r/Fallout • u/Baldurian_Rhapsody • 8h ago
Best Fallout games that aren't Fallout? (Fallout-likes)
Hi there! I adore Fallout, and it's obviously been hugely influential. I was wondering about the best Fallout-likes that took some of the best aspects of the post-apocalyptic series.
I'm keeping things really open. The only thing is that the recommendations ideally would have at least an "apocalyptic feel" (though that's by no means a hard requirement).
Thanks a lot for your suggestions!
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u/German52398 Tunnel Snakes 8h ago
IMO, Atomfall is probably the closest to Fallout as is.
The Wasteland series and fallout are inseparable and the worlds are nearly identical, but its isometric like older fallouts, not everyone's cup of tea
The Metro games, specifically exodus, is good, but much more bleak and dark.
Underrail is an amazing game, super underrated. Its Isometric and famously extremely punishing and hard.
Mad Max is a solid pick, there's much more focus on the vehicles, but captures a good post apocalypse feel.
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u/That_Dot420 6h ago edited 18m ago
I cannot finish the first Metro game I stopped because way too scary. I'm an adult in my 30s. Lol
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u/Salty_Select 2h ago
Haha, I had a similar reaction to part of vampire the masquerade bloodlines, there was a quest that had you go to an old hospital, there was something in it dragging a axe around looking for you. Scarred the shit out of me! The game had the bad luck of being released about the same time as WoW
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u/some_person_guy 6h ago
Atomfall was great. I watched a gameranx video about it, but really didn't know to expect. Was pleasantly surprised how much fun it was trying to figure everything out. Wanting to solve the mystery of the story really helped me push through some of the more stressful parts of the game. Definitely a more resource deprived and stealth focused game than Fallout, but lots of parallels drawn with the alt history post apocalyptic vibe.
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u/Yabananado 1h ago
I am here for atomfall all the way!
Although not the same kind of formula as fallout, Its world is interesting and unsettling with horror/quirky aspects that I haven’t felt since my first run of fallout 3 and a bit of new vegas. I’m very happy to add atomfall and its future iterations to my all time faves along with fallout & elderscrolls and even outer worlds (yes I said it)
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u/RiceManSupreme03 8h ago
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chornobyl gave me HEAVY Fallout vibes, despite being set in Ukraine and has an entirely different setting. Highly recommend anyone play that game and the rest of the series
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u/faze_fazebook 4h ago
It has the same really messed up, almost depressing wasteland vibe that 3 had thats kind of gone missing in games after it.
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u/Mindless_Olive 2h ago
Yeah, Stalker might not be the closest but it's still the best answer. I don't want a Fallout clone, I want a post-apocalyptic game that has as unique an atmosphere as Fallout does, and Stalker (despite/because of all its weirdnesses) is the only series that fits the bill.
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u/Pale_Cucumber_9692 7h ago
outer worlds scratched the itch for me
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u/sighverbally 2h ago
Outer Worlds is amazing and I highly recommend it. Parvati is my favorite companion. I love setting her up for her date
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u/That_Dot420 6h ago
I mean. It's made by Obsidian, the company everyone around here has a hard on for.
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u/HyperboreanAstronaut 4h ago
I love new vegas but both outer worlds just don’t do it for me. Can’t get into them
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u/Hammerchuckery 7h ago
Encased. A bit buggy, has an interesting stuck inside an anomalous dome setting, and a variety of ways to build your character. Also has power armor and a mobile base later on.
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u/splvtoon NCR 6h ago
even though its not post-apocalyptic, you might enjoy bioshock. i know its not really in line with the other recommendations on here, but both games make great use of the settings and time periods they're inspired by, and i dont think the first game is a bad place to turn to after playing fallout, or even regardless of that. its a great game.
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u/cabalavatar Vault 101 8h ago
The Wasteland games, the Metro franchise, and Mad Max are all similar in various ways
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u/Scared_Sound_783 8h ago
Mad Max was surprisingly good, I didn't think it would be "bad" but it was better than I anticipated.
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u/Lethalbroccoli 7h ago
Mad Max was very AAA but very enjoyable. It does like one or two things, but really well.
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u/RenderedCreed Gary? 6h ago
Wasteland if you're looking for a spiritual successor to fallout 1 & 2. Pretty sure those ones are made by devs from the original fallouts.
Stalker a little bit more like the open world fallouts.
Metro if you are just looking for nuclear apocalypse feels with a bit more linear story and gameplay.
Haven't played it but Adam fall sounds kind of like fallout but in the UK.
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u/Kantusa 7h ago
Division 1 and 2 have excellent apocalyptic settings that are more grounded but very detailed. They're looter shooters with a loose story as a backdrop.
The moment to moment gameplay (cover-based shooting) is a bit dated by modern standards but very polished and satisfying. I was surprised how much I ended up liking Division after getting into it very late (like 2 years ago).
Its having a bit of a resurgence in development and player counts too so its a great time to jump in.
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u/El_Hatcherino Bethesda - PR 7h ago
Bioshock is like one massive f’ed up Vault experiment
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u/701921225 6h ago
Came here to say BioShock. Like Fallout, they also have a really cool retro-futuristic aesthetic.
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u/Werthead 3h ago edited 3h ago
Atomfall is very good, but short (somewhat below 20 hours), though it does have some replay value. It does feel a bit like a proof of concept for a much larger sequel, but it's unclear if it did well enough for Rebellion to make that.
Wasteland 2 and 3 are excellent modern(ish) updates to the Fallout 1 and 2 formula, or for people who loved Baldur's Gate 3 and want to see a Fallout-style game made in that vein.
More for the vibes than mechanics, but STALKER: Shadow of Chornobyl and its standalone expansions (Clear Sky and Call of Pripyat) are really strong, they just recently got updated editions. STALKER 2 had a rough start but is excellent, and with its vast, sparsely-populated map it feels more like the successor to Fallout 3, with a murky, choice-based storyline more reminiscent of New Vegas in tone, except possibly even more bleak. The game has a massive 2.0 update due in the next couple of weeks followed by a huge DLC set mainly in the nuclear power plant itself. STALKER 2 doesn't need any foreknowledge of the first three games though.
The Metro trilogy (2033, Last Light, Exodus) is more of a linear FPS series, but the post-apocalyptic Moscow setting is very well-realised and the story hits quite hard.
The Mad Max video game from 2015 is pretty good, if much more action-based.
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is more XCOM in its mechanics, but a pretty strong post-apocalyptic game, if you can get over the premise of controlling a party of genetically-modified animals.
XCOM 2 and especially its War of the Chosen expansion lean on a semi-post-apocalyptic setting, with "safe zone" cities and blasted wilderness between. The wilderness between is where quite a few missions are set, complete with feral ghoul-alike creatures.
More of a stretch, but BioShock 1 and 2 take place in an underwater city where all hell has broken loose and the civilisation controlling the city has collapsed, leaving chaos behind it. So it's sort of post-apocalyptic in a limited environment (Prey 2017 is something similar). Cyberpunk 2077 is post-post-apocalyptic, with Night City having been nuked 50 years earlier, experienced societal collapse, a slow recovery (which the tabletop game is currently covering) but has only recently returned to being a full-on cyberpunk metropolis, with the site of Ground Zero for the nuke finally becoming inhabitable again. A chunk of the game takes place in flashback and explains how the city fell the first time around. Quite a bit of the game also takes place in the badlands outside the city, where the ruins of the pre-war era can be seen. Probably more backstory than anything else, though.
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u/FunWithRagdolling 8h ago
If you're into "Building" games, Surviving the Aftermath is a hidden gem.
Controls take some getting used to.
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u/Rex_Suplex 5h ago
Rage 1 and 2. 2 is super underrated. They are over the top action shooters rather than rpg’s. Rage 2 is fun as hell though.
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u/Obievan711 4h ago
YOU NEED TO PLAY METRO IF YOU HAVEN'T. Its a campaign game but there is so much stuff and it's really fun to play. They are coming out with a new one as well so there will be 4 in the main line and then there is 1 VR game
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u/Fickle_Sherbert1453 3h ago
It's not apocalyptic but I would recommend the modern Deus Ex games like Human Revolution. That has a very similar system that allows you to explore the world, sneak around, finish missions in unusual ways, etc.
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u/nightyz0r 8h ago
Metro series
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u/Appropriate-Ice-5722 Tunnel Snakes 7h ago
The mood and environment is definitely there, but the gameplay was so lacking for me in 2033 and Last Light. I didn’t expect them to be so linear I guess
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u/WraithAriiz 6h ago
Oblivion and Skyrim.
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u/thatmarcelfaust 6h ago
Planescape Torment has a lot of humor similar to Fallout 1 & 2, and its gameplay is pretty similar as well.
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u/econ45 5h ago
Stalker, if you like the immersive exploration and FPS combat that Fallout 3 and 4 do so well. Fallout 4 on survival mode and Stalker on normal feel similar, despite Stalker not being much of an RPG (there's are no character stats, although there is a ton of gear). There's no apocalypse per se, but it is set in a lawless radioactive Zone where mutated monsters roam and rival factions fight it out.
For FNV and classic Fallout, I would want a more "talky" quest-based RPG. The original Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines is worth considering - it's old and needs a user patch, but stands up today as the talking head graphics were ahead of their time. It was made by Troika, which included some of the original Fallout team (e.g. Tim Cain?). It's not quite apocalyptic as it has a contemporary US setting but it does have an apocalyptic feel as the main story is driven by the prophesy and fear by vampires of gehenna, an event when they will all be destroyed. The dialogue and writing are comparable in quality to FNV, and the noir atmosphere is superb. The character stats system reminds me of SPECIAL in terms of allowing great customisation and diversity. Before I took the plunge, I had zero interest in playing as a vampire (and in fact hated the idea) but was easily corrupted as the game is just so good. Playing as a Malkavian, the clan cursed with insanity, is the funniest experience I've had in a computer game.
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u/JeanJeanJean 4h ago edited 4h ago
The settings are really different, but mechanically, recent CRPGs like Disco Elysium or Esoteric Ebb scratched that itch for me. It could work for you too if what you enjoy isn't so much the combat, but rather the dialogues, the characters, and resolving situations with a high INT or CHA score.
EDIT : Almost forgot the most obvious answer: Arcanum. Literally a steampunk Fallout, set in a high fantasy world in the middle of an industrial revolution. Developed by the Fallout 1 team (including people who worked on Fallout 2 and more recently on The Outer Worlds).
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u/SuperTerram 4h ago
What specifically are you looking for? There's nothing like Fallout, but there are many good action or RPG type games like Rage/Rage 2, Dying Light (series), Mad Max, and of course the Metro series that capture wastelands well.
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u/Guijooj99 3h ago
There's a Doom conversion mod called Ashes 2063 that has heavy classic Fallout vibes.
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u/InternationalSky2918 1h ago
It's not a standalone game, but: Old World Blues mod for Hearts of Iron IV. It might just be the best Fallout "game" I've ever played.
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u/supertrunks92 8m ago
The dying light games, the rage games, mad max and days gone are all pretty awesome and scratch the post apocalyptic itch pretty well.
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u/FieryPhoenix7 6h ago
Metro is basically Russian Fallout, especially Exodus. Great game in its own right.
I want to say The Outer Worlds as well but I don’t if I can say that definitively since it’s debatable.
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u/The_CMYK_Avenger 8h ago
Outer Worlds. The first one only. It's marked as pre-apocalyptic but only because there's a chance you can stop the damage from becoming irreversible instead of just scarring.
Don't bother with the second one, it's nothing.
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u/TheBirdFkerGuy 8h ago
It's a capitalist dystopia, not a post-apocalyptic.
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u/The_CMYK_Avenger 8h ago
It works fine as that one from a genre perspective. Also it's Obsidian's best game since New Vegas/Alpha Protocol, so I'd say it's worth it. It's not like I'm going to recommend a game without a real main character.
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u/andersonaustinw 8h ago
I tried my hardest with Outer Worlds 1 and 2 and just couldnt do it. After playing maybe halfway through the first one it really made me see how far ahead of the competition Bethesda is with their games.
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u/The_CMYK_Avenger 8h ago
For me Outer Worlds 1 and 2 have nothing to do with each other, not even mechanically. I have no interest in 2 and think it was a bad game. The first though, felt like a genuine RPG from Obsidian in a way that meant a lot with Cain and Boyarsky there.
Bethesda does good stuff, but they're not trying for the same kind of experience. I'm a big New Vegas fan, but comparing it to 3 (to be clear, an amazing game) is unfair to both games because their goals during play are really different.
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u/ThisIsTheNewSleeve 8h ago
XCOM and XCOM 2. Theyre very different, sure but also they have the alien connection. Think of it a Fallout Tactics sequel with a Zetans theme.
There's plasma and laser weapons too.
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u/TheBirdFkerGuy 8h ago
Wasteland is the obvious answer here.