Memorable Music in Gaming #72

Intro

This week, we’re looking at the main themes of one of the most acclaimed video game franchises of all time: Fallout. With the new season of the TV show just around the corner, now’s as good a time as any to revisit the music, tap into some nostalgia, and maybe inspire you to explore the wasteland all over again.

Fallout 1 & 2 | Main Theme

It’s both surprising and oddly fitting that for a series with such memorable music—both original and licensed—the first two games open with atmospheric, unsettling ambience rather than a melody.

The isometric titles had a very distinct aesthetic, and the main theme reflects that: a bleak soundscape that feels like the wasteland itself humming back at you. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre fanboy in me approves.

Fallout Main Theme Evolution (1997-2018) 

Fallout 3 | Main Theme

This is where 90% of Fallout fans got their start, myself included. By the mid-2000s, the franchise had been through a rough patch: Van Buren—the original Fallout 3—was cancelled in 2003, and the Brotherhood of Steel spin-off tanked interest even further.

Then Fallout 3 arrived in 2008, and it felt like a cultural event. Anyone who was gaming at the time remembers that reveal: the toxic green color grading, the Brotherhood of Steel helmet, that unmistakable sense of scale.

The theme is militaristic, heroic, and full of grand adventure—with just enough grit to remind you this is a tough world.

Fallout Main Theme Evolution (1997-2018) 

Fallout: New Vegas | Main Theme

Considered by many the best entry in the series, New Vegas is impossible not to love. It trades Fallout 3’s green for dusty browns, hard sci-fi for frontier grit, and tells a story that’s personal, political, and razor-sharp.

The opening notes hit like a shot to the head—appropriate—and the rest of the theme promises revenge, chaos, and a deeply human drama waiting in the Mojave.

Fallout Main Theme Evolution (1997-2018) 

Fallout 4 | Main Theme

This one is a personal favourite. For the first time, the series opened with an animated main menu, and those soft piano strokes paired beautifully with the slow-motion shots of the T-51b Power Armor.

The theme is cinematic and a touch melancholic, yet it never loses its sense of sweeping scale and epic ambition.

Fallout Main Theme Evolution (1997-2018) 

Fallout 76 | Main Theme

Where previous entries centered on a lone wanderer—with the occasional companion—Fallout 76 is built around community. The theme reflects that shift: lighter, breezier, and more optimistic than its predecessors.

There’s a sense of camaraderie here, a hint of shared rebuilding, and a musical nod to the idea that this wasteland is best explored together.

Fallout Main Theme Evolution (1997-2018) 

Article by: Hamza