11 Biggest Differences Between The Fallout Show And The Games

Even if you've never touched a "Fallout" game, the reviews say the show is still well worth watching. Critics have praised the Amazon Prime Video series for its story, visuals, and worldbuilding, with many dubbing "Fallout" one of the best video game adaptations we've ever had. The one thing that any old school "Fallout" fan is sure to notice while watching the show is that it takes the games very seriously. From the sets and props to the sound cues, the "Fallout" show accurately translates so much of what made the games so popular. "Fallout" is blowing everyone away, but that's not to say the show got everything from the games exactly right.

As a franchise, "Fallout" has a long and convoluted history. The games even have a tendency to contradict themselves, leading to all sorts of mysteries and debates for fans to sort out. The show was bound to take a few liberties, and since Amazon's series is set later in the timeline than any of the games, it was always going to bring some major changes to the franchise. It hasn't completely rewritten the story from the games, but it's added plenty of new lore and recontextualized some old debates. Let's dig into the biggest changes the "Fallout" show made from the games.

The Gulper is by far the weirdest irradiated creature that the "Fallout" show puts in the spotlight. The ones seen in the Amazon series look a bit like giant axolotls, if axolotls had human fingers covering the inside of their mouths. They're shown to be absolutely ferocious, but don't worry too much if one swallows you whole — they digest food slowly, so maybe your friends will have time to come save you. These terrifying creatures undoubtedly make for great TV, but the ones in the show aren't the same as the ones gamers are familiar with.

Gulpers were introduced in the "Fallout 4" DLC "Far Harbor," and since then they've also appeared in "Fallout 76." The ones seen in the games more closely resemble giant hellbender salamanders than axolotls, with a dark, almost reptilian design. Axolotls, meanwhile, have a rounder head and a pink skin tone, like the Gulper from the show. The differing appearance is down to the fact that these groups of Gulpers exist on opposite sides of the country.

In the games, players encounter Gulpers on the East Coast, but in the show, they've taken root in the flooded area around what used to be Hollywood Boulevard. According to Ben Carnow, who designed the original Gulper "on a very accelerated schedule for an internal game jam," they're basically cousins. "It would have been amazing to see my design in the show, but I honestly love when there are regional differences to creatures," he said on X (formerly Twitter).

Almost nothing is as emblematic of the "Fallout" universe as power armor. The box art of the very first game put a power armor helmet front and center, and ever since then, power armor has been one of the most sought after items in the series. Sometimes, like in "Fallout 3," power armor is just the best way to defend yourself out in the wasteland, but in games like "Fallout 4," for example, power armor transforms you into a mechanized tank that can fly across the wastes with ease.

Just like in the games, power armor has an important role to play in the "Fallout" series, but there are some notable differences in how it works. We get to see Maximus fly around in his stolen power armor, but instead of having a jetpack, his armor uses wrist-mounted propulsion à la Iron Man. Also, the power armor that the Brotherhood of Steel uses in the show has a major flaw that doesn't exist in the games: There's a seam in the armor that the Ghoul uses to single-handedly take down an entire squadron of Brotherhood Knights.

As the Brotherhood of Steel spread out across the country, its chapters slowly stopped communicating with each other. Aside from radio there's no good way to communicate across long distances in the wasteland, so over time the Brotherhood chapters on the East Coast and the West Coast became mostly separate entities. In "Fallout 4," Elder Arthur Maxson rose to power on the East Coast after gaining the support of the West Coast elders, but he still primarily pursued his own goals.

The "Fallout" show seems to be setting the stage for a more unified Brotherhood of Steel. In the very first episode we see a giant Brotherhood airship approach Maximus' base. The ship is the Prydwen, which was previously seen in "Fallout 4" under the control of Elder Maxson. Apparently, some of the Commonwealth Brotherhood members have made their way back to California. What's even more interesting is that before the show was released, the airship was referred to as the Caswennan. If the showrunners thought the Prydwen's appearance was a secret worth keeping, then it seems more likely that it's going to have a bigger role to play in the future.

In the "Fallout" universe, the Enclave is a group of former government officials and wealthy elites who seek to restore the best and worst parts of pre-war America. More often than not, Enclave members show up as villains in various games, and in "Fallout 3" the organization was supposedly defeated forever, becoming a spent power. However, much like radroaches, it's apparently impossible to keep them down. The "Fallout" show has resurrected the Enclave, with one member playing a big role in the story.

In the first episode of the Amazon series, we learn that Maximus and Titus are hunting for someone from the Enclave, and in Episode 2, we're taken to an Enclave facility, where Dr. Siggi Wilzig (Michael Emerson) is developing a mysterious device. Wilzig defects from the Enclave and escapes into the Wilds after an Enclave administrator realizes that he's carried out unauthorized cold fusion research, and this is what triggers a manhunt by the Brotherhood of Steel. We don't learn much about what's left of the Enclave over the course of the season, but, despite the group being on the fringes of the story, its importance in the grand picture is implied.

For as long as the "Fallout" games have existed, fans have debated about who dropped the bombs first. The global thermonuclear war known as the Great War in "Fallout" lore was the result of a decades-long conflict between the United States and China. Readable in-game records from the American side state that the Chinese launched their strike first, but nothing is known for certain. The TV show muddied the waters even further by suggesting that Vault-Tec may have actually played an active role in starting the Great War.

In the season finale, Cooper Howard is spying on a Vault-Tec board meeting. He hears his wife (a high-ranking exec in the company) pitch the concept of vaults to other bigwig industry barons, and her main selling point is that Vault-Tec can guarantee its products will be put to use by dropping the very first nuke. It appears as though the company was entirely prepared to sacrifice the world in exchange for profit.

This doesn't necessarily mean that Vault-Tec nuked the whole United States, but it confirms that the company had the means and the motivation to do so, and that's a line that wasn't crossed in the games. Redditor u/Savvyjack54 has put forward the argument that Vault-Tec actually hit China, knowing full well a response would come. "As the show mentions, the top levels of government, president, Enclave, Vault-Tec, seemed to know about the bombs being dropped," they wrote. "I find it entirely possible that Vault-Tec dropped a bomb on the Chinese mainland."