The Road to Fallout 4

The Fallout series has a rich history filled with events and figures that all play a big role in the narratives in each of its games. In order to prepare for Fallout 4's impending release in November, we decided to put together a history of the Fallout universe to help briefly immerse you into its expansive post-apocalyptic world. But be weary, plot spoilers for the series will be discussed. Proceed at your own discretion.

A World Not Unlike Ours

The history in Fallout’s world is not very different from ours. Rather, it’s nearly identical to our timeline up until 1945 where different historical events, such as the U.S. splitting into 13 commonwealths, start to create a history where technology, politics, and culture follow a completely different course. Regardless, what inevitably follows leads into a series of conflicts known as the Resource Wars, and eventually the Great War, the cataclysmic event that created the world of Fallout as we know it.

The Resource Wars

The Resource Wars were a series of conflicts that served as a prelude to the Great War. It first began in 2052 as the result of Middle Eastern nations raising the price of oil. The demand created by this increase greatly affected Europe, the U.S., China, and even Canada, causing an energy crisis that resulted in military conflicts driven by the hunger for natural resources. The war came to its climax in January 2077 when the U.S. drove China out from Alaska, which had invaded the state out of desperation to secure its oil supply. At this point, with little natural resources left for nations to survive, nuclear war was all but inevitable.

The Great War

The Great War began and ended on October 23, 2077 when every nuclear-capable country in the world launched nuclear weapons at each other. In the Fallout universe, no one knows exactly who fired the first missile. Regardless, the resulting destruction reshaped the Earth’s climate and killed off the majority of its population. Those who were left were accounted for as the last remnants of a world that once was.

The Survivors

Those who survived the initial attack took shelter in a variety of locations. The fortunate ones gathered into vaults, which are underground shelters that were the result of an early U.S. initiative to create shelters that could withstand nuclear war or an epidemic. Others who weren’t so lucky found themselves having to endure the harsh radioactive desert summer left in the wake of the Great War. In the 200 years that followed the Great War, those left alive would go on to make up the different groups and factions that inhabit Fallout's world. Notable ones include: Vault dwellers, the Brotherhood of Steel, and the Enclave.

Vault dwellers

Vault dwellers are people who spent their lives in the safety of the underground shelters that were made just before the Great War. The group is generally made up a minority group who actually heeded the call of the air sirens that signaled the oncoming wave of nuclear weapons attacking the United States. Vault dwellers are typically characterized by their blue-and-yellow jumpsuits. While not a faction, they are an important group that make up a part of the population in Fallout’s post-apocalyptic world.

The Brotherhood of Steel

The Brotherhood of Steel is a group that is dedicated to the preservation of pre-war knowledge and technology. They pursue their goals with religious fervor and believe themselves to be the sole heirs to pre-war technology. On the East Coast, they take on a different form and protect the Wasteland against the Super Mutants, an opposing faction who threaten the safety of its inhabitants.

The Enclave

The Enclave is a secretive, political, scientific, and militaristic organization that is comprised of descendants from the pre-War U.S. federal government. The Enclave’s main goal is to wipe out all mutated and irradiated beings in the Wasteland, thus restoring the country back to its former self. Because of this, the Enclave is often the Fallout series' main antagonists.

Super Mutants

Super Mutants are former humans who are the products of infection by the Forced Evolutionary Virus; an experimental mutagenic virus that gifts them with superhuman strength and biological immortality. While most are hostile to humans and vary in cognitive ability, there do exist some super mutants who are peaceful with humans.

Fallout

The events of the first Fallout game take place in Southern California and begin in 2161, 84 years after the Great War. It follows an inhabitant from Vault 13, who is tasked by the Vault's overseer to find a replacement water chip, a computer chip that pumps its machinery and is responsible for the vault’s water recycling. But upon finding a new chip, the Vault Dweller encounters a growing threat by an army of super mutants secretly led by a grotesque man known as the Master. To secure the safety of Vault 13, the Vault Dweller defeats the Master, but is ultimately exiled from the shelter for its greater good in order to preserve the isolation of its people.

Fallout 2

After the events of first Fallout, the Vault Dweller went on to start his/her own tribe of survivors. Fallout 2 takes place many years later in the year 2241 and follows the adventures of a direct descendant of the Vault Dweller. Referred to as "the Chosen One," the descendant is tasked with finding a Garden of Eden Creation Kit (G.E.C.K), a device located in Vault 13 that is capable of revitalizing land.

Fallout 2 (cont.) - The Enclave Attack

After finding the G.E.C.K in a now-abandoned Vault 13, the Chosen One returns home to find his/her tribe kidnapped by the Enclave, who seek to gather test subjects to expose to FEV. By doing this, the Enclave hope to create an airborne version of FEV that only infects mutated humans so that the Wasteland can be purified of all "impurity." The Chosen One eventually thwarts this plan and saves his/her tribe as well as the missing inhabitants of Vault 13, who were also kidnapped. The two groups then band together and create a prosperous new community using the G.E.C.K.

Fallout 3

Fallout 3 takes place in the year 2277 in a region covering Washington D.C, Northern Virginia, and Maryland. It focuses on an inhabitant of Vault 101 who is forced to flee the vault when its overseer issues their arrest in response to the sudden disappearance of his/her father, James. After a successful escape, the Vault dweller, who is referred to as the Lone Wanderer, searches and eventually finds James in Vault 112. It is then discovered that James fled Vault 101 to seek out information on a G.E.C.K he could use to activate Project Purity, a plan he originally conceived many years ago to purify all the water in the Tidal Basin and the entire Potomac River.

Fallout 3 (cont.) - Continuing James' work

James and the Lone Wanderer lead a team of scientists to the Jefferson Memorial to restart Project Purity. But the plan fails when the Enclave invade the memorial, which results in James dying. Forced to flee, the Lone Wanderer escapes to the home base of the Brotherhood of Steel and makes it a point to continue James’ work by acquiring a G.E.C.K. But upon doing so, he/she is captured by the Enclave. It is then revealed that the Enclave invaded the memorial because they want to use Project Purity to infect the pure water it creates with a strain of FEV that only kills mutated life. The Lone Wanderer is then given a sample of the new FEV and can either choose to self-destruct the Enclave’s base or leave peacefully.

Fallout 3 (cont.) - Activating Project Purity

With the G.E.C.K and the knowledge that the Lone Wanderer possesses, he/she has the means to activate Project Purity. But the control room where the activation code must be entered is flooded with lethal amounts of radiation. The Lone Wanderer must then choose to either enter to code his/herself or send Sara Lyons of the Brotherhood of Steel. Regardless, whoever inputs the code succeeds in activating Project Purity but inevitably dies from a radiation spike.

Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout: New Vegas takes place during the year 2281 and is set in the Mojave Wasteland, an area comprised of parts of Nevada, California, Utah, and Arizona. It focuses on a courier for the Mojave Express, known simply as “the Courier.” While delivering a package containing a simple poker chip, the Courier is ambushed by a mobster named Benny, who steals the chip and leaves him/her for dead. But the Courier survives the attack thanks to the aid of a man named Doc Mitchell, and then embarks on a journey to track Benny down and recover the stolen package.

Fallout: New Vegas (Cont.) - Catching Benny and Finding the Chip

The Courier finds Benny and discovers that the poker chip is a data storage device with a program that can increase the offensive capabilities of the Securitron robots that roam around the city of New Vegas, a reconstructed Wasteland version of Las Vegas. Benny was planning to use this program as a means of taking over the city.

Fallout: New Vegas (Cont.) - Taking Sides

Despite finding Benny, the Courier’s journey gets him/her caught up in a larger conflict involving three different factions in the region: Caesar’s Legion, a totalitarian slaver society; the New California Republic, an expansionist militia; and Mr. House, a pre-Great War human living in a capsule who is the de-facto leader of New Vegas. Each are fighting over control of the Hoover Dam, which is still operational and supplying the Southwest region with power and un-irradiated water. Depending on which faction the Courier chooses to side with, the Courier will either help conqueror the dam, defend it, connect its systems to a network so it can be controlled, or destroy the dam for good to bring an end to the war over it.

The Story of Fallout 4 As We Know It So Far

From what has been revealed, Fallout 4 will mainly be set in Boston, Massachusetts and parts of New England. The game will focus on a character who takes shelter in Vault 111 with their family just as the Great War is beginning only to mysteriously awaken 200 years later unaged as the vault's sole survivor. From what we know, the game takes places during the same time as Fallout 3, and based on information from the Replicated Man side-quest in that game, a community called the Commonwealth is located in that area as well.

What's Coming?

There are certainly a lot of new story angles that Fallout 4 could take. After all, Fallout has always been a series that has used the lore of its previous games to flesh out its narrative. But what we've seen only brings up more questions. Based on what we know about the Replicated Man side-quest in Fallout 3, there exists a mysterious organization in the Commonwealth called the Institute, which possesses advanced technology, such as the ability to produce androids. So will we be seeing people apart of this organization or maybe even androids in Fallout 4? Also, despite the pre-Great War gameplay footage being of its protagonist running to the Vault, will the game feature more segments from that time period? The list of questions goes on and on. Regardless, we can't wait to see what happens when the game finally releases this coming November.