6 steps
- Fallout: New VegasThe Mojave and New VegasThe choice-heavy conflict among NCR, Caesar's Legion, Mr. House and an independent New Vegas.6 steps
- Fallout 4The CommonwealthThe Sole Survivor's story and the faction conflict around the Institute.6 steps
- Fallout 76 / live worldAppalachiaThe evolving online branch of Fallout, set earlier than the main single-player games but constantly expanded.6 steps
Who is who
Every character has a short profile and links to the people they are tied to, so you can follow one story into the next.
Every game in this guide
Main games, narrative side games, mobile and archived titles, plus announced chapters. Remasters appear only when they have a distinct release status.
- Fallout 7620182102 onwardVault 76 opens twenty-five years after the Great War, sending its residents into an Appalachia already devastated by the Scorched plague.
- Fallout19972161A Vault Dweller leaves Vault 13 to find a replacement water chip and discovers a plan to remake wasteland humanity through forced mutation.
- Fallout 219982241The Chosen One leaves drought-stricken Arroyo to find a G.E.C.K. and uncovers the Enclave's plan to eliminate people it considers genetically impure.
- Fallout 320082277The Lone Wanderer leaves Vault 101 to find their father and becomes involved in Project Purity, an attempt to provide clean water to the Capital Wasteland.
- Fallout: New Vegas20102281After surviving an execution, the Courier follows a stolen Platinum Chip to New Vegas and enters a four-way struggle for Hoover Dam.
- Fallout 420152287The Sole Survivor emerges from Vault 111 to search for their kidnapped son and finds a Commonwealth divided by fear of the Institute and its synths.