By Andi Nuruljihad for Gamesforum

Fallout Shelter Online takes the addictive base management of Fallout Shelter and throws common free-to-play mobile game mechanics on top to transform a great proof of concept into a complete mobile gaming experience. Like the first game, in Fallout Shelter Online you’re the Overseer of one of the series’ iconic Vaults. But where the original was almost exclusively focused on Vault management -- constructing rooms, training and upgrading your Dwellers and their equipment -- Fallout Shelter Online invites players to step outwards into the wild wastelands.

Home Is Where the Vault Is

Like in Fallout Shelter, you manage your Vault, constructing rooms and assigning Dwellers to work in them producing water, food, caps (one of the many in-game currencies), and electricity. You can train your Dwellers for combat or resource production, and most are naturally more talented at specific jobs.

Progress in the main story happens at home ,and story sequences are unlocked as you upgrade the rooms in your Vault. But base management in FSO is only half of the game, the rest takes place beyond your Vault door.

Stepping Outside

Outside of your Vault, FSO plays like a typical auto-battler RPG. The Dwellers you deploy each have their own classes, weapons, and abilities. As they attack, your Dwellers increase their Action Points (AP); once their AP is full they can unleash their special ability.

Where most auto-battlers are largely linear experiences, FSO’s stages are much more varied. Most of them are large structures that you explore room by room. The rooms may contain loot, treasure, enemies, or bosses, but you won’t know some exploration -- you only have visibility in the room you’re in and any horizontally adjacent rooms. It’s a reasonable facsimile of the scavenging element which is key to the main line Fallout titles, and it’s fun to map out rooms and work out the path of least resistance.

A Natural Evolution

There’s been a lot of outcry from the Fallout Shelter community over the implementation of gacha mechanics in FSO. Fans have every reason to be concerned -- Bethesda has shown a willingness to sacrifice product quality for aggressive monetisation. Fallout 76 is the most recent (and most notorious) example of this, but Bethesda has been dealing in unpopular and unorthodox monetisation models since 2016 when they launched their Creation Club to sell community-made mods to their players.

In practice, the new gacha system feels like a natural evolution of Fallout Shelter’s random Dweller mechanic. In the original, you would occasionally be visited by outsiders looking to become a member of your Vault. In FSO, these random visits are far less frequent, but you can collect new Dwellers by finding or purchasing their Posters. Collect enough Posters and the Dweller will become a member of your Vault. Thankfully, randomness has been removed -- no lootboxes or “surprise mechanics” -- and you can always choose which Posters you want to purchase.

Of course, some Dwellers are much better than the others. And while there are those who excel in resource production, since so much of the game revolves around combat, the most valuable Dwellers are fighters. The best fighters will help you complete missions faster, earn greater rewards in the fight club, and generally progress through the game much more efficiently.

Monetisation Model

Fallout Shelter Online relies solely on in-app purchases to make money. I counted at least 5 different in game currencies -- tickets, caps, Nuka-Cola bottles, Old World Money, faction coins. Most can be bought with your real-world money, but you can also exchange some forms of currency for others. Fallout has always had multiple currencies, but this is ridiculous.

Posters are the most sought after items, of course, but some are only available in certain locations. You can always click the Poster to see the different places you can find a Dweller’s posters, but depending on the location, you might have to spend your Nuka-Cola, or your faction coins, or your Guild currency (another one!). You find yourself spending caps to purchase Nuka-Cola to trade for Faction Coins to buy the poster you’re looking for. It’s convoluted to the point of being frustrating.

Interestingly, Fallout Shelter Online seems to buck the trend of rewarded video ads; an unexpected decision considering its primary developer is Chinese company Shengqu Game. Considering the game’s early state, there may be a rewarded ads system in the works.

Final Thoughts

Bethesda and Shengqu Games’ Fallout Shelter Online is a better, more fleshed out gaming experience than the original. The base management elements of Fallout Shelter remain largely untouched, but it’s the world outside of your Vault that makes the game worth playing. The fun scavenging mechanics and enjoyable auto-battle combat make for surprising levels of depth and variety that will have you playing for weeks.

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