Hundreds of unique characters reside in every corner of the Wasteland, but the vaults areFallout’s core narrative.Vault-Tec manufactured 122 vaultsunder the guise of protection from nuclear fallout. Still, their motivations behind housing people in nuclear bunkers were far more sinister than they would have their residents believe. There might be a darker truth behind Vault 33 in Prime Video’sFallout, butVault-Tec has conjured up much more disturbing experimentsin other vaults across the wasteland. Lucy’s (Ella Purnell) daring adventure into the unknown shows her transformation from an innocent, naive vault-dweller into a hardened survivor, honed by the sharp edge of the Wasteland. However, untilMoldaver (Sarita Choudhury) sieged vault 33,Lucy and the rest of the inhabitants had it very easy compared to some of their vault-dwelling neighbors across America.
Amazon’sFalloutdoesn’t directly adapt any specific game but takes influences from various installments. One common story thread involves throwing the player into the heart of the Wasteland after living a relatively sheltered life in a vault, much like Lucy. There are many examples of terrible atrocities committed within the vaults, butFallout: New Vegascontains the worst of the worst.At the end of Season 1 Episode 10, Hank MacClean (Kyle Maclachlan) escapes to New Vegas, suggesting that Season 2 will likely take place in thisfamous location from the games. Of all the nightmares Vault-Tec has conjured up, they’re most haunting one lies hidden beneath the Mojave Desert, waiting for a poor wandering soul to stumble across it and uncover the monsters within.
In a future, post-apocalyptic Los Angeles brought about by nuclear decimation, citizens must live in underground bunkers to protect themselves from radiation, mutants and bandits.
A Brief Overview of Vault-Tec’s Atrocities
Amazon’sFalloutseries shows us the origins of Vault-Tec, and themalicious members of the Enclavewho designed the vaults as twisted social experiments to benefit their agenda. These experiments varied to a wide range of nightmares, some good, some bad, most of them pure evil. Vault 12 in Bakersfield was designed to test the effects of radiation on its dwellers so thatwhen the bombs dropped, the door wouldn’t close. Vault 75 only accepted nuclear families, eventually killing off the adults and genetically enhancing the children to become super-soldiers, like a moretwisted version of the Spartans fromHalo. Unlike the Master Chief, (Pablo Schrieber) the child soldiers rose in rebellion and overthrew Vault-Tec.
Vault 11 divided people into voting blocs and forced them to elect a new overseer each year on the threat of death.Whoever was elected had to be sacrificed at the end of their termin office. This sparked violent factionalism within the vault, where the inhabitants would vote for people based on personal prejudice. The Justice Bloc held the most sway and sexually coerced some of their neighbors by threatening to vote for their loved ones.The tragedy of Vault 11 was that all of this was completely avoidable.Vault-Tec designed it as a social experimentto see if humans would unite to preserve their community. If the residents offered no one as a sacrifice, life would have gone on without consequences. As we can see, there are countless harrowing tales within the vaults,but even these vaults fall short of the horrors of Vault 22.
‘Fallout’ Season 2’s New Vegas Won’t Follow the Game Exactly
The Wasteland is always changing.
Vault 22 Is a Nightmare Straight Out of ‘The Last of Us’
Vault 22 resides to the North-East of New Vegas and was designed as a ‘green vault’. Its primary objective was togrow sustainable plant life and crops undergroundand figure out a way to restart agriculture and maintain a stable food supply once radiation cleared from the surface. Vault 22 acquired most of its funding from defense contractors before the bombs fell. Whether they are linked to the sinister corporations associated with the Enclave is unclear.One donation consisted of a fungus designed for pest control, Beauveria Mordicana, which contained spores intended to infect pests and take control of the body. Beauveria Mordicana translates to ‘biting drinking water’ which should have given the vault scientists a hint. The spores began to spread through air vents and infected the drinking water. Within weeks, dozens of vault dwellers fell ill to infection, eventually dying. But the scientists never expected their deceased neighbors to come back to life.The fungal spores took control of the host, and things quickly went downhill.When the player reaches the vault, they find an overgrown jungle inside, riddled with zombies that blend in perfectly with plant life.
Lucy and The Ghoul Are the Only Ones Who Can Help
Vault 22’s premise would be a perfect inclusion in theFalloutseries. The fungal zombies are strikingly similar to the infected fromThe Last of Us, which has become a hit TV series. But while the origins of the infection are the same, the results are very different. Having Lucy and The Ghoul stumble across this mysterious vault in Season 2 would allowFalloutto offer a fresh take on the infected, a premise developed by Oblivion Studios longbefore NaughtyDog integrated it intoThe Last of Us. Another interesting detail that makes Vault 22 a worthy inclusion, is that thefungal spores are ineffective on ghouls. Between Lucy’s knowledge of Vault life andThe Ghoul’s immunity to the spores, the iconic duo has the resources to uncover the mystery of Vault 22 and put an end to a deadly disease that could easily wipe out the entire Wasteland, before it spreads outside the confines of the vault.
New Vegas contains many intriguing characters, dangerous factions, and spine-chilling creatures.From Deathclaws to Caesar’s Legion, there are endless possibilities for Season 2. Given that Season 2 will likely feature Lucy, The Ghoul, and Maximus traveling into the Mojave, we’ll undoubtedly see some of the franchise staple characters and creatures featured in the show. But the heart ofFalloutlies in its Vaults, and Vault 22 is a great example of howVault-Tec’s experiments damaged mankind in many different ways, aside from nuclear warfare.Amazon has officially green-lit Season 2, but the games offer a variety of mysteries to uncover for those brave enough to explore them.
Falloutis available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.
Watch on Prime Video
