[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for Fallout season 1, as well as information from the Fallout games.]
The Vault programs within the Fallout franchise are supposed to be a utopia, a shelter away from the cruel apocalyptic Wasteland and nuclear hearth.
In fact, nothing is ever because it appears, and just a little little bit of digging (Lucy’s journey in Fallout season 1 or taking part in to the top of Fallout 2) reveals that the Vault programs are literally a strategy to experiment on survivors. A few of the premises are so wild or impractical that it doesn’t appear to be an experiment in any respect, and lots of failed spectacularly. (In accordance with collection creator Tim Cain, the aim was to check humanity’s capability to journey by way of area, however this isn’t in any of the video games to date.)
There are two experiments within the Prime Video present that we get to see: Vault 4 and the mixed community of Vaults 31, 32, and 33. One thing like Vault 4 is comparatively easy: a society dominated by scientists. Sadly, the scientists’ experiments received out of hand, creating the monstrous gulpers and requiring a complete restructuring of their society.
Vaults 31, 32, and 33 are just a little extra complicated. These interlinked Vaults depend on one another, with the members of 33 and 32 arranging marriages so as to diversify their populations. Early on, it seems that 32 fell to raiders. Nevertheless, Norm and Chet quickly discover that the inhabitants of 32 died lengthy earlier than raiders ever arrived attributable to a horrible famine. As for Vault 31, we study that Vault-Tec executives are frozen in right here, and thawed at any time when a brand new Overseer should be put in.
For those who’re curious as to the opposite Vaults scattered throughout Fallout’s huge canon, here’s a record of the monstrous experiments that Vault-Tec carried out after the apocalypse.
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Picture: Prime Video
Vault 4: These poor, unlucky scientists. Now populated with the survivors, mixed with refugees from Shady Sands. Chris Parnell performs the good-spirited Overseer, with a barely unusual single eye.
Vault 8: A management Vault, which implies there was no lively experiment. After 10 years, the Vault opened and used its Backyard of Eden Creation Equipment to discovered the big and profitable Vault Metropolis.
Vault 11: This Vault had a psychology take a look at wherein the occupants needed to vote for one human sacrifice every year or else lose all life help. The merciless conclusion of the experiment is that if the Vault Dwellers did refuse to sacrifice one among their very own, the Vault would open and permit them to go away unhurt. Unsurprisingly, this isn’t what occurred, and the outcomes had been tragic.
Vault 12: What occurs if the Vault door doesn’t seal fairly proper, and radiation filters in? The reply is Necropolis, a group of Ghouls.
Vault 13: The house of the unique Fallout’s protagonist. Vault 13 was meant to remain closed for 200 years, however a defective water chip led to one among their very own trekking out into the world searching for an answer.
Vault 15: This Vault remained closed for 50 years, and the inhabitants was drawn from individuals of various walks of life and ideologies. A few of the inhabitants of this Vault went on to discovered Shady Sands, and ultimately the New California Republic.
Vault 19: This Vault housed two societies, pink and blue, every with one Overseer. What the occupants didn’t know is that they had been flooded with subliminal messages to pit them towards one another, which ultimately culminated in civil battle.
Vault 21: What if all battle needed to be resolved by playing? The Vault would later be acquired by Mr. Home and became a nice novelty resort for vacationers to New Vegas.
Vault 22: At first look, it’s a botanist’s dream, wherein the experiment is to develop flowers within the Vault with the assistance of subtle and superior tools. A parasitic fungus turned on the researchers and consumed the Vault.
Vault 27: Crammed with double the sustainable inhabitants.
Vault 29: The age cap for occupants was 15 years previous.
Vaults 31, 32, and 33: Lucy’s Vault (33), and the location of loads of intrigue in season 1 of Fallout. The gist is that these three Vaults are interconnected, and 32 and 33 typically alternate inhabitants to diversify the gene pool and create new generations. Issues go horribly awry when the inhabitants of 32 is changed with raiders, who assault — thus kicking off the occasions of the present. Lucy, and the opposite Vault inhabitants, don’t notice that there’s an experiment; they suppose that is the nice life. And, as talked about above, Vault 31 is there to accommodate frozen Vault-Tec workers to carry into Vaults 32 and 33 as needed.
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Vault 34: The armory was filled with weapons, and there was no correct locking mechanism on the door. Ultimately failed attributable to a riot and reactor injury.
Vault 36: As an alternative of correct meals, the occupants had been fed solely a skinny, watery gruel.
Vault 42: No lightbulbs of greater than 40 watts had been offered, which possible meant this Vault had a dim future.
Vault 51: This Vault was meant to check the boundaries of human tribalism, with an experimental AI working the present and deciding on the Overseer. Maybe unsurprisingly, the AI ultimately killed the Vault’s occupants as an alternative of rigorously testing them.
Vault 53: The tools was designed to continuously endure minor however repairable failures so as to research the impact stress had on the Vault’s inhabitants.
Vaults 55 and 56: In Vault 55, the entire leisure tapes had been eliminated. In Vault 56, they had been all eliminated aside from one actually dangerous comic. Really, a terrifying destiny.
Vaults 68 and 69: In Vault 68, the inhabitants solely contained one lady. This ratio was flipped for Vault 69. This is among the Vaults that feels particularly disinterested in scientific curiosity in favor of cruelty; it’s arduous to see any state of affairs wherein Vault 68 prospers.
Vault 70: The Vault stopped producing jumpsuits after six months.
Vault 75: This experiment was targeted on breeding the right human, with failures being incinerated and successes becoming a member of the scientific workers to attempt to enhance the method for the subsequent technology.
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Vault 76: A management Vault, and the one from which all Fallout 76 gamers emerge.
Vault 81: A Vault targeted on researching ailments and antibodies. Just like Vault 75, the residents had been overtly used as guinea pigs.
Vault 87: Experimenting on people utilizing the Pressured Evolutionary Virus, which results in tremendous mutants showing within the Capital Wasteland of Fallout 3.
Vault 92: This Vault was full of proficient musicians, after which they had been uncovered to white noise that subliminally implanted fight strategies. The musicians all misplaced their minds and descended into homicide and mayhem.
Vault 94: Crammed to the brim with pacifists and chill folks, this Vault was meant to show the innate goodness of humanity. One 12 months after the Nice Battle, the doorways opened, and raiders promptly blew your entire factor up.
Vault 95: Each occupant was battling an habit to medication, and this Vault was designed to check their withdrawal, after which reexpose them to an limitless quantity of chems. The Vault collapsed shortly afterward.
Vault 96: The Vault was full of embryos that might be artificially raised to maturity after which launched into the Wasteland with robotic companions and protectors.
Vault 101: A Vault designed to stay in whole isolation from the surface world — till the occasions of Fallout 3 kick off, and the Lone Wanderer takes off searching for their father, James. It’s a enjoyable parallel with Lucy and her seek for her father.
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Vault 106: Psychoactive medication had been launched into the air after the door was sealed. We are able to solely hope the inhabitants had good journeys.
Vault 108: The Vault was left with out dependable management, and through its isolation from the world, the survivors by accident cloned an entire host of Gary. These clones stalk the Vault, solely capable of say one phrase: “Gary.”
Vault 111: The survivors on this Vault had been cryogenically frozen, with workers, safety, and scientists ensuring their pods remained operational. The Vault failed in 2078, and 210 years later, the Sole Survivor emerges from their pod so as to discover their son, Shaun.
Vault 112: Dr. Stanislaus Braun took a a lot smaller inhabitants into this Vault and hooked them into digital actuality pods, the place they may expertise a real utopia. Braun ultimately grew to become bored, and the experiment turned far more sinister as he hunted down every survivor of their digital actuality, killed them, wiped their recollections, and started anew.
Vault 114: Members of upper social lessons had been welcomed into this Vault, solely to seek out it overcrowded and minimally outfitted. The Overseer was chosen outdoors of the standard inhabitants, with the intent of discovering probably the most ornery and anti-authority candidate doable.
Vault 118: This Vault was meant to be full of the ultra-wealthy and the working poor. Nevertheless, earlier than the working poor might arrive, funding ran out. The wealthy inhabitants would take away their brains, implanting them in robots, so as to survive perpetually.