‘Fallout’: Shady Sands, explained

With Amazon Prime’s Fallout TV series right around the corner, it’s time to delve back into the post-apocalyptic world of the game to get us in the mood. 

The trailer dropped earlier today, and fans have been praising every aspect of it; they’ve stayed true to the games, right down to well-known game locations. The casting is great too — Walton Goggins as a ghoul, and Matt Berry as a Mr. Handy robot are unexpected choices, but they’re literally perfect. The trailer has so many Easter eggs to unpick, but eagle eyed fans have already spotted a reference to the first ever Fallout game with a sign reading “Shady Sands Public Library.”

What is Shady Sands?

For those who played the first Fallout game from 1997, the name will be all too familiar, as it was likely the very first town you came across after leaving the vault. In said town, you can find a number of characters who will give you some early game side quests that will allow you to level up and get some loot. You can also find Ian, who, for many players, was their first follower to join them on their quest.

When the Vault Dweller first arrives Aradesh, the town leader, is suspicious of them, but his trust is earned after you save his daughter, Tandi. Tandi is an important figure in Fallout lore, but we’ll get into that in a bit.

Where is Shady Sands?

The first Fallout game takes place on the West coast of the U.S. particularly, Southern California. Shady Sands itself is likely somewhere between Los Angeles and San Francisco. So that makes sense that we’d see the location show up in the series, considering Todd Howard confirmed ages ago that the show would take place around Los Angeles. It would also be a nice nod to the original Interplay games to have the protagonist of the show visit Shady Sands first, the same way many players did back in ‘97.

Shady Sands and Fallout lore

The end of Fallout 1 explains that Tandi and her father would go on to found the New California Republic, “whose ideals spread across the land.” The NCR are a pretty important faction, especially in Fallout: New Vegas, and arguably they’re on the same level as the Brotherhood of Steel in terms of control over the wasteland. Anyways, Shady Sands would be the main base of operations for the NCR in Fallout 2 and beyond.

Considering the trailer seems to be set long after the events of the first couple of games, it’s likely we won’t see characters such as Aradesh and Tandi. However, it’s certainly possible we’ll get to see some NCR rangers walking around the town. We now know that the show is set in the same universe as the games, so we’ll hopefully see some references to Tandi, Aradesh, and the NCR, at the very least.