Fallout Shelter ▶ Trailer
Fallout Shelter screenshot 1Fallout Shelter screenshot 2
RPGSimulationFree To PlayBase BuildingSurvivalPost-apocalypticSingleplayerManagement

1,367 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 2,074

Peak in the last 7 days: 2,303

Fallout Shelter Steam store

Game description

Fallout Shelter puts you in control of a state-of-the-art underground Vault from Vault-Tec. Build the perfect Vault, keep your Dwellers happy, and protect them from the dangers of the Wasteland.

Basic info

DeveloperBethesda Game Studios
PublisherBethesda Softworks
PlatformsWindows
Steam DeckVerified
Release dateMar 29, 2017
Price

Minimum specs

OSWindows 7 64 bit
ProcessorIntel Core 2 Quad CPU Q9550 @2.83GHZ
Memory2 GB
GraphicsNVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 1Ghz, Radeon HD 6970 1GHz
Storage2 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 379 reviews from the past 1 year

73.7/ 100
Bottom 30%

Steam rating: Very Positive (88%)

Metacritic: 63 /100

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 22, 2026)

Managing an underground shelter and its dwellers keeps players busy here, and Fallout Shelter scores 73.7 from 379 analyzed reviews.

👍 Strengths

180 reviews enjoy it as a light management game, and some call it surprisingly fun and addictive. 16 praise the art style, and some describe the cartoonish look as fresh and charming. 12 find the progression rewarding, and some enjoy growing the vault from a few dwellers to hundreds while unlocking new rooms and gear. Story & World ranks 712th of 1096, and Visuals & Sound ranks 814th of 1249.

👎 Where it falls short

Pricing & Fairness ranks 1104th of 1399. 73 reviews object to the monetization, and some say a recent season pass and timers built to sell skips feel out of place in a single player game. 42 report bugs and crashes, and some lost vaults after dozens of hours when saves broke. 41 say the late game turns repetitive, and some find it stale once the vault grows large. Content Volume ranks 1146th of 1351, Gameplay ranks 861st of 1396, and Tech & Support ranks 1021st of 1399.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“enjoy the game enough to want to play it” · 180 reviews
“late-game content becomes repetitive with limited variation and high randomness” · 41 reviews
“visual art is very good, looks fresh and original” · 16 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 52% of reviews · Bottom 40% of the games we've analyzed

Freedom +2.19 · Room to explore, build, and play your own way
Positive “excellent customization of inhabitants, weapons, and clothing” · 8 reviews
Negative “wish you could load vault from other platforms and sync saves” · 3 reviews

Progression 35% · Difficulty 6% · Onboarding 11% · Strategy 11% · Controls & feel 7%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 20% of reviews · Bottom 40% of the games we've analyzed

World +2.23 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is
Positive “Fallout atmosphere present in music and aesthetics” · 8 reviews

Story 3% · Characters 2%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 30% of reviews · Bottom 20% of the games we've analyzed

Variety -2.36 · Fresh content and situations versus repetition
Negative “late-game content becomes repetitive with limited variation and high randomness” · 41 reviews

Volume 14% · Replayability 3%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 12% of reviews · Bottom 40% of the games we've analyzed

Visuals +2.74 · Graphics, art style, and animation
Positive “visual art is very good, looks fresh and original” · 16 reviews
Negative “lazily made graphics, no eye candy, dwellers barely holding weapons” · 1 review

Audio 3%

Playing with others, the community and servers

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

Community +1.34 · Who you play with — how many, and how friendly

Playing together 1% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 32% of reviews · Bottom 30% of the games we've analyzed

Pricing -0.48 · Whether the price, DLC and microtransactions are reasonable, and how much paying gives you an edge
Negative “season pass added to single-player game purely for monetization, disrespectful update” · 73 reviews
Positive “free-to-play with no mandatory spending required” · 6 reviews

Anti-cheat 1% · Balance 4% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 24% of reviews · Bottom 30% of the games we've analyzed

Developer support -0.28 · Updates, patches, and how devs respond to players
Negative “updates removed Chinese localization after many years” · 16 reviews
Positive “finally updated after years of abandonment” · 5 reviews

Stability 14% · Performance 2%

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

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