VOICE OVER: Ricky Tucci WRITTEN BY: Caitlin Johnson
War never changes, but they are making some changes to Fallout for Amazon's new show! Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we're looking at the biggest differences between the “Fallout” TV series and the video game franchise that we know so far. Our list includes, The Brotherhood of Steel, The NCR, Vault 33 and more!

5 Key Differences Between the Fallout Series and Games

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re looking at the biggest differences between the “Fallout” TV series and the video game franchise that we know so far.

Wildlife

“Fallout” is known for its interesting, if deadly, wildlife. Most iconic are the Deathclaws, but it’s got many more interesting creatures, at least one of which we’ve already seen in the trailer: the Yao Guai. These are formidable, mutated black bears, sometimes even more dangerous than the Deatchlaws – particularly in “Fallout 3”. And we briefly saw one trying to eat a Brotherhood soldier. We also saw what appears to be a huge, mutant axolotl, something that’s never appeared in the games before and makes for an interesting addition to the lore. Stranger yet, at one point we see a man getting on a horse that seems to be completely normal and unmutated. Does this mean that the TV show’s vault is being used to breed horses? Or is it a flashback? Who knows. Finally, we also saw a German Shepherd eating a Radroach. German Shepherds are pretty much the only dogs you see in “Fallout”, so it makes sense that they’d appear here, too.

The Brotherhood of Steel

As usual, the Brotherhood of Steel were shown off in the trailer. This is hardly surprising since the Bethesda Game Studios “Fallout” games use them liberally in the marketing. But avid fans will notice that these Brotherhood soldiers seem a little bit too well-equipped, since the last time we saw the West Coast Brotherhood of Steel, they were cowering in their bunker from the NCR – unless, of course, you decided to wipe them out. The Brotherhood soldiers in the trailer are also wearing T-60 power armor, which has so far appeared only in “Fallout 4” and “Fallout 76”. This means the Brotherhood we’re seeing in the trailer is likely the East Coast faction, which was already splintered into multiple groups by the time of “Fallout 3”. They’ve also got a huge airship, which, again, is something we’ve only seen them have access to on the East Coast, with the Prydwyn. Why the Brotherhood has decided to go all the way back to the West Coast isn’t yet known. Or, perhaps the show has decided to ignore the events of “New Vegas” entirely.

The NCR

According to Todd Howard, the TV show IS canon to the games, but will be set somewhere the games haven’t touched yet – sunny California. Except, you may be aware that multiple “Fallout” games HAVE taken place in California, including the first one. We don’t know when the show is set, but the NCR is founded pretty early in the 23rd century – though the settlement it came from, Shady Sands, is much older. It’s possible that the show, like “Fallout 76”, is going back further in time, so that it doesn’t have to deal with events in the first two releases. The only place we’ve seen any NCR flags or imagery is in a leaked set photo showing an NCR flag in the background – though we’ll have to wait and see whether this alleged photo is actually real or a hoax. It’s likely to be the latter since the original user deleted it. However, some early press has said that the series is set 219 years after the bombs fell, meaning it’s set in 2296, nine years AFTER the events of “Fallout 4”. So, what happened to the NCR? Some hardcore fans definitely won’t be happy if we find out that the NCR has been entirely destroyed by the time the TV series rolls around. Of course, it’s possible that the show sees the Ceasar’s Legion route in “New Vegas” as canon and the NCR has been defeated – but it’s not like we saw any Legionnaires in the trailer, either.

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Boneyard

Sticking with the California setting, producers have, again, said that they want the continuity of the show to be totally separate from the games. But it’s set in Santa Monica, Los Angeles. Los Angeles is already a setting in “Fallout”, a major location in the first game, now dubbed “Boneyard” or “Angel’s Boneyard” thanks to the huge ruins, and is supposedly controlled in its entirety by the NCR. There are plenty of major, US cities that “Fallout” hasn’t touched yet that could have easily become settings, rather than settings we’ve already seen done in the games before. And it also rings completely hollow to use LA as a setting when it has so much series lore and baggage. It’s true that LA is huge and that we don’t really know which part of the city Boneyard is supposed to be – it might be relatively far away from Santa Monica – but couldn’t they have set it in another city fans want to see? We’ve been waiting for the “Fallout: Miami” mod for years, after all, and cities like Chicago or Seattle are far enough away from all the mainline games’ action that they could easily be used, too.

Vault 33

The series largely looks to be following the journey of Lucy, a Vault Dweller from Vault 33 who leaves to explore the Wasteland. Fans of the series will know that nearly all the vaults are actually twisted, human experiments, many of them so severe that the Dwellers didn’t survive to actually leave the vaults and repopulate. We’re sure that something is going to go awry at Vault 33, and we already saw Dwellers fighting briefly in the trailer, but the nature of its experiment isn’t yet known. We wouldn’t be surprised if revelations about the true nature of Vault 33 are major spoilers for the show’s storyline. Though, another question was raised by the Vault’s Overseer in the trailer having only one eye. Not only have we never seen human mutants in “Fallout” with one eye like this, but it suggests that something in Vault 33 is radioactive, or that it’s potentially more open to the outside world than other, sealed Vaults.

Let us know in the comments whether you think the “Fallout” TV show will be any good.

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