It wouldn't be hyperbole to say that Fallout is one of the world's most revered video game franchises. Spanning 11 computer games and multiple tabletop spin-offs, Fallout has received numerous Game of the Year awards and embedded itself into popular culture for almost three decades. So it's a bold move for any creative – be that a director, actor, or production company – to take on an adaptation.
Following in the footsteps of The Last Of Us, the wildness of the Wasteland has been condensed into a TV series for Amazon Prime Video – and the result is every bit as bloody, witty, and jaw-dropping as the beloved game series. Helmed by Westworld and The Dark Knight director Jonathan Nolan, the eight-episode season departs from the story of the Lone Wanderer, the Courier, the Sole Survivor, and the Vault Dwellers we know so well to explore a brand new story in the world of Fallout.
The retro-futuristic visuals transport us to an alternate version of Earth where advances in nuclear technology after WWII ultimately lead to the world's undoing at the hands of the Great War, which starts and ends on October 23, 2077, when nuclear bombs bring on the apocalypse. Survivors took refuge in fallout bunkers known as vaults, built to preserve humanity in the face of nuclear annihilation… or so it would seem.
Two-hundred-and-nineteen years later, Lucy (Ella Purnell) is one such vault dweller in Vault 33, who has led a sheltered life in a small community led by her father Hank (Kyle MacLachlan), the Overseer. Her life is thrown into chaos when she is forced to leave the vault to save her father after a vicious band of raiders attack, with the young woman left vulnerable in the devastated wasteland of Los Angeles. Lucy soon crosses paths with Maximus (Aaron Moten), a squire of the Brotherhood of Steel, and The Ghoul (Walton Goggins), a mutated gunslinger and bounty hunter who has been alive since before the bombs fell.
Fallout is accessible to seasoned fans of the franchise and newbies to the Wasteland. The immaculate set pieces, ultraviolent action sequences, and off-kilter humour are enough to suck in any viewer, starting right from episode one and escalating to dizzying, disaster-filled heights in its final scenes. Those already acquainted with the lore will waste no time dazzled by the attention to detail in each episode, from the mutated creatures we know and love to the surreal effects of chems, and even the layout of raider camps and settlements packed full of familiar debris.
The sense of danger and urgency to survive that Fallout has perfected across its gameplay seeps into every scene of its TV counterpart, with Lucy's introduction to the Wasteland dogged by attacks from radiation-filled monsters, murderous robots, cannibals, and so much more. Each episode is perfectly paced as the narrative balances character building and the audience's emotional investment in the lead characters, with self-aware gags and buckets of gore that ratchets up the tension with little relief.
Much like the gaming franchise – and also what made The Last Of Us' adaptation so successful – the real humans (and Ghouls) at the centre of this horrific world and how they navigate the apocalypse are what make the show a success. Purnell's performance as Lucy is quite simply remarkable, as she transforms from the naive vault dweller and becomes hardened by the wastes during the desperate hunt for her father. Similarly, Goggins perfectly portrays both the disgraced TV star Cooper Howard and the radiation-inflicted Ghoul who prowls the wastes, and Moten is enthralling as Brotherhood of Steel Scribe Maximus, both bringing so much depth to characters that could have easily become one note.
Duality is at the centre of Fallout. Both on the outside bringing together old fans and new, but also within its plot as we see the two sides of The Ghoul's life and how he became who he is now. We see it through Lucy's life inside the vault and after, and when she meets Maximus, exploring how someone who has only ever known the safety of the vaults interacts with someone who has only known the brutality of the Wasteland. Fallout balances a bleak look at the horrors of war and the evils of humanity, with a surprisingly positive outlook. Despite the destruction of Earth, the human race continues and still strives to carry on when all hope feels lost.
Fallout is the perfect example of a video game adaptation done right. It takes the bizarrely beautiful and bloody world we all know and love and creates something unique and revitalising for fans of the franchise and newcomers alike to enjoy. While it fits perfectly into the franchise's well-established world, the narrative and characters don't feel buried under thumbed in references. Anchored by stellar performances, ultra-violent sequences, tongue-in-cheek humour, and a sunny disposition despite so much darkness – Fallout is a remarkable balancing act to behold and one so captivating it will surely become as iconic as the games before it.
Episodes viewed: 8/8
Fallout is available on Amazon Prime Video from April 11.
