Summary

  • Vaults in the Fallout franchise host social experiments; some deadly, others creepy, like one fan's birthday idea.
  • A fan of the series recently proposed a vault with daily birthdays, 365 days a year, creating a debate as to how residents would cope with incessant celebrations.

One Fallout fan has come up with an idea for a vault so diabolical, it's impressive that the twisted minds at Vault-Tec didn't think of it first. Set in a world that barely survived a nuclear apocalypse, the Fallout franchise's vaults are one of its most recognizable features, but life isn't what the residents expected in most of them.

Players took their first steps in the series in Fallout's Vault 13, the starting location of the original PC game, and other than a malfunctioning water chip with no backup to be found, life seemed pretty normal there. That is, until the release of Fallout 2, when players discovered a whole box of water chips in another vault, which was assumed to be a shipping error but could have been something much more sinister. As the series continues, players discover multiple vaults undergoing various social experiments, some of which turn out to be truly deadly.

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In this case, one player has come up with their own social engineering experiment, and while it doesn't seem as maddening as the Gary cloning experiment in Vault 108, it could still easily make its dwellers lose their minds. Posted recently on Reddit, one user dug up an old social media post in which another Fallout fan had proposed a vault with 365 different residents, each of whom has a different birthday. Given that Fallout 3 shows how vault dwellers tend to throw birthday parties, that would mean a party every day, with residents only getting a break roughly once every four years. "Just endless birthdays with everyone waiting to celebrate someone dying to have a day off," the post reads.

The Fallout Series Has Had Some Really Creepy Vaults

The idea has encouraged some discussion about just how a vault's population would cope with so many birthdays. Some have suggested that residents would simply stop celebrating birthdays or hold a monthly celebration for all residents born that month, but others insist that the vault overseer would follow protocol to a T, sticking with the mandates issued to them by Vault-Tec. Speculation on the mental strain this schedule would place on the vault is varied, with some suggesting a mandate that a resident be executed or exiled if a baby is born on their birthday, sort of like how Fallout: New Vegas' Vault 11 normalized human sacrifice for its population.

Even without that fun thought experiment being real, the series already features plenty of terrible Fallout vaults to be trapped in. Ranging from a rehab vault filled with drugs to a virtual reality simulator where residents are forced to die nasty deaths over and over, the maniacal machinations of Vault-Tec are something that keep players coming back for more with each new release.

Rating block community and brand ratings Image
Fallout 4 Tag Page Cover Art
9 /10

Fallout 4
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RPG
Action
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Systems
PC-1 PlayStation-1 Xbox-1
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Top Critic Avg: 87 /100 Critics Rec: 89%
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Released
November 10, 2015
ESRB
M FOR MATURE: BLOOD AND GORE, INTENSE VIOLENCE, STRONG LANGUAGE, USE OF DRUGS
Developer(s)
Bethesda
Publisher(s)
Bethesda
Engine
Creation
Cross-Platform Play
no
Cross Save
no
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WHERE TO PLAY

SUBSCRIPTION
DIGITAL
PHYSICAL
Checkbox: control the expandable behavior of the extra info

Bethesda Game Studios, the award-winning creators of Fallout 76 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, invite you to the ambitious open world of Fallout 4. Do whatever you want in a massive Commonwealth with hundreds of locations, characters and quests.
As the sole survivor of Vault 111, only you can rebuild and determine the fate of the Wasteland. Join multiple factions vying for power or go it alone - the choices are yours.
From a Power Armor-toting soldier to the charismatic smooth-talker, be whoever you want with the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Character system and develop your own playstyle from hundreds of Perks.
Experience exciting first- or third-person combat with the dynamic Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, or V.A.T.S., targeting enemies for maximum tactical advantage (and cinematic carnage!) Collect, upgrade and build thousands of items with Fallout 4's crafting system. Weapons, armor, food and with the right materials, even entire settlements are possible. Welcome home.

Franchise
Fallout
Genre(s)
RPG, Action
How Long To Beat
27 Hours
PS Plus Availability
Extra & Premium
File Size Xbox Series
51 GB (December 2023)