Summary
- Fallout 2 designer John Deiley envisioned sapient deathclaws for Vault 13, but they were killed off before further development.
- Fallout 2 stands out for its humor, with pop-culture references like Monty Python and The Terminator.
- Despite radical lore concepts like talking plants and ghosts, the pacifist deathclaws of Vault 13 would have been an unique and subversive addition.
Fallout 2 designer John Deiley discussed his original idea for the intelligent deathclaws of Vault 13, and how they were unceremoniously killed off before they could be developed further as a concept. Even though the Fallout franchise has always been known for its special brand of humor contrasted against the bleakness of a post-apocalyptic wasteland, Fallout 2 is widely viewed as the entry where its humor is front and center. The wasteland is littered with pop-culture references, from Monty Python to The Terminator, and even the player protagonist being ironically referred to as The Chosen One exemplifies the overall direction that Fallout 2 decided to take.
While each corner of Fallout 2 toys with radical lore concepts, such as talking plants, ghosts, or radscorpions playing chess, it could be argued that the sapient deathclaws of Vault 13 take the cake. Deathclaws in Fallout are considered to be formidable, terrifying enemies, and taking down a deathclaw is often seen as a rite of passage for new fans of the franchise. However, Fallout 2 subverts this concept entirely by placing them in the role of pacifists who escaped from the Enclave and began a community of their own inside Vault 13.
Every Fallout Game In Chronological Order
Every game was not released in the historical chronological order of the post-apocalyptic alternate timeline world of the Fallout series.
Fallout 2's Intelligent Deathclaws Originally Had a Bigger Role to Play
This idea came from the mind of John Deiley, who recently sat down with TheGamer for an interview about Fallout 2's intelligent deathclaws and what it was like to work with Chris Avellone. He was asked by Fallout 2 director Feargus Urquhart to design something unique for Vault 13, which eventually led to Deiley pitching the idea of sapient deathclaws that could talk. Urquhart was ecstatic about the concept and gave Deiley permission to go ahead with production.
Though Chris Avellone deemed it too silly for the setting, Deiley defended his idea. “I mean, you’ve got super mutants, you’ve got ghouls, why not have something that can stand up to the super mutants?” His long-term plan for the deathclaws was to have them emigrate from the vault in future Fallout games, and try to establish a civilization. “There was going to be an internal conflict with them, the devil within. They were planning, once they were more secure, on altering power armor to fit their physique. And then they were going to pay the Enclave a visit and get as many vials of the FEV virus as they could, kidnap a scientist or two, and make some improvements.”
“I mean, you’ve got super mutants, you’ve got ghouls, why not have something that can stand up to the super mutants?” - John Deiley
However, it was not to be. One day, as Deiley was walking down the hallway, he saw Feargus Urquhart in a programmer's office, working on Vault 13. They had decided to cut the location from the Fallout game, but instead of removing it entirely, the intelligent deathclaws in the final version of Fallout 2 are wiped out by the Enclave and Frank Horrigan, their super mutant Secret Service agent clad in power armor. While Fallout has a deathclaw companion in Goris, he and Xarn remain the only members of their kind after the events of Fallout 2, making any future appearances unlikely.
Fallout 2
- Released
- October 29, 1998
