VaultTec has conducted a multitude of experiments in the world of Fallout. Some of them don’t sound so bad – until you learn the ending.
What’s the deal with Vaults? Vaults are an integral part of the world of Fallout. In the Fallout series on Amazon, for example, the protagonist Lucy hails from the triad of Vault 31, 32, and 33. The official idea of the Vaults is explained throughout the series:
Bomb-proof super-bunkers with complete self-sufficiency are meant to secure survival for families and those who can afford it during the nuclear war. With walls several meters thick, radiation and other dangers are kept outside.
Once the war is over, the doors are opened again, and the inhabitants are supposed to repopulate the wasteland, leading America back to its former glory. However, the creators of VaultTec were not entirely honest about this…
Spoiler Warning: If you haven’t seen the series “Fallout” or played the games yet, this article contains light spoilers for both.
This is what Vaults really are: By the end of the series, employees of VaultTec meet with other companies and market the Vaults. Rather than safe havens, the Vaults are turned into laboratories where (mostly social) experiments on humans are conducted. Only a handful of Vaults have truly fulfilled the purpose of protection.
In the rather infamous Vault 69, for instance, a pretty crazy sex experiment was conducted – what else would you expect? The Vaults 31, 32, and 33 from the series served as a sort of “pantry” for the employees of VaultTec, who were elected in turn as the overseer, or the head of the Vaults.
In a few other Vaults, however, it was not just about social experiments, but rather about research – and experiments on humans.
A Vault on Drugs with a Dark Ending
One of these experimental Vaults is Vault 106. You can find it in the wasteland around the capital, in the game world of Fallout 3. The experiment here doesn’t sound so bad at first, like if the Vault doors don’t close properly (that has also happened) – for some, it might even be entertaining.
10 days after the doors were closed, psychoactive substances are released into the air and spread through the filters throughout the Vault. The inhabitants are therefore constantly under drugs in an “acceptable” dosage. However, the experiment went wrong:
- The drugs caused confusion, delirium, and ultimately violence among the residents.
- Despite a mandated lockdown, the Vault’s security personnel were overrun by the inhabitants.
- Eventually, the inhabitants apparently tried to blow up the entire Vault with a mini-atomic bomb or at least escape.
By the way, the Vault and the experiment were planned by Frederick Sinclair and the company BigMT, a “think tank” for science and military research. Sinclair represents BigMT at the end of the Fallout series.
If you visit the Vault yourself, you still experience the effects of the drugs: your vision blurs, and you hallucinate. You also meet survivors, who, however, have all gone mad. If you want to get started with Fallout in general, we recommend Fallout 76: Forget Fallout 4, you should start with Fallout 76 now.
