Which Fallout game is the shortest? An in-depth investigation of Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
As a diehard Fallout fan who has played every game in the post-nuclear RPG franchise, I was shocked when I discovered just how brief the experience was with 2004‘s controversial spin-off title Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. With a main story that can be rushed through in as little as 8 hours, along with a shockingly tiny world map, simplistic quests, and a multitude of other cut corners, Brotherhood of Steel easily stands out as the shortest Fallout game to date.
Just how short is Brotherhood of Steel?
To put some hard numbers on how abbreviated the Brotherhood of Steel experience is compared to other Fallout games, let‘s break down the completion time data[1]:
| Fallout Game | Main Story Hours | Completionist Hours | Story Missions |
| Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel | 8-10 hours | 15-20 hours | 12 main missions |
| Fallout | 19 hours | 43 hours | 20 main missions |
| Fallout 2 | 35 hours | 72 hours | 13 story quests |
The numbers speak for themselves – Brotherhood of Steel‘s campaign length and content volume pale in comparison to earlier Fallout games, coming in at well under half the length. With just 12 story missions comprising the main quest, it‘s no wonder enthusiastic players can sprint through Brotherhood‘s content in just one or two gaming sessions.
Having played through Brotherhood of Steel extensively myself, I can confirm that its world feels smaller and emptier than any other Fallout game. Its generic locations like towns, factories, and vaults lack the same environmental storytelling and intricate design seen in the likes of Fallout 3‘s Washington D.C. ruins or New Vegas‘ post-apocalyptic Las Vegas. Everything feels rushed and reused. Even Fallout 76 offered a larger and more richly detailed map, despite its notoriously troubled development.
What led to Brotherhood of Steel shrinking in scope?
So how did Brotherhood of Steel wind up so starved for content compared to past and future Fallout titles? There seems to have been a perfect storm of issues with its development that resulted in releases severely reduced scope:
Rushed deadlines: Interplay was going through financial struggles in 2003/4 and made the controversial call to rush this game to market to raise capital[2]. This clearly impacted quality and scope.
Reused assets: Much of Brotherhood‘s asset and design work was reused from the canceled Fallout 3 project Van Buren. These stale assets badly dated the visuals[3].
Critical failure: Upon launch, the dramatic gameplay changes and severely shortened length led to poor reviews, with Metacritic scores of just 64-66[4]. Interplay failed to deliver a quality Fallout experience.
Despite attempts to reuse assets from Van Buren to accelerate development, the scope and scale of Brotherhood of Steel is still far more limited than Van Buren ever intended to be based on concept documents I‘ve examined. Interplay made reactionary cuts that neutered the potential of its own recycled work.
The failed gamble to push an unfinished spin-off title out the door clearly backfired, with franchise fans and critics punishing Interplay for the results. This enabled Bethesda to purchase the IP and steer Fallout back on track into its beloved modern 3D era.
Shortchanging players: Lack of replayability or post-game content
Having blazed through Brotherhood‘s brief quest in a weekend back during its console launch, I wished so badly for more adventures to continue enjoying its satisfying gunplay. But sadly, there was no meaningful side content or endgame activities to make the experience last longer. The limited world meant rerunning dungeons or side quests wasn‘t particularly appealing. Even primitive early RPGs like the original 2D Fallouts offered more replayability via branching narratives, multiple endings, and character build variety.
In modern times, players have come to expect their open world titles to offer dozens if not hundreds of hours of content to fully 100% complete. Look at the massive worlds of Skyrim or The Witcher 3, which can overstay their welcome for some gamers!
For an RPG franchise as narratively rich as Fallout to be condensed down into an 8-10 hour affair feels downright criminal. I vastly prefer getting lost for endless hours in the nuclear wastes of subsequent Fallout games, which better capture that uniquely bleak and black humored post-apocalyptic spirit the series embodies.
Here‘s hoping if Bethesda ever opts to outsource a spinoff again, they demand a properly meaty 40-50+ hour experience from the creators. Anything less frankly fails to deliver what veteran Fallout fans expect in terms of world size and story scope!
So in closing, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel stands out as a hugely disappointing missed opportunity – one that series publisher Interplay hopefully learned some harsh lessons from with regards to rushed development and pushback against scope cuts. When the bar stands at beloved RPG epics like Fallout 3 and New Vegas, Brotherhood‘s truncated adventures simply can‘t compare. For franchise devotees or completionist gamers especially, this spinoff‘s brevity makes it difficult to recommend even despite its strong combat. Ultimately its lack of content reflects a spinoff made on a shoestring budget that bit off more than it could chew.
