Hi,

I've never played any Fallout game (yes really)

Can I start with Fallout 4 or will I need to know a lot of stuff. I don't really play many video games.

Thanks in advance.

Fallout 4 is it's own standalone game. The story isn't continuing on from a past game or anything like that. So I'd say go for it. If you're interested in learning some of the lore, there's some good youtube videos out there that summarize it nicely.

You don't really need all the lore. It helps add some context but Beth and Obsidian did a good job explaining the world for the first time player (in previous titles).

Don't know if you have played other Bethesda Game Studio games but the one thing you need to know is: SAVE. SAVE. SAVE. Don't rely on auto-save exclusively. Save early and often.

Id say look up the world timeline for a basic over view of the universe. They may make some references to other Fallout games but if I remember FO3 there was hardly any references to the older games.

Fo3 took place on the opposite end of the country from 1 and 2 though. Harold though, was a huge reference.

@OP - playing Fo3 beforehand is preferable, but by no means required. You'll likely "get" everything that happens but you'll also likely miss those "OMG they're in this game!" reactions that the rest of us will have when they make a cameo.

You'll be fine playing 4 as your first in the series There will be a few references to past things and events here and there but nothing that will leave you lost and confused and it definitely wont be a focus.