Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition
Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition screenshot 1Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition screenshot 2
RPGOpen WorldPost-apocalypticSingleplayerModdableFirst-Person

144 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 337

Peak in the last 7 days: 476

Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition Steam store

Game description

Prepare for the Future™ With Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition, experience the most acclaimed game of 2008 like never before. Create a character of your choosing and descend into an awe-inspiring, post-apocalyptic world where every minute is a fight for survival.

Basic info

DeveloperBethesda Game Studios
PublisherBethesda Softworks
PlatformsWindows
Steam DeckPlayable
Release dateDec 17, 2009
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows XP/Vista
Processor2.4 Ghz Intel Pentium 4 or equivalent processor
Memory1 GB
GraphicsDirect X 9.0c compliant video card with 256MB RAM (NVIDIA 6800 or better/ATI X850 or bett…
Storage7 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 366 reviews from the past 1 year

79.3/ 100
Bottom 50%

Steam rating: Very Positive (82%)

Metacritic: 91 /100

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 22, 2026)

Wandering a bleak, haunting wasteland is the heart of this classic open world role playing game, which scores 79.3 across 56,462 Steam reviews.

👍 Strengths

102 reviews still enjoy it, and some say they loved digging into the lore despite its age. 83 praise the world and atmosphere, describing an eerie, lonely wasteland that rewards exploration. Story & World appears in 60% of analyzed reviews and ranks 652nd of 1096. 49 like the story, a main quest that some found moving from start to finish. Content Volume ranks 289th of 1351, and Gameplay ranks 470th of 1396.

👎 Where it falls short

Tech & Support appears in 43% of analyzed reviews and ranks 1310th of 1399. 104 reviews report crashes, lost saves and bugs, and some say it needs community patches before it runs on modern systems at all. 29 criticize the story and writing, calling the main quest weak, the ending illogical and many choices meaningless. 14 find the combat controls clunky and dated, with poor shooting accuracy and no sprint. Visuals & Sound ranks 1130th of 1249.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“acknowledges game is good” · 102 reviews
“incredible atmosphere and world design, memorable exploration experience with rich lore” · 83 reviews
“very high freedom, can kill anyone and go anywhere” · 29 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 47% of reviews · Top 40% of the games we've analyzed

Freedom +3.24 · Room to explore, build, and play your own way
Positive “very high freedom, can kill anyone and go anywhere” · 29 reviews
Negative “world design restricts player freedom to roleplay evil characters” · 3 reviews

Progression 9% · Difficulty 5% · Onboarding 7% · Strategy 18% · Controls & feel 15%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 60% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

World +3.37 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is
Positive “incredible atmosphere and world design, memorable exploration experience with rich lore” · 83 reviews

Story 42% · Characters 12%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 29% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Volume +2.93 · How much there is to play, including endgame, for the price
Positive “hundreds of hours exploring every quest and location in Capital Wasteland” · 7 reviews
Negative “main story too short at under 20 hours” · 7 reviews

Variety 11% · Replayability 5%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 23% of reviews · Bottom 10% of the games we've analyzed

Audio +2.17 · Music, sound effects, and voice acting
Positive “radio soundtrack is pretty damn good” · 1 review

Visuals 19%

Playing with others, the community and servers

Not enough data — only 2% of reviews mention this.

Playing together +2.75 · Fun of playing with friends, teammates, or rivals

Community 1% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 9% of reviews · Top 50% of the games we've analyzed

Balance -0.14 · Whether classes, weapons, and builds are evenly matched
Negative “difficulty inconsistent, killing Deathclaw in one shot or needing 15 shots on Feral Ghoul” · 7 reviews

Anti-cheat 0% · Pricing 4% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 43% of reviews · Bottom 10% of the games we've analyzed

Stability -1.01 · Crashes, freezes, save loss, and game-breaking bugs
Negative “game crashes on launch without community mods, unplayable base product” · 104 reviews
Positive “game finally works out of the box without crashes” · 3 reviews

Performance 13% · Developer support 14%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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