‘Fallout’ is a new (and deliciously bloody) chapter in the recent fairytale marriage of games and series

It is a completely different, severely deformed animal The Last of Usbut also the new Prime series Fallout is a game adaptation that you will enjoy watching. (If you have a strong stomach anyway.)

For those who don’t know the buttons on a game controller: Fallout is a gaming classic that has been around for almost thirty years. The history is in those games – there are now four, plus a whole host of spin-offs – progressed slightly differently from the Second World War onwards. Humanity developed other technology, which soon led to advanced robots, nuclear-powered vehicles, and energy weapons. Televisions and computers look like your great-grandfather can still operate them. A bit retrofuturistic, as if Expo 58 fulfilled its promise.

But that wonderful new world comes to an end due to the oil shortage, which ultimately leads to the ‘Great War’ between China and the US: on October 23, 2077, they bomb each other with nuclear bombs. What is left of the world decades afterward takes place Fallout wonders.

And therefore also the series that Amazon Prime is now launching. And who has understood the game well. Fallout is an open world game, very different from the much more narrative game The Last of Us. Here you have no overarching quest, no daddy Joel who has to guide a teenager who is immune to the havoc that has devastated the US safely to the other side of the continent.

So the series also starts very small, with Lucy (played Ella Purnell, Jacky from Yellowjackets) leaving the shelter of her Vault and having to fend for herself in the destroyed world above ground. This way, just like in the game, you gradually get to know the outside world. Along the way she meets Maximus (Aaron Clifton Moten), a member of the secret Brotherhood of Steel, who is looking for a severed head with a chip in it. And finally, there’s bounty hunter/mutant The Ghoul (Walton Goggins), who has been on the loose for over 200 years.

Does that matter? Not particularly. You should know that you will encounter a lot of diverse people – sometimes only briefly, just like in the game – and that you will get a lot of humor and a lot of flying body parts, blood and intestines. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but those who like their series with the necessary exaggeration, variety and B-movie fun will not be disappointed. (We are thinking especially of enthusiasts of The Boys.)

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It seems that a new chapter is being written in the recent fairytale marriage of games and series (let’s just say that we are at least still in the honeymoon phase where everything is pink and moonshine).

There have been series of them in recent years Resident Evil and Halobut the game changer is without a doubt the adaptation of The Last of Usfor which HBO paired game creator Neil Druckmann with Craig Mazin, the man behind the top series Chernobyl. They raised the bar considerably in one go. Not only was their series visually state of the art, there was undeniable chemistry between leads Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal, and there was that heartbreaking episode with Bill and Frank.

As said, Fallout is a completely different animal – dark drama, or something like that – but here too no effort has been spared. The gore is super realistic, the dialogues and setup (one for the game fans) do justice to the original and the actors are excellent (in addition to the names mentioned, you will get former Twin Peaksspecial agent Kyle MacLachlan again). With producer and partly director Jonathan Nolan (who of Westworldand Christopher’s brother), a big name has also been brought in behind the scenes.

Why this big leap forward now? According to Todd Howard, spiritual father of Fallout, it simply has a lot to do with the fact that the technical means are now there to create all this credibly on small or large screens. ‘Post-apocalyptic worlds, for example, have therefore become tempting, both for film and television makers and for game designers.’

And Fallout also provides a rich canvas for the series’ screenwriters. ‘The games have always played with what the world was like before and after the war. How did the nuclear holocaust happen? What is at stake? How far are some willing to go to maintain their illusion of control? Everything is possible. The only thing I think we have to pay attention to is that it remains entertaining.’

You would think that this series, with all its nihilistic western conditions, is not coincidentally set in California, the cradle of globalized entertainment. Is that a provocation? A warning? A wink? “Let’s call it an irresistible urge,” Nolan smiles. ‘The first Falloutgame was also set in California. We thought it could be a way to come full circle. But what better setting for a series made by Hollywood smartasses who will explain life and their profession to the geniuses behind games? No, seriously: in a globalized world, the US as a setting appeals to most people. And: we tend to think that we can impose our vision on the world. But that can suddenly stop from one day to the next. In the entertainment world, but also elsewhere.’