Fallout Shelter is instantly addictive

Probably my favorite Android game of 2015, it’s Fallout Shelter and it’s been occupying a lot if my time! Yeah, we already know how these games simulation games work (Sims, etc) but the key to a great sim game is also a successful immersion and this is immediately obvious with Fallout Shelter.

Did I say immersive? I meant addictive!.

Is Fallout Shelter too Addictive?

Keeping in-line with the well known Fallout series, Fallout Shelter continues with the 1950’s motif in a nuclear wasted world. And really, the only problem I have with Fallout Shelter is that I can’t stop playing it. And when I spend too much time on a game, I’m not writing. And when I’m not writing…well, you’re starting to see the problem.

The premise is simple: you have a vault (think The Hatch from Lost) and you’ve got some people aka Dwellers. Your mission is to keep them alive while growing your resources. How do you go about doing that? Well, you start by building some basic survival stations for food (Diner), water (Water Treatment) and power (Power Generator). Create some living quarters where you can “pair” up some dwellers to “create” more Dwellers, and voila, you have a society that may just be able to sustain itself. Or can it?

Of course it’s not that easy. Every Simulation game also requires strategy. Build too fast and your resources become stretched. Build too slow and you might not be able to keep up with the needs of your Dwellers. In my case, I built too fast AND I put my initial Power Generator in a bad place, so it’s useless and not serving a purpose right now. Plus, I don’t have enough Caps at the moment. AND my population is super pissed at me. It’s alot like Sim City in that respect except here you’re the mayor of Nuclear Underground Vault Town.

fallout-shelter-unhappy-dwellers

It’s all fun and games until you get Raided

I had a good thing going for awhile and my people were being fed and actually making babies. Then, I got raided. Thankfully we were able to fend them off (3 of them) because one of my Dwellers had a shotgun from one of the outdoor expeditions to The Wasteland that I sent him on. But don’t get too cozy. You get raided once, and it can certainly happen again. Also, you might get infested by RadRoaches.

Also, just because you’re pregnant doesn’t mean you can’t go to work in the power plant:
fallout shelter pregnant not feeling so great

Getting raided sucks because there are usually some casualties left behind, especially if your dwellers aren’t well armed. So, some of my dwellers died and I didn’t have enough Caps to revive them. So, that leaves you with two options: 1) make babies (the long option) or 2) build a Radio Station and broadcast for more dwellers. The catch 22 here is that you need dwellers to work the Radio Station, and if your resources are stretched, well, you see the problem.

Great game and it requires time and patience. Don’t grow too fast, but you need to grow in order to thrive.

Developer: Bethesda Softworks LLC
Download it from Google Play

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