Fallout Tactics - Brotherhood of Steel for Windows

Strategy spinoff in the Fallout universe

Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel is a premium strategy game from Bethesda Softworks, based in the post-apocalyptic world of the Fallout franchise. This tactical game revolves around a squad of Brotherhood of Steel members. While not a part of the main Fallout storyline, it offers a unique perspective on the universe with its focus on tactical gameplay instead of standard RPG. It even lets you switch between turn-based and real-time.

Originally released in 2001, Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel has the visual design of the time, comparable to StarCraft Remastered or Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 and Yuri’s Revenge.

Guide the Brotherhood across the wasteland

Like other games in the franchise, Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel is set in a post-apocalyptic world generally known as The Wasteland. Here, you follow a ragtag band of exiled Brotherhood of Steel members who reformed near Chicago. After establishing their base, they start expanding by helping nearby settlements and recruiting outsiders. The enemies in this game range from tribes to Beastlords and even robots.

This is the first Fallout game to have a multiplayer game mode. Here, each player has a squad they control against a similarly built opposing team. Another unique feature of this game is that it allows players to switch between turn-based and real-time gameplay. However, the tactical requirements of the game make real-time a much more challenging option, especially with the variety of races and characters involved.

However, in guiding the Brotherhood squad, the linearity of its single-player campaign limits playthrough possibilities as well as its replayability. The order in which your squad moves is fixed concerning the storyline. Also, another flaw in the game that was never fixed was the issue with the vehicles. There were bugs regarding vehicle movement, from getting stuck to giving characters an unexpected stat boost.

A unique part of the franchise

In the vast expanse of The Wasteland, Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel immerses players in post-apocalyptic struggles with its unique blend of turn-based and real-time gameplay. Guiding the Brotherhood's journey near Chicago, players face diverse adversaries from tribes to robots. Despite its pioneering multiplayer mode and tactical depth, the game's linear campaign and unresolved technical issues, notably with vehicles, constrain its replayability.