Games Like Fallout 3
Skyrim
If you’re a fan of Fallout 3 but want to branch out into a new yet familiar experience, we’re here to help with eight games like Fallout 3 if you’re looking for something similar.
Though it may not be as bleak and desolate as the Fallout series, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is about as close to the Fallout franchise in terms of gameplay as you can get. Go figure, considering they were both developed by Bethesda.
As a created character, players are let loose in a sprawling fantasy world full of magic, danger and secret treasures. It’s up to them to figure out where they want to go, what they want to do and how they want to use the powers and weapons they gain along the way.
This could mean embarking on the main quest, wherein their character gains the power of Dragon Shouts to turn the tide in a war against dragons.
It could likewise mean wandering the land in search of random sights and challenges, most of which hide riches and long lost artifacts that can make your character a formidable wanderer of the roads.
It’s all up to you, and with the sizable Dragonborn DLC included in more recent rereleases of the title, it’s sure to be a game that’ll suck you in for a good long while.
Games Like Fallout 3
The Long Dark
An early access darling before its initial release, The Long Dark does survival in a post-apocalyptic world right in a lot of the same ways Fallout 3 did.
As a bush pilot, players must do their best to survive after a planet-wide disaster forces them to make a crash landing in the Canadian wilderness.
To this end, they’ll have to scavenge food and water, find shelter from the elements, and fend off wild animals to make it from one day to the next, wary of any threats or dangers that could kill them in a flash.
It’s a bit more straight-forward survival than Fallout 3 was, but the same sense of isolation and constant danger is there.
Where Fallout 3 could have hostile super mutants or a radiation pocket around every corner, The Long Dark provides bone-chilling winds or a pack of hungry wolves to contend with.
It’s also worth noting that the story mode is still being updated with new episodes, so the current build would be entirely survival and free-roaming based. Check it out if Fallout 3’s eerie solitude was a big plus for you.
Games Like Fallout 3
Red Dead Redemption 2
While a ton of praise has been given to Red Dead Redemption 2’s story, its open world is the real show stealer and a sure draw for anyone who enjoyed wandering Fallout 3’s Capital Wasteland.
Set in the final days of the Wild West, Red Dead Redemption 2’s world is full of secrets and stories to uncover.
An abandoned cabin might hold evidence of a long dead cult and its beliefs; or, it could house a monstrosity of sewn together animal limbs, its creator a mad man of the same mind as Dr. Frankenstein.
Other times, it could be as simple as finding a note on the body of a deceased victim of the West’s violence. They might have been on their way to meet their bride to be, or to dig up a treasure thought lost with the death of its owner.
All of this is paired with battles for survival against bandits, wild animals and so much more, making for a venerable survival experience that can draw you in for hours on end the same way Fallout 3 did so many years ago.
Games Like Fallout 3
Kenshi
Few games have presented players with a living, breathing wasteland like Kenshi does, and Fallout 3 fans will be pleased with the level of interaction it provides.
An open world multiplayer RPG set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, Kenshi gives players and their friends the freedom to become whatever kind of survivor they’d like to be.
If wandering the wastes in search of other survivors and convincing them to establish a peaceful colony is appealing to you, you can do so and create a whole new city from the ashes of civilization.
Or, if you’re more inclined to rule the wastes with violence and chaos, you can become a roaming raider and construct a gang of bandits none can stand against.
This is in addition to interactions you’ll have with different raiding parties, which can shape the longevity of that tribe’s survival. It makes the world feel that much more impacted by your choices, and that much more fun to keep playing for days on end.
It’s a lot like how the Karmic choices made in Fallout 3 could impact the wider wasteland, except in a more ongoing and fluid way that can be seen as you’re playing the game.
Plus, thanks to a number of great mods that can be downloaded to the game, there’s no end to the variety that can be injected into each play session.
Games Like Fallout 3
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Like Fallout 3, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is intrinsically designed around its side quests and the entertainment they provide.
Set in the inter dimensional mixing pot known as The Continent, people and mythical creatures live in a fragile coexistence that can shatter at a moment’s notice.
As the Witcher Geralt of Rivia, It’s the player’s job to help those in need, and as a result they’re dragged into any number of small problems or dilemmas along the way toward their main objective.
This is for the best though, as each side mission builds upon the world around the player just like Fallout 3’s did.
Finding out why a baron’s unborn son turned into a demon upon death, or the true intentions of an old woman in the woods, is just as thrilling as assisting what may be the last violin player in the apocalypse or a random shopkeep in need of supplies.
The battles for survival with fantastical monsters along the way only builds upon this similar feel, making each new bit of information or quest completion feel earned and making the desire to take part in another that much stronger.
Games Like Fallout 3
Dishonored
The once prosperous city of Dunhill lies in ruin. Besieged by a deadly plague and under the watchful eye of a corrupt regime, its people now roam the streets in search of safety and a way to survive until order and peace can be restored.
As the former royal guard turned fugitive Corvo, players can work to uncover a solution to the city’s downfall, all while hunting down those that imprisoned him and allowed his home to fall into such disrepair.
Though not as much of an open world experience as other entries on this list, Dishonored does provide a similar atmosphere and sense of observing the aftermath of a crisis as Fallout 3 does.
Each new area unlocked provides new clues as to what happened in the months or years leading up to what lies around you.
An old diary may recount the hostile quarantine methods used by the government. Meanwhile, an audio recording could delve into a corrupt politician’s reasons for usurping the former queen’s throne, and reveal what treachery he still has up his sleeve.
The infected citizens and hostile guards also provide a great stand-in for Fallout 3’s more hostile wasteland inhabitants, making you feel like an unwanted element that has to fight for their survival
All the while, the game’s stealth action gameplay and cci-fi elements blend just as beautifully as Fallout 3’s gunplay, and keep the gameplay entertaining enough to want to stay in the world for as long as possible.
Games Like Fallout 3
Metro: Last Light
The second entry in the Metro series, Metro: Last Light builds upon what the first game did right to provide an even better delve into its post-apocalyptic world.
Following the events of the first game, the survivors of the apocalypse have enjoyed what is believed to be a brief peace following the death of the Dark Ones. However, one year after their death, it is revealed that one survived and must be eliminated.
As the newly appointed ranger Artyom, players must track down and kill this survivor, though doubts arise around whether this is truly the path to peace or a terrible mistake about to be made irreversible.
This sense of choice and striving for morality in a hopeless world goes hand in hand with some of the tone of Fallout 3’s story, and as such brings you into the post-apocalyptic setting in the same way.
Likewise, the game’s many factions and creatures that inhabit the world sell the sense of danger and horror all around you just like Fallout 3’s do.
A ramshackle town made from scrap, or the monsters out of a nightmare that wander the surface, illicit the same wonder or terror as anything out of the Capital Wasteland and its enclaves.
The series is set to receive a new entry in 2019 as well, providing plenty more content to explore through the other titles if you find you enjoy it.
Games Like Fallout 3
Bioshock
While they not seem all that similar at first glance, Bioshock and Fallout 3 have a lot in common that could leave fans of either game pleased with the other.
Like Fallout 3, Bioshock puts a touch of late 1950s culture into a dire and near apocalyptic setting. Survivors of a violent civil war search the wrecked streets and buildings for supplies, with music from before the fall playing on an endless loop.
Both games see the player come in as an outsider as well, unaware of how things fell to the state their in. Only by piecing together what happened with audio logs and the final messages scrawled across walls can they begin to understand how this hell was born.
There’s also the gunplay with scavengers throughout the game’s world, battles with creatures and monsters out of science fiction and a fair number of machines to destroy or hack to your side, all of which should scratch a gameplay itch for fans of Fallout 3.
