There's an official Fallout board game and it looks awesome

Fantasy Flight Games has licensed Fallout from Bethesda for an official board game due out later this year.

In the board game, one to four players play in an irradiated landscape inspired by those in Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 (the Bethesda Fallout games) and their expansions. You have to choose whether to work together or individually explore the regions.

You get to decide to focus on experience of caps, loot or companions. You can progress the main quest or veer off into vaults. As you do all this, the area's factions gain power, forcing you to fight with them or against them.

You can play as a ghoul, a super mutant, a wastelander or a Brotherhood Outcast.

Your character is based on S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats, just like in the video games. There are perks and you can equip items such as combat armour and the Alien Blaster. You can even get Dogmeat by your side.

Four scenarios are included: The Capital Wasteland, The Pitt, The Commonwealth and Far Harbor. These locations are predetermined, but the rest of the map will vary with every setup, Fantasy Flight said, which should hopefully encourage multiple playthroughs. The scenario determines which two unique factions you have to either befriend or fight against. For example, the Commonwealth has the Railroad and the Synths, both of which Fallout 4 fans will recognise.

On the back of the scenario card, you mark the progress of the two warring factions in play, giving each more power. Should one of the factions progress to the very end of the power track, the game ends, whether there is a winner or not.

Here's where things get interesting: influence cards are collected as you wander the wasteland. They earn you recognition for your unique contributions to the greater story. There are two types: faction-based and otherwise. By revealing a security or freedom card, you can align yourself with the associated faction, allowing you to move freely among members of that faction. So, you could make friends with the Institute, or even with slavers.

The idea is you develop teams through faction alignment, but at the end of the day you have to look out for yourself. From the sound of things, the Fallout board game will be as much about exploring the wasteland and progressing the story as it will about betraying the other players. It sounds like a lot of fun!