My first encounter with the Fallout series happened in 2008 with the third game. Yes, that was Oblivion with guns. Oddly enough, for the author, who had already spent dozens of iterations with different builds/races/classes in Bethesda's Morrowind and Oblivion, the post-apocalyptic setting with the hopelessness of the wasteland was a real hit. The most pleasant thing was probably that we got another Morrowind (opened the TLC and TGM consoles and solved all the bugs). But the feeling that something was wrong with the game, that it was understating something or not wanting to show us the true wasteland, appeared and remained after a dozen playthroughs. I couldn't get into the first Fallout back in 2008, and I haven't been able to since – time after time, when I started Fallout as a little kid, I saw only Diablo without legendaries and drive. But as I grew up a bit, I finally got the hang of it and felt that very wasteland. The only problem was that this was after hundreds of iterations in New Vegas, so the first and second Fallout games couldn't outshine my favorite game (New Vegas). But I was able to fully experience the legendary status of the game.
You choose your own story—you're a bookworm, a macho gym rat, a romantic ladies' man, a sly thief, a monk, or a ton of other variations. Everything will work as long as you don't screw up the numbers when creating your build. :) The roleplaying possibilities are enormous. Help everyone, help everyone for money, help no one, help no one and steal from everyone, help everyone and steal from everyone, kill everyone, help everyone and then kill everyone, play as a pacifist so minions deal damage, play as a pacifist with maximum charisma and talk everyone into it, play as a pacifist and talk everyone into it, steal from everyone, and then have everyone aggro and get killed by your minions. If you think about it, all these same possibilities are implemented a little less well in New Vegas.
It's just like that with all the old games – they were made for intellectuals or for DND nerds who love dice, odds, various mechanics, how things interact with what, and what happens if. The author also fan of this topic. But there wasn't a mass appeal, and it turned out to be a niche idea. The creators of the old franchises found a solution – made systems easier.
Oh yeah! It worked! The most interesting thing is that if it weren't for the casual Fallout 3, the author, as a young kid, would never have discovered his favorite universe.
Fallout 1 and 2 – a ton of mechanics, a hostage to insufficient stats – creating a specific build and being satisfied when everything works and realizing it's time to try a new build and playthrough.
And Fallout 3 – in turn, insufficient stats can be supplemented with perks; there is variation, but cramming a rocket launcher, a minigun, melee weapons, and a sniper rifle into one character is basically not that difficult. As a result, building something interesting requires far fewer playthroughs. Unless you restrict yourself and tie your entire playthrough to one or two legendary weapons and use them exclusively, then replayability increases, but that's not how it works. If you can invest a few points from leveling up a couple of levels and discover a completely different gameplay experience on the same character, then you'll do just that.

In Fallout New Vegas, which was made by the creators of Fallout 1 and 2, they made colossal adjustments and excellent balance, so for the author, New Vegas is an icon of the Fallout universe.

And Fallout 4 isn't an RPG. You simply level up your construction, building wooden pillars on your plot with the Savant perk, which gives x3 and then x5 experience, then dismantle them and build again. And you simply throw these points into basic stats like strength, endurance, luck, and intelligence, and you get a seven-armed, eight-fisted character who eclipses the entire wasteland with his rays of perfection. Of course, I played differently, but knowing you can do it—sooner or later, all characters slip into this state as they level up.
That is, before, we had a bunch of skills and stats, all dependent on each other, and we had to think about how to balance them and fill the gaps in our build. But now you don't have to think; you press a button and get the result. Yes, it may look like an old man's ragtag — it was better back then... But that's the reality — to play today's games, even my favorite titles, I have to use Nexus, mods, and customize the games to suit my needs. Or I can just play the Steam version for real money to experience the full extent of the stupidity of today's game developers (Dragon Age Inquisition, for example). Returning to Fallout, the plot essentially moves us from point A to point B (this could be said of almost all games, but there's a fine line between Skyrim's main plot, The Witcher 3's, and, for example, Dragon Age II's, Titan Quest) plus timed play (fixed in the Fallout 2). I can't say it's super bad, but enjoying the wasteland within these constraints, when playing New Vegas and used to being able to go wherever you wanted, was clearly extremely difficult in the first Fallout. Nevertheless, the experienced author made a ton of saves and tried different variations of events. The best solution to all conflicts has always been to side with one side, loot everything you can, and then destroy the side wich you helped with for pure EXP and perks. While playing as a villain is natural, true apostate paladins will always choose the most correct solution to a conflict: they'll save the innocent and punish the guilty.
The game's overall feel is very positive, with minor downsides (in the author's opinion). Yes, here they are: the author is a fan of the monk's path (checking the ability to punch enemies in the face with fists (and, if possible, even kicks) in every game). Melee builds—fist, power knuckles, slashing, and crushing—work well, but why they added knockback is still unclear after all these years. If there are remasters of the first games, I hope they'll remove the knockback or add some kind of perk to compensate.
The second downside has already been mentioned: your story has a limited time; if you didn't make it in time — your game over.
The third, the most minimal for me, is the visuals. Here's a question: they released Wasteland 3, which is beautiful, but with a tactics system I don't like—I can't get into it no matter how hard I try. What's the point of the visuals if you don't want to play?
In conclusion, I'd like to say that you really read this far? :) Then welcome to the dark side. The Fallout universe is very good and simply perfect for a break from our own. I can recommend a decent amount of information on the Fallout universe if anyone is interested. Is Fallout 1 worth playing in 2026? It is, but not right away. To get the rating I give it, namely 9.3 out of 10, you need to jump into the universe with Fallout 4 or 3, followed by New Vegas. If you like old games and tactics, you can jump in, but the results are questionable. I think that Bethesda will release either Fallout 3 Remaster or New Vegas Remaster around the release of Fallout Season 3, and that's where you can start. In the meantime...
War... War never changes...