Fallout Shelter

For shelters to protect against radioactive fallout, see Fallout shelter.

Fallout Shelter
File:Fallout Shelter Icon.jpeg App icon
Developer(s)	Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher(s)	Bethesda Softworks
Series	Fallout
Platform(s)	iOS, Android
Release	iOS June 14, 2015 Android TBA
Genre(s)	Simulation
Mode(s)	Single-player

Fallout Shelter is a mobile simulation video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. Part of the Fallout series, it was released for iOS devices on June 14, 2015, right after the conclusion of Bethesda's Electronic Entertainment Expo 2015 conference. It will be released at a later date for Android devices.

Gameplay

In Fallout Shelter, players get to build and manage their own Vault as an overseer. The free-to-play game does not require an internet connection to play, and does not require players to pay in order to speed up long timers or processes. Instead, a player can instantly speed up the process at the risk of catastrophic failures, such as residents succumbing to fire or a radroach infestation. Players control the people in the Vault and need to keep them happy. They'll rescue dwellers from the wasteland, and assign them to different resource-generating buildings in the vault as the overseer, using the seven statistics from the SPECIAL set of stats from the other Fallout games: Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck. Each character's SPECIAL will affect how good they are at generating different forms of resources. The dwellers can level up and can be given new items and weapons, which they'll need when they are sent out into the wasteland to scout. The stats of a dweller can be trained. The number of dwellers can be increased by waiting for new dwellers from the wasteland to arrive or by pairing a male and female dweller in living quarters to produce babies. The player gets to name all the babies in the game. Balancing resources such as food, water and power is an important aspect of the game. In addition the player will also have to look out for and defend against attacks by raiders and creatures. Many different rooms can be built in the vault, providing items or stat bonuses. Players are sometimes rewarded with lunchboxes that contain rewards. Lunchboxes can also be purchased separately with real-world money.

Development and release

In a 2009 interview while talking about a possible Fallout game for iOS, Todd Howard said that the world of Fallout was unique enough that it could translate to any platform and revealed that several designs of an iOS Fallout game were pitched and rejected. On November 5, 2009 John Carmack who at that time worked for id Software said that, while it's nothing official yet, he has an internal proof of concept made for a Fallout iPhone game. Both Carmack and Bethesda's Todd Howard are fans of the platform. Carmack said that he will likely be personally involved in making the game, although at that time he was too overloaded with work on other games. "At the very least I'm going to be providing code," he said.

Fallout Shelter was announced by Bethesda during its E3 2015 press conference on June 14, 2015. It was announced that the game will be released during the night on the same day as the conference. The game is inspired by other video games like Little Computer People, XCOM, SimCity and FTL: Faster Than Light. The game was released for iOS on the same day. In addition Bethesda's Vice President of PR & Marketing, Pete Hines announced that the information about an Android version will be revealed at a later date.

Reception

Reception

Review scores

Publication	Score
Destructoid	7/10
Pocket Gamer	7/10

Destructoid gave it a review score of 7/10 calling it a likable game, praising its visual features like the 3D zoom feature, screen responsiveness and ability to speed up processes at the cost of risks instead of spending money on micro-transactions. At the same time they criticized the game for its sometimes broken objectives and for being slightly skewed to entice players to spend money on micro-transactions for additional lunchboxes, which can reward in-game money that speeds progression. The reviewer Chris Carter stated about the game "We like this game. I don't want to play it every day forever and ever, but it's definitely worth the time I invested in it, and I'll be picking it up again to relive the fun sometime down the line." Pocket Gamer gave it a review score of 7/10 saying "It's not exactly the most exciting post-apocalyptic game out there, but if casual is your bag there's a lot to like here."