Fallout 3

from igdb.com

The introductory sequence introduces the player to their character's father James, a doctor and scientist in Vault 101. James frequently makes comments about the player character's deceased mother Catherine, and her favorite Bible passage, Revelation 21:6, which speaks of "the waters of life".

The main quest begins after the player is forced to flee Vault 101 when James leaves the vault, throwing it into anarchy and causing the paranoid Overseer to send his security force after the player. The search for James takes the character on a journey through the Wasteland, first to the nearby town of Megaton, named for the undetonated atomic bomb at the center of town, then the Galaxy News Radio station, whose enthusiastic DJ Three Dog gives the player the moniker of "The Lone Wanderer". The player travels to Rivet City, a derelict aircraft carrier now serving as a fortified human settlement. Here the player meets Doctor Li, a scientist who worked alongside the player's father. Doctor Li informs the player of Project Purity, a plan conceived by Catherine and James to purify all the water in the Tidal Basin and eventually the entire Potomac River with a giant water purifier built in the Jefferson Memorial. However, continued delays and Catherine's death during childbirth put an end to the project, and James took the player's character as a newborn to raise them in the safety of Vault 101.

After investigating the Jefferson Memorial, the Lone Wanderer tracks James to Vault 112, and frees him from a virtual reality program being run by the Vault's sadistic Overseer, Dr. Braun. James and the player return to Rivet City, and James reveals he sought out Braun for information on the Garden of Eden Creation Kit (G.E.C.K.), a device that contains the components needed to finally activate Project Purity. James and Doctor Li lead a team of Rivet City scientists to the memorial with intent to restart the project, but the memorial is invaded by the Enclave, a powerful military organization formed from the remnants of the pre-War United States government. James floods the project's control room with radiation to stop the Enclave military leader, Colonel Augustus Autumn, from taking control of it, killing himself (but Autumn survives), his last words urging his child to run. The Lone Wanderer and Dr. Li flee to the ruins of the Pentagon, now a base for the Brotherhood of Steel and now known as the Citadel.

With Project Purity still inoperable even with the Enclave occupying the site, the player travels to Vault 87 to find a G.E.C.K. and finish James's work. The player finds the Vault to be a testing site for the FEV (Forced Evolutionary Virus), and the source of the Super Mutants in the Capital Wasteland. After the player acquires the G.E.C.K., the Wanderer is ambushed by the Enclave and captured.

At the Enclave base at Raven Rock, the player is freed from their cell by the Enclave leader, President John Henry Eden, who requests a private audience with them. En route to his office however, Colonel Autumn defies Eden's orders and takes command of the Enclave military, ordering them to kill the player. Fighting their way to Eden's office, the player discovers Eden is actually a sentient ZAX series supercomputer who took control of the Enclave after their defeat in Fallout 2 on the West Coast thirty years ago. Eden wishes to repeat the plan of then-President Dick Richardson using Project Purity, infecting the water with a modified strain of FEV that will make it toxic to any mutated life. This plan will kill most life in the wasteland including humans, but the Enclave, due to their genetic "purity" as a result of their isolation, will be immune and free to take control of the area. The Wanderer, provided with a sample of the new F.E.V., is given a choice to either leave peacefully or convince Eden to self-destruct the entire base. The Lone Wanderer escapes Raven Rock and returns to the Citadel.

With the knowledge they possess, the G.E.C.K. and the means to activate Project Purity, the Brotherhood assault the Jefferson Memorial, spearheaded by a giant robot named Liberty Prime. In the control room of Project Purity the player confronts Colonel Autumn, and has the choice to persuade him to give up or kill him. Dr. Li informs the player that the purifier is ready to be activated, but the activation code must be input manually, and also that the control room is flooded with lethal amounts of radiation. The Lone Wanderer is forced to choose between sending Sarah Lyons of the Brotherhood inside the extremely irradiated purifier or entering themselves. Whoever enters into the chamber inputs the code hinted at through the game, that being 21:6, and dies from a radiation spike.

Fallout 3 from the creators of the award-winning Oblivion, featuring one of the most realized game worlds ever created. Create any kind of character you want and explore the open wastes of post-apocalyptic Washington D.C. Every minute is a fight for survival as you encounter Super Mutants, Ghouls, Raiders and other dangers of the Wasteland. Prepare for the future.

The third game in the Fallout series, Fallout 3 is a singleplayer action role-playing game (RPG) set in a post-apocalyptic Washington DC. Combining the horrific insanity of the Cold War era theory of mutually assured destruction gone terribly wrong, with the kitschy naivety of American 1950s nuclear propaganda, Fallout 3 will satisfy both players familiar with the popular first two games in its series as well as those coming to the franchise for the first time.

from IGDB.com

All Time Lists

Publication List Year Rank
British GQ The 100 greatest video games of all time, ranked by experts 2023 59
Edge The 100 Best Games To Play Today 2009 37
EP Daily Top 100 Games & Movies Of All Time! 2013 42
FHM FHM's 100 Greatest Games of All Time 2010 4
G4 Top 100 Video Games of All Time 2012 75
Game Informer The Top 300 Games of All Time 2018 42
The Top 200 Games Of All Time 2009 65
Gamereactor Gamereactor's Top 100 bedste spil nogensinde 2017 37
Best Ever: Spel 2022 29
GamesRadar+ The 100 Best Games of All-Time 2015 36
GamesTM 100 Greatest Games of All Time 2015 1
The 200 Greatest Games of All Time 2018 121
100 Greatest Games Of All Time 2010 1
Gameswelt Gameswelt Top 100 2016 90
Gameswelt Top 100 2012 27
GLHF The 100 best video games of all time, ranked 2022 84
The best 100 games of all time, ranked 2023 86
IGN Top 100 Games of All Time 2015 78
Top 100 Video Games of All Time 2018 63
PC and Tech Authority 100 games to play before you die 2013 1
Polygon The 500 best games of all time 2017 186
Popular Mechanics The 100 Greatest Video Games of All Time 2019 48
The 100 Greatest Video Games of All Time 2014 47
Power Unlimited Top 100 Beste Video Games Aller Tijden 2015 43
Slant Magazine 100 Greatest Video Games of All Time 2014 92
Stuff Best Games Ever: the 20 greatest games of all time 2014 9
Stuff's Best Games Ever: The 50 greatest games of all time 2017 30
Countdown of top 100 games 2011 33
SVG 98 Best Video Games Of All Time Ranked 2022 30
Time The 50 Best Video Games of All Time 2016 36
WhatCulture 30 Best Video Games Of All Time 2019 26

Decade Lists

Publication List Year Rank
Complex The 100 Best Video Games and PC Games From the 2000s 2009 38
Fellowship of the Screen The Best Video Games of the 2000s 2017 37
Paste The 20 Best Video Games of the Decade 2009 3
The A.V. Club The 15 best videogames of the ’00s 2009 3
WhatCulture 25 Best Video Games Of The 2000s 2019 9

Miscellaneous Lists

Publication List Year Rank
BAFTA British Academy Games Awards 2009 2009 2
Edge The 100 Greatest Games of Edge's Lifetime 2023 88
Eurogamer Games of the Generation 2013 6
IGN Best of the Decade 2013 7

End of Year Lists

Publication List Year Rank
CNET Top 10 video games of 2008 2008 1
D.I.C.E. Awards Game of the Year 2008 2009 2
Destructoid Destructoid Game of the Year 2008 2008 2
Digital Spy Top Ten Games Of 2008 2008 5
Game Developers Choice Awards GDCA Game of the Year 2008 2009 1
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar's Officially Annual Platinum Chalice Awards 2008 2008 1
Giant Bomb Giant Bomb Game of the Year 2008 2008 8
Goomba Stomp The Best Games of the 2000s (2008) 2021 2
IGN Best of the Decade (2008) 2013 1
Paste The 10 Best Videogames of 2008 2008 1
Spike Video Game Awards Game of the Year (2008) 2008 2

All Time Lists

Edge
The 100 Best Games To Play Today
37
2009
EP Daily
Top 100 Games & Movies Of All Time!
42
2013
G4
Top 100 Video Games of All Time
75
2012
Game Informer
The Top 300 Games of All Time
42
2018
Game Informer
The Top 200 Games Of All Time
65
2009
Gamereactor
Gamereactor's Top 100 bedste spil nogensinde
37
2017
Gamereactor
Best Ever: Spel
29
2022
GamesRadar+
The 100 Best Games of All-Time
36
2015
GamesTM
100 Greatest Games of All Time
1
2015
GamesTM
The 200 Greatest Games of All Time
121
2018
GamesTM
100 Greatest Games Of All Time
1
2010
Gameswelt
Gameswelt Top 100
90
2016
Gameswelt
Gameswelt Top 100
27
2012
IGN
Top 100 Games of All Time
78
2015
IGN
Top 100 Video Games of All Time
63
2018
PC and Tech Authority
100 games to play before you die
1
2013
Polygon
The 500 best games of all time
186
2017
Popular Mechanics
The 100 Greatest Video Games of All Time
48
2019
Popular Mechanics
The 100 Greatest Video Games of All Time
47
2014
Power Unlimited
Top 100 Beste Video Games Aller Tijden
43
2015
Slant Magazine
100 Greatest Video Games of All Time
92
2014
Stuff
Countdown of top 100 games
33
2011
Time
The 50 Best Video Games of All Time
36
2016
WhatCulture
30 Best Video Games Of All Time
26
2019

Decade Lists

Fellowship of the Screen
The Best Video Games of the 2000s
37
2017
The A.V. Club
The 15 best videogames of the ’00s
3
2009
WhatCulture
25 Best Video Games Of The 2000s
9
2019

Miscellaneous Lists

BAFTA
British Academy Games Awards 2009
2
2009
Edge
The 100 Greatest Games of Edge's Lifetime
88
2023
Eurogamer
Games of the Generation
6
2013
IGN
Best of the Decade
7
2013

End of Year Lists

CNET
Top 10 video games of 2008
1
2008
D.I.C.E. Awards
Game of the Year 2008
2
2009
Destructoid
Destructoid Game of the Year 2008
2
2008
Digital Spy
Top Ten Games Of 2008
5
2008
Game Developers Choice Awards
GDCA Game of the Year 2008
1
2009
Giant Bomb
Giant Bomb Game of the Year 2008
8
2008
Goomba Stomp
The Best Games of the 2000s (2008)
2
2021
IGN
Best of the Decade (2008)
1
2013
Paste
The 10 Best Videogames of 2008
1
2008
Spike Video Game Awards
Game of the Year (2008)
2
2008