Here’s the problem inherent in a TV version of Fallout, which most video game adaptations face: no matter how many episodes are created, no matter how much detail the creators throw in, the experience of watching the show will never match the experience of playing the game. Unlike The Last of Us, perhaps the most successful in the genre, Fallout wasn’t inherently designed to be cinematic, or to follow one straightforward storyline. In fact, part of what makes the games so great (I’m a huge fan, so color your reactions to the rest of this review accordingly) is in how free you are to do just about anything at your own leisure. Television doesn’t provide the same luxury, but that doesn’t mean a series adaptation was doomed to fail from the start.

The good news is that showrunners Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner have gone to great lengths to make Prime Video’s Fallout feel like it was made with the same attitude of the games. For better or worse, there are so many callbacks and Easter eggs for the most eagle-eyed fans around every corner in each of the first season’s 8 episodes – all of which drop on the streamer tomorrow. Indeed, the show’s technical prowess is on full display constantly. Production design feels tangible, which goes hand in hand with the visual effects, costumes and makeup work are Emmy worthy, and action scenes have a kinetic energy. But an abundance of fan service and technical elements does not a great series make, and Fallout often falters at crafting a story or characters that feel like more than avatars going on a number of fetch quests.

If you’re watching the show, you’re likely already familiar with the premise of Fallout. But if not, here it is: the world is destroyed by nuclear war in the year 2077, and the show proper takes place over 200 years later, as humanity tries to carry on and salvage whatever is left. The series’ aesthetic overtly references the style and sentiment of post-WWII Americana, with a soundtrack heavy on The Ink Spots, Bing Crosby, and Billie Holliday, and a heaping dose of anti-Communist messaging.

Some segments of humanity have been sheltered in vaults, underground bunkers designed by the Vault-Tec corporation to sustain humanity until it’s safe to return to the surface again. Our hero is Lucy (Ella Purnell), a bright-eyed resident of Vault 33 whose father Hank (Kyle MacLachlan) is the vault’s Overseer. But when Hank is taken captive by an outside band of raiders, Lucy has to venture into the California wasteland to find him.

The show splits its time between three other protagonists: Maximus (Aaron Moten), a trainee in the Brotherhood of Steel, a group which seeks to find pre-war technology, The Ghoul (Walton Goggins), and Lucy’s remaining family as they navigate life in the vault. We see Goggins in the show’s cold open, just before the bombs fall, so he survives for all that time by being slowly infected with radiation. Goggins has the most layered material to work with, as the show’s later episodes explore more of his tragic life before the war. But Purnell shows that she’s a star in the making, often navigating her complicated feelings as she tries to do what’s right, in spite of the lackluster story around her.

Fallout gets a lot of mileage out of Lucy as a kind of Alice in Wonderland riff, showing how messed up the world has become, and how her sunny disposition often clashes against it. Without a doubt, the best strength of Fallout is in its pitch-black, gruesome sense of humor, which the game utilized as well. Usually the funniest moment in each of the season’s 8 episodes will come immediately after a horrific act of violence. The trouble is that the show never really invests in any of its main characters below the surface. We understand Lucy and Max as they go on their quests, but rarely do we actually care about their well-being beyond their survival.

Those that stick around for the season finale will find that the themes of Fallout have sneakily woven their way into the rest of the season, which remain at the heart of most post-apocalyptic sci-fi. That is, the idea of who controls America when no control remains. Is it the raiders, lawless gangs who value nothing but their individuality? Is it the Brotherhood of Steel, who undoubtedly have the best technology but twisted morals? Or is it the corporations like Vault-Tec which have prepared for humanity’s downfall? I don’t know what a perfect adaptation of Fallout looks like, nor do I know how mainstream audiences that aren’t familiar with the source material will respond to it. Prime Video’s version is far from perfect, and I have faith that the show’s creative team will fix what needs improving, but season 1 ultimately feels too often like it’s in the beta stage.

The entire season of Fallout premieres on Prime Video on April 11.