Fallout Shelter

Many gamers were delighted by Bethesda Softworks, when Fallout 4 was showcased at E3. This was in 2015, when Bethesda brought us another surprise, which is Fallout Shelter. Initially released as something to keep us busy until the release of Fallout 4, the game quickly became a phenomenon all by itself. It places you in the role of overseer of your own Vault-Tec vault, the iconic shelters from the Fallout franchise. You have to build facilities, keep the vault supplied with power, food and water, keep your dwellers happy and make sure they stay safe, while the outside world tears itself apart through nuclear fire.

Fallout Shelter was originally released for iOS, but an Android version was rolled out soon after. Today the game is available for Windows platforms as well. If you want to play it, you have to install the Bethesda launcher, which will install the game on your machine quickly, without asking for too much input.

Starting a new game is quite easy. There aren't too many options to go through and the game will help you learn the basics through a quick guide. The vault is presented like an ant farm, which makes planning and building new facilities a simple job. You can choose what rooms to build in an easy-to-access menu and you can decide where to place them just by clicking on any spot, near an existing room or elevator shaft.

First, you have to build basic facilities, like dormitories, a diner, a power plant and a water filtration station. As your population grows, you will have access to new and advanced rooms, for recreational or training purposes and others. Each room has its own specific use. A power plant will periodically produce electrical power, a water filtration station will produce water, a diner will produce food and so on. However, if you want them to work efficiently or to work at all, you must assign dwellers to work in these rooms.

Dwellers will start lining up in front of your vault and it is up to you to choose which ones may enter, based on their skills. Each dweller has a set of SPECIAL stats, which consist strength, perception, endurance, charisma, intelligence, agility and luck. Facilities that need to be manned by your dwellers will work at peak efficiency if the occupants have a higher score in one of the SPECIAL stats, depending on the room itself. For example, a power plant will produce more power if one or more occupants have a high score in strength.

A dweller's stats can be increased if you give them certain pieces of equipment, like an outfit or a weapon. Weapons are particularly useful when raiders or wild creatures invade your vault from time to time, just to keep things from getting dull. Another good time to equip dwellers with weapons and armor is when you decide to send them on scavenging expeditions outside the vault. Dwellers will eventually stop appearing at your vault's entrance, but you can increase your population the natural way, by having babies, but there are other ways as well.

If you need a quick fix of Fallout, then you will definitely find what you are looking for in Fallout Shelter.