Game to film and television adaptations aren’t anything new to streaming. “Uncharted,” “Assassin’s Creed” and “The Last of Us” are all game to live-action adaptations and those are just the tip of the iceberg.
The newest game to live-action remake is “Fallout,” a post-apocalyptic game set in the future where players navigate through the world after a nuclear war destroys the Earth.
The series was released all at once on Amazon Prime Video, with the episodes ranging from 45 minutes to 75 minutes.
Unlike other game-to-live-action adaptations, the show takes place in the “Fallout” universe but does not attempt to make it a retelling of the game. Instead, it focuses on an original story that takes place after the games in timeline order.
Three main characters lead the show in separate but intertwining plots.
Lucy MacLean is from Vault 33, one of the safeguards put in place for humanity to survive after the nuclear bombs dropped back in 2077. She doesn’t know what lives beyond the walls of her home, but she knows she has to venture out if she wants to find her father.
Maximus is a soldier for the Brotherhood of Steel, an organization designed to protect humanity and recover lost artifacts of pre-war America. He is assigned to be a Squire for Knight Titus. and soon has to go out and complete their mission of finding a wanted scientist.
The Ghoul, Cooper Howard, is an over 200-year-old mutated human due to radiation and a bounty hunter who is also out looking for the scientist. The show has various flashbacks to his previous life before he became a Ghoul when he was still an actor.
In a cool display of understanding the game, all three main characters are entertaining to watch and represent different playing styles of the original game.
Lucy is a kind playthrough with her character often helping others at her own expense, Maximus is neutral but often does things for himself and The Ghoul is a selfish playthrough with him constantly disregarding others.
With so many contrasting characters, the show is often jumping from scene to scene.
“We get to do a scene that is horrific and violent. But we can also put that right next to a scene of the banal life of the vault dwellers living underground,” said Graham Wagner, co-creator and showrunner, in an interview with The Verge.
The very first scene manages to capture the audience’s attention while also setting the plot up for the upcoming character introductions. We start off focused on Cooper and his daughter when the bombs first start dropping.
It’s quick, devastating and creates room for just what the show wants to be.
Surprisingly though, some of the cast hadn’t played the original game but still nailed the overall vibe of it.
“They told me, us maybe, that we didn’t have to play the games, but we could if we wanted to. I did want to play them because I really wanted to get everything I could out of this moment. I wanted to obviously do justice to the source material. But I also knew my character was original,” Ella Purnell, who plays Lucy, said in an interview with ScreenRant.
Overall, the show is a great addition to the “Fallout” universe, and while being an original story, fans of the games can catch easter eggs and callouts to the games.
“Fallout” has been renewed for a second season by Amazon Prime Video just eight days after the original release — and for good reason too.
