Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition

How the hell am I supposed to play on windows 11... I load the game and have to ctrl alt delete and log out of user to just get back into my system, Alt tab does nothing, Alt F4 does nothing....

This is my favorite game of all time. Probably 1000 hours spent in it across versions. Shame it doesn't work without downloading shady 3rd party software. It does not. In fact. Just work.

deeply flawed game, also completely broken on windows 10 and 11. you should only buy this if you wanna play new vegas with tale of two wastelands installed.

contextually, bethesda's idea of a fallout 3 radically differs from the original premise of the black isle fallouts, both in a worldbuilding sense and in the format of the game. one of these changes is fine, the other has more or less ruined the fallout franchise.

the format of the game is fine; bethesda's implementation of shooter mechanics are mediocre at best but, lets be honest, its the right direction for the franchise to have taken in regards to both attracting a wider playerbase as well as the overall smoothness of player exploration. dialogue options (though mostly horribly written) are implemented well enough and allow for an rpg-lite sort of experience compared to classic top-down rpgs like baldurs gate, arcanum or even the older fallouts. menus are relatively easy to navigate and the overall vibe of the game is still relatively consistent with the fallout franchise. in a way, its one of the first vibes-based action rpgs.

this brings me to my primary criticism of both fallout 3 and every subsequent bethesda installment in the fallout franchise; they are all only fallout games because of some vague, vibes-based assessment of the original top-down crpgs. the environments and locations certainly have the same feel of the older fallout games, the world is coated in this greenish, irradiated tint to seem like a fallout game, there are all these old fallout factions we all know and tolerate. but they are not inherently able to match the charm of the original fallout games---in fact, they act as shells of their og counterparts! the brotherhood of steel and the enclave's existence in this game are both exceptionally black and white, there is no sense of personal investment that you can possibly have beyond liking their armor or their combat dialogue! the brotherhood of steel especially has somehow morphed from this strange, kooky bunch of socially awkward techno-fetishists to ideologically pure, radically kind knights in shining armor, and the enclave has morphed from this vestigial organ of pre-war america into this all-seeing skynet-esque antagonist, evil in an exceptionally obvious and bizarrely unintelligent way. and the brotherhood's estranged siblings, the outcasts, are overwhelmingly boring! they are a flawed and mediocre attempt at bringing back the VIBES of the old fallouts with these west coast ideological purists, but are seemingly unable to bring any of that charm and inherent intrigue that the original depictions of the brotherhood had!

quests in this game are SO BORING! there are like three total quests in this game that are at all interesting on a conceptual front, but all end up falling into that classic bethesda trap of becoming extremely mediocre fetch quests which do nothing but act as xp boosts to your already overpowered and completely unchallenged, multi-tool character into even more of a superhuman. and of course we can't forget about the main story, one of the most god awful, horrendously written snooze-fests i or anyone else with half a brain have ever had the displeasure of having to go through to get to the even more annoying post-game dlc (which are also, for the most part, bad!) you as a player are treated like your character is at the beginning of the game, a baby with absolutely zero agency throughout every single one of this games ~30 main and side quests and however many other quests are in the combined five dlcs for this exceptionally bland game. the quests in this game are so boring players have a tendency of completely AVOIDING most of them and end up making their own game out of location exploration, looting, and shooting random roaming bands of enemies that can be found in the wasteland or in dungeons! yes, you will have more fun NOT engaging with this ROLE-PLAYING GAME'S writing and story! and this is only exemplified in subsequent bethesda releases, not just from the fallout franchise! this company loves making you fall asleep at the wheel and do nothing but shooty shooty or stabby stabby and looty looty!

this games post-release dlc content is only marginally better in some instances than the base game, and is demonstrably worse (somehow) in others. broken steel, operation anchorage and mothership zeta are, potentially, three of the worst expansion packs ever released for any videogame ever. broken steel only exists as a reason for the player to not have to make a new character to keep playing through the same old gameplay loop bethesda begs us to stick with, its writing is still horrific and the new enemies and weapons added are merely reskinned and buffed versions of already present enemies and weapons (except for the tesla canon) in order to account for the level cap bump provided with its release. operation is a call of duty game with fallout 3's primitive first person shooter mechanics that takes itself way too seriously to be anything more than a slog. and mothership zeta is a big old nothingburger, just a fat slice of nothing with a side of zilch. the other two relatively okay expansion packs, the pitt and point lookout, only maintain their intriguing nature through the environmental storytelling that they send your way. the pitt holds onto the flaws of bethesda's baffling writing decisions with one of the worst twists ive ever seen in any of their games, and only maintains player interest through the steel-ingot gathering exploration section (which you could look at as the first attempt at an extraction shooter ever if you wanna be silly) and the construction of post-apocalyptic Pittsburgh. point lookout's story is fine, nothing special but also nothing offensively bad; the themes of occultish mystery combined with the swampy environment of point lookout itself adds a neat little charm that leaves me relatively excited to continually revisit this one over and over again, despite the buffoonery of the rest of the content for this game.

in conclusion, this is not good. its actually quite bad. there are some good things in here and other very very very very very oh god why did you do this bad things in here, and unfortunately the latter is far more common than the former.

Playtime off due to playing offline.
Plot feels basic for what it is. Gameplay feels underbaked this entry, with NV additions making it feel more responsive. The world feels empty for a Bethesda game outside of the few interesting setpiece towns. You can blow one of them up but that just lead to there being even fewer interesting places to go. Not a lot of good roleplay opportunities without mods since there is very little worth doing off the scripted pathways. I could never really get into Fallout 3.

Great game, totally worth it. Certainly challenging, but that just makes it even more exciting.

It's a good game but if you alt-tab from the game it can stop working.

if you want roleplaying play order should be fallout 4 fallout 3 fallout 1 fallout new vegas and fallout 2

if you ask me fallout 4 shouldnt be on the list since its not lore friendly and not even canon to the series it been made for making money out of fallout name

Even after getting past the immediate crash-at-launch bug, ironing things out with mods, and being a big fan of the other fallout games, I still just can't enjoy 3.

Between repetitive assets, poor enemy placement, and awful terrain navigation it feels like a slog to get anything done at all, or to get anywhere at all.
The biggest things it has going for it are its writing and freedom of choice, which, considering the age of the game, it does respectably well.

I imagine, like many of the reviews seem to indicate, if you're revisiting this with rose-colored glasses, you'll probably enjoy it a lot more.

i learnt english by playing this game (and skyrim). wonderful open world story driven rpg shooter. even better with mods. such a nostalgic connection with me and this game. combat and visuals ain't much but it's enough to hold it all together whilst you engage into stories and athmosphere

its a good game and don't understand why so many people say it bugs for them? it works fine for me either way this deserves more attention

id recommend plaything this one definitely get some performance mods though the game wouldnt even run for me unless i had one installed

i mean its a classic for me since i was in HS the first time i played it and got a 360 for xmas!

ill literally never get tired of replaying this game.

While not as good as New Vegas, it is really the context of this game's creation where it shines. Bethesda had the difficult task of creating a FPS version of an isometric cRPG series, and they somehow made the cult series mainstream. Having started it before playing Fallout 1 and finishing it after, I was able to get a glimpse of it both with only its successors as context and in full context, and it is surely a unique gameplay experience because of the context it's in. As opposed to New Vegas, it really feels like one of the classic games ported to FPS. Something about it just feels like those classic games in some indescribable way. It does carry over possibly too many story beats from previous games and somewhat clunkily refuses to adapt some of the skills to a more logical system, which New Vegas ended up fixing, but it goes beyond that in vibes. While the story is imperfect, it is still compelling is many ways, and many of the major characters highlight the old world in the new one in ways that have not been evident in other entries. The vault designs are also some of my favorite in the series. Lastly, I enjoyed playing it to see D.C. as somebody who has lived there. While it is not a 1:1 recreation (obviously), it is still really cool to see some things I experience all the time, from the metro system to the monuments and government buildings.

Still the classic fps Fallout we all know and love. Its been since 2012 since I have done a run through, and in 2025 its still fun to play. It's amazing how much you forget. The nostalgia is truly great.

if you have windows 10 or 11 the game will not load title screen or if it does you start your game immediate crash and your booted from the game. don't bother wasting your money or time bethesda got microsofted into a dark era

Without a doubt THE best game of its time and imo alltime as well... Three thousand hours in and never once has the game dissapointed. (most of my hours are on my old 360). It's a great game that does NOT require mods to be a good game such as skyrim. (I hate skyrim). If you like it better modded all power to you but in all my years never once have I modded it. 10/10 reccomend

I have not been able to get this damn thing to work across 3 different machines. Just buy it so you can import it into FNV via TTW

clunky and kind of difficult but a really interesting game, especially if you are into US history. Do a playthrough on easy for your first time because having an understanding of the layout of the world is important to being successful. On hard mode general exploring can be brutal if you dont have full knowledge of the combat system.

If anyone wants to play Fallout 3 and New Vegas, just look up "Tale of Two Wastelands mod". It basically combines both games (you can still play them separately) and makes it so Fallout 3 runs on New Vegas' game engine. It's totally worth it.

Game is completely unplayable. No matter what I do - fresh install, mods, etc. - the game will not run on my machine. It gets to the launcher, I hit play, it crashes.

Hardware/OS specs -

OS: Windows 10 Pro
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 3700x
Graphics Card: RTX 3080

The first Fallout game I played was Fallout 4, and it was amazing. It's like Skyrim, but with plasma weapons and power armor. The second one I played was Fallout: New Vegas, and it was just as good as Fallout 4. Then I tried playing Fallout 76, which was addictive at first, but after a year, I got bored with it. That’s when I decided to give Fallout 3 a try. I was curious if it would be as good, especially after learning that Liam Neeson voiced the protagonist's father. After spending some time with it, I realized that many of the mechanics found in New Vegas, Fallout 4, and 76 are present in Fallout 3. It's as if elements from those three games were combined into one, and the result is Fallout 3.

What I didn’t like about the game was the sneaking mechanics—it’s broken, plain and simple. Despite that, I still recommend this masterpiece.

I originally played this game + all DLCs on the Xbox 360 near its release. It is a classic open world game that you should play at least once in your lifetime. I personally prefer it over New Vegas but mainly due to nostalgia. A negative: on PC it runs slightly worse optimization wise.

I get to run around a wasteland and kill people in the name of finding my father. 10/10 will replay a million times.

Play through at least once if you havnt played this game at all. After you finish your playthrough go install ttw.

My first introduction to the series and universe and one that has come to be one of my favorite of all time. I originally picked this up in college for Xbox at the recommendation of a good friend.

When in doubt fire up Tale of Two Wastelands to combing this and New Vegas, you won't be disappointed.

Some would say that Fallout 3 is a failure, the worst game in the franchise, why do they say that? Hell if I know. This is a wonderful game and has the same kind of charm as Fallout New Vegas, minus a few gameplay addons and PLUS a whole lot of fun. This game pioneers a "whacky" theme to fallout opposed to a highly immersive one.

This review is for the steam version of the game. Currently, the game is literally unplayable. Upon starting a new game, the loading screen runs for a second, and then the application crashes. I have tried two settings changes and a mod, the only recommendations I could find online, and I still can not play my game. This is not a problem that only I am having. Look online. There are hundreds of people reporting this exact issue.

im an avid open world player. this is a must play. be good or evil. easy to play and navigate. side quests are fun. main plot is great.

Fallout 3 is a legendary RPG that sets the gold standard for post-apocalyptic storytelling and open-world exploration. From the moment you leave Vault 101 and step into the ruined remains of Washington D.C., the game grips you with its immersive atmosphere, compelling quests, and the constant thrill of discovery.

The Capital Wasteland is full of stories, from abandoned vaults with horrifying secrets to quirky side characters and moral choices that genuinely affect the world around you. The main storyline is gripping, but the real magic lies in exploring the world and uncovering its countless hidden details.

Combat with the VATS system is incredibly satisfying, allowing for cinematic, strategic takedowns of enemies. Character progression offers tons of customization with perks, skills, and weapon choices that let you play the way you want.

Yes, it’s an older game with some rough edges (hello, occasional crashes), but the atmosphere, writing, and sheer joy of exploration make it worth every second. Mods can also help refine the experience for modern systems.

Whether you’re a Fallout fan or new to the series, Fallout 3 is an unforgettable journey through a beautifully ruined world.

Rating: 10/10 – War never changes, but this game is timeless.

NV better but 3 has a great feel to it and i like the story.

I played so much of this when I was a poor unemployed high schooler that couldn't afford full price Fo4. It was the first game I think I got really into modding, too, although bethesda patched most of the mods away for some reason a while back.

I have that nostalgia for this game, and the setting is great, but I think that if you get the script extender it just won't launch. For me personally, mods are a must have, and that's a big deal. This game REALLY needs some polishing. Performance wise, I listened to jazz for about 8 hours without any major lag or bugs, and I had no signifigant performance mods installed, so It seems to be mostly just conflicts with hardware.

At least I'll never have to play it on the ps3 again!

Seems this is broken for a lot of people on Steam in 2025, I hear the GOG version works better

Game is still fun, better than i remember, solid for deep sale because getting it to work on current hardware is a serious pain.

From the first time I played it until today, Fallout 3 has been---and continues to be---my favorite game of all time.

It's a great game. It's more like an Elder Scrolls game than the classic Fallout games, though.

For quite a while I wasn't able to run this on modern systems like most people, but for whatever reason I tried in December 2024 and it runs perfectly fine with no mods. Game time is not recorded in Steam besides the time you have the launcher open on your desktop, but I'll take being able to play the game.

If you haven't played Fallout 3 yet, there's a reason it's popular. It was also my first Fallout game so the memories of stalking around a post-apocalyptic NOVA/DC area will always have a special place in my heart.

the game crawled so every other fallout could run.

the game is a nightmare to get running, i spent about 6 hours trying to get it to even get to the main menu. you shouldn't need a computer science degree to get it to work.

on top of it just not working it only reads old graphics cards so as opposed to my better graphics card fallout 3 has elected to use my old vega 8 TERTIARY card (i have a franken-PC) if you try and force it to use something more modern it wont run. if it determines that its reached an arbitrary RAM limit it crashes (note that it doent mean its actually reached your PC's RAM limit, just one its set for itself)

past all that it wont accept new bindings for controls (i like to have vats and my pip-boy bound to Tmb 1 and 2 respectively)

plus you need about 20 different mods to fix various instances of "Bethesda magic", normally that would be fine but again, arbitrary memory limit, THEN theres the fact that most of the mods havent been touched in almost 16 years. AND THEN some just dont work, flat out, dot know why, log files didnt say, they just dont work.

DLC is a different matter entirely, lots of crashes for one. otherwise they feel somewhat half baked and largely empty despite containing the best equipment in the game (winterized T-51, metal blaster, revolver from under pentagon, heavy incinerator, alien biogel and epoxy, etc). so you want to play them to get these items but you want to get them over with, not enjoy them.

just play New Vegas, its better, more stable, more mod friendly, and overall better.

I wanted to play this game so bad but it kept crashing. I hope it gets fixed soon. :(

2025 Review - OLED Steam Deck
I have had this game in my library a long time, and playing on my rig often the steam UI cannot track play time, but on my OLED Steam Deck, it tracks my play time again, and though the bugs and glitches are still there, the game runs rather smoothly and it totally worth playing on the Deck.

Good game but I was able to finish the main story in 4 on first play through

Best Fallout. Works well on Steam Deck finally :) no achievements though

I was afraid playing this again after so many years would feel too outdated, but the mood is still great, there is plenty of challenge on very hard and the immersion still work.

The bad, the combat is quite simple, repetitive, frustrating at time. Of course you can mod the heck out of it and make it more modern-like.

The good, The mood, music, gloomy game world, Fallout 3 still felt like Fallout, dialogues and the people. Along with New Vegas these games had much better writing than the joke Fallout 76 or Starfield.

I recommend this, but with the full asterisk that it's a 6/10. It's a good game, don't get me wrong, but the flaws within I simply can't ignore.

Tons of stuff to explore and so much diverse stuff and all this lore. It makes my little brain happy.

You hear a lot about Fallout New Vegas, much less about Fallout 3, but the two are cut from the same cloth. Love the worldbuilding that happens in this game. Besides that, it's classic Bethesda, for better and for worse. Expect sweet loot, level-scaling enemies, genuinely unique quests, and bugs galore.

Fallout 3 is a very controversial game. Despite its numerous issues, many people enjoy it.

Technically, the game has aged poorly. Not only does it struggle to run on modern hardware, but it also looks bad. The issue isn't with the textures or models but with the color grading, which was common in games of that era. The developers aimed to create a grim atmosphere by adding a gray-brown filter but overdid it. I’m not asking for vibrant colors like in Fallout 4, but it’s crucial for a game where you spend dozens of hours to be visually appealing. Although the game world is detailed, the color filters make many locations lose their diversity, and the gray tones quickly become tiring.

That said, the color grading doesn’t make Fallout 3 a truly grim game. While exploring the world, it does create a dense post-apocalyptic atmosphere of traveling through a ruined wasteland, but this is undermined by most quests, which often devolve into absurdity, much like the main storyline.

Despite this contrast, the side quests are the main reason to play Fallout 3. They lack proper role-playing depth and rarely interact with the RPG system, but they are often nonlinear, have intriguing concepts, and feature interesting characters.

Additionally, Fallout 3 is a first-person shooter where you have to shoot a lot. Unfortunately, shooting is another weak aspect of the game, alongside graphics and the main story. Weapons have random spread, weak recoil, unremarkable sound design, and dull models. This makes combat uninteresting, which is unforgivable for a game of this kind.

A few words about the DLCs: Operation: Anchorage, Broken Steel, and Mothership Zeta are dull, linear shooters that take only a few hours and can be skipped. However, The Pitt and Point Lookout are so good that they alone make the game worth playing. Both feature a near-horror atmosphere and captivating stories.

In conclusion, I believe Fallout 3 is worth playing for the side quests, world exploration, and two DLCs. However, you’ll need to spend a day installing mods to bring the game’s technical side up to an acceptable level.

Have not played this game in a long while. It's a lot clunkier than I recalled. The game is fine, nothing really wrong with it, but asking if I'd recommend it to a friend, no, I wouldn't. Fallout New Vegas is much better, I'd recommend that one. Or fallout 1 or fallout 2 or even fallout 4, before I'd recommend fallout 3.

This isn't the worst fallout (76 is the worst, by far, which is sad because it's the newest and is the direction that the devs apparently want the series to go).

Tranquility Lane is probably one of the coolest things I have ever seen in a video game. If you don't know or are just getting into Fallout, you are in for a treat.

Fallout 3 does not start on a Windows computer, don't buy it. There is no reason for this game to even be for sale.