Fallout Shelter puts you in control of your very own, state-of-the-art underground Vault-Tec Vault. Build and expand your vault by adding new rooms and services to keep your dwellers happy. But the Vault life is never easy and it is up to you to keep your resources high and defend your dwellers from the dangers of the Wasteland.

Fallout Shelter is the newest free-to-play title to hit the Fallout franchise. You take the role of a Vault-Tec Overseer, and you are assigned your very own vault to manage and expand. You will start off small with only a few dwellers and base resource generators in the form of a power source, a water treatment plant, and a cafeteria. As time passes and you begin to generate and collect resources, more dwellers will wander in from the Wasteland looking for a place to call home – and providing you with some new mouths to feed and a new labor force. The more dwellers you collect, the more resource generators you will unlock as you expand your vault and build up your community.

Digging a little deeper into the essence that is Fallout Shelter, I found that resource management was the biggest factor for my success. If I didn’t manage my electricity stock, rooms would slowly begin to shut down from lack of power. If I didn’t have enough people at the water treatment plant, my entire colony of dwellers would grow sick from radiation poisoning. If I was unable to keep the food stores full, slowly my dwellers would lose health from hunger. It seemed as if my goal was to quickly build a population, but the impact of my speed was a resource disaster spiraling out of control. I guess that’s just your average day at the end of the world.

Outside of resources, there are some other interesting features in the game. When Bethesda announced that Fallout Shelter would be free-to-play without purchases, they were not kidding. There are no prompts to spend in-game gold to speed up resource production – instead you have the option to rush the speed at the risk of a disaster occurring and those resources being lost. If you get greedy, like I did, the risk continues to rise after each rush and eventually you will be forced to deal with a radroach infestation or chemical fire – both which will drop the happiness and health of the dwellers.

On a positive note, as you continue to work your dwellers, their level increases along with their SPECIAL stats. And, whenever you are ready to expand your dweller population, you always have the option of encouraging true love. Dwellers are able to re-populate the Vault, and babymaking will also increase their happiness. You also have the option of sending a dweller out on an expedition in the Wasteland where they fight creatures for experience and find resources like guns and armor. Expeditions also have a fun little status screen where you get one-line updates on what your dweller is doing as they hunt. Just be sure to manage and check back, because they are not smart enough to return on their own and they will die if left to fend for themselves for too long.

Finally, like all classic touch-screen games, Fallout Shelter does feature objectives that will reward you with currency, resources, and lunchboxes. Those lunchboxes are pretty handy – as they too will reward you with resources and some high-powered items. Despite the game being free-to-play, you do have the option of purchasing additional lunchboxes with real-life money. If you don’t, expect to wait quite a bit of time as you work to complete those objectives.

Overall, Fallout Shelter is a pretty fun game to pass the time. Considering you don’t need internet to access your game, it’s perfect for long trips or a quick update during lunch. Outside of the resource management woes, the game is challenging enough to keep my interest in-between breaks, and I’m constantly coming back to see how my dwellers are doing. If you are interested and want to check it out, and why wouldn’t you considering it is free, Fallout Shelter is currently out for iOS and will be coming to Android sometime soon.

8 A Nuclear Blast This addicting game design will keep you clicking for hours on end. Don't expect this to be a farmville cakewalk - if you make the mistake of over-expanding too quickly, you will find yourself scrambling to get back your balance. The game can sometimes get slow, so get used to setting your phone down and walking away. However, the fact that Fallout Shelter is free-to-play with no hidden premium costs makes this title worth picking up. User Ratings ( 2 Votes) 10