Developer Bethesda had a surprise or two for its showcase at the Electronics Entertainment Expo trade show last night. But the biggest one was a previously unannounced game called Fallout Shelter, a resource-management title for iOS that puts you in charge of a subterranean colony after the nuclear holocaust.
Most surprising of all: It’s out right now, and it’s free.
Fallout Shelter is a spin-off of the Fallout series of role-playing games, but it’s closer to Tiny Tower or a Sim title. You play as the administrator of an underground Vault, a nuke-proof shelter that harbored human survivors when the bombs fell. Your goal is to expand, build your population, and keep the occupants happy while also directing them to handle emergencies like fires, infestations of radioactive insects, and attacks from raiders.
If the phrase “free-to-play” has you thinking of paywalls and microtransactions, don’t worry: Fallout Shelter‘s only in-app payments are optional and only used to unlock gear. You can play the whole game normally without paying anything, and even the option to speed up resource creation is free. You just run the risk of your attempt failing, which could mean a fire breaking out or some other random mishap.
You can download and play Fallout Shelter right now, and you should. It’s a solid game with a surprising amount of depth, and the apocalypse has never looked so charming.
Evan Killham is a freelance writer who lives in Nebraska and isn’t interested in football, so he has plenty of time to play and think about video games. He has written for Bitmob and GamesBeat and sometimes, he even goes outside. But not too often because he’s heard there are bees out there. Occasionally, companies send free units for review. Evan subscribes to Cult of Mac’s Reviews Policy and also does not keep the items he receives for possible coverage.
