“I just took a cyanide pill,” Siggi Wilzig (Michael Emerson) admits in episode 2 of Prime Videos Fallout series. “Vault-Tec Plan D: It was the most humane product Vault-Tec ever made.”
This thought sets up viewer expectations for what will happen over the next few episodes – but for fans of the post-apocalyptic video game series, it’s a quick reminder of the fictional company’s gruesome in-game history.
Vault-Tec built the fallout shelters, or Vaults, in the world of Fallout, ostensibly as a warning measure to protect the American people in the event of a catastrophic incident. These underground bunkers, financed by the government (“Project Safehouse”) and junk bonds, contain highly advanced technology to create self-sustaining ecosystems that are completely independent of the outside world. Those who secured a spot in one of these shelters survived the nuclear holocaust and lived comfortably in a small community governed by an overseer and official Vault-Tec procedures.
At least, that was the promise that Vault-Tec and the US government sold to the American people. In reality, Vault-Tec had little interest in saving the population; the corporate leaders played the long game and used the majority of the Vaults to conduct social experiments and scientific research, free from the constraints of regulation or ethics. And with Prime Videos Falloutwe get even more insight into how nefarious this company can be.
Where does Vault-Tec come from in Fallout?
Image: AKQA/ Wizards of the coast
Initially, Vault-Tec was primarily intended to improve background decoration Fallout‘s retro-future setting. The company and its corporate mascot, Vault Boy, satirized the fiercely patriotic American pop culture that flourished during the Cold War – think of the cheerful ‘Crouch and take cover” PSA or the many examples of it shocking print ads. Many of the franchise’s best-known emblems – the blue and yellow Vault suit, the Vault Boy mascot, and even the iconic gear-shaped Vault entrance – appear early in the first game as the player character (the Vault Dweller) is displayed. introduced to the world in a Vault-Tec Vault.
Fallout creator Timothy Cain has said that his goal was to make the player’s experience as immersive as possible, so even the physical packaging was designed to match the game’s setting. The manual, “Vault Dweller’s Survival Guide,” is written in the style of an official Vault-Tec document and provides the player with useful information for his underground citizens. (The game manual references other fictional Vault-Tec documents for surviving global disasters, such as ‘How to Eat Rat’ and “Dealing with Mr. Virus!” — the latter will have a different impact in 2024.)
“The key to a successful reintroduction of civilization after a full-scale nuclear war is the people,” the guide said. “Here at Vault-Tec, we are working to ensure that your fellow man (and woman) takes on the task of bringing America back from the dead.”
Players learned more about Vault-Tec as a company as the games progressed, especially in Fallout 3 and beyond, thanks to terminal entrances and holotapes. The company cultivated an all-American image with the public and fostered a positive reputation through strategic marketing and brand promotional materials (such as bobbleheads and lunchbox items Bethesda has become a reality). But behind closed doors, the company operated in an oppressive, draconian manner, treating employees more like disposable resources than living beings – although, to be fair, this is par for the course for pretty much every company in the Fallout. universe.
Has Vault-Tec always been bad?
Fallout 2 expanded Vault-Tec’s lore through the main storyline, giving the company a sinister secret motive. Art director Leonard Boyarsky of Black Isle Studios describes this process in a Interview from 2017. “All the time Fallout 1 we never talked about Vaults being anything other than what they were,” Boyarsky says. Then during a Fallout 2 At the development meeting, there was an idea to turn them into social experiments – an idea he said “changed the trajectory of the franchise.”
Fallout 2 introduced the Enclave, the remnants of the pre-war American deep state. After surviving the Great War, this mix of military, political and corporate leadership continued its operations underground, developing over generations into a paramilitary faction that saw itself as the new political order, a cryptocracy destined to conquer the Wasteland. purify’.
Near the game’s climax, Enclave President Dick Richardson reveals Vault-Tec’s involvement with the deep state. The Vaults were built as part of a “grand plan,” but instead of saving the American people, their true purpose was to be “a social experiment on a grand scale.” Without going into details, he explains that many of the Vaults are designed to “test humanity.” Vault 13 – the Vault from the original game – was a control group, intended to house inhabitants underground until the Enclave needed fresh meat.
The official gaming guide for Fallout 3 is more candid about Vault-Tec, characterizing the player’s home vault as “an unconscionable social experiment.” Players will encounter several Vaults throughout the game, each with a unique backstory and challenges to overcome. Exploring these abandoned, often dangerous structures and discovering the nature of their failed ‘experiment’ became an important part of the gameplay from then on.
Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 4, and the MMORPG Fallout 76 all introduced new and original Vaults with creepy, tragic, and sometimes hilarious backstories, further growing Vault-Tec’s in-game history. The Vaults contain proprietary technology unmatched anywhere else, and in some cases a Vault’s experiment results in a significant scientific achievement, such as Vault 81 developing a universal cure for disease. But scientific progress came at a great human cost, and as we learn in Prime Video’s new show, this was by design.
We see some of this in Episode 7, when Vault-Tec executives meet with representatives from RobCo, West Tek, Big MT, and Repconn – all major companies with equally problematic histories in the games. The group discusses plans to divide the Vaults for experimentation, and happily brainstorms cruel tests to which they can subject Vault Dwellers. It’s shockingly inhumane, but right in line with what players know about how pre-war businesses functioned.
(Ed. remark: The rest of this article contains spoilers for a big twist at the end of this article Fallout season 1.)
Photo: JoJo Whilden/Prime Video
Why did Vault-Tec drop the bomb (if they did)?
In the pre-war timeline, Moldaver and her NCR followers warn Cooper Howard that Vault-Tec, the company he has allied himself with, is more dangerous than he ever imagined. The company’s “fiduciary responsibility” means that these Vaults, which are extremely expensive to build, must pay off. Without a nuclear event, these highly advanced shelters serve no purpose.
The show seems to point to the answer to a question that has long puzzled gamers: why has Vault-Tec invested so heavily in social experimentation? As it turns out, this was to the benefit of the corporate partners, who are almost certainly involved in the creation of the Enclave (Barb seeking out a shadowy figure certainly implies that). While it’s not yet clear how, the show reveals that Vault-Tec had enough power and influence to cause nuclear devastation. Suddenly the vaults make a lot more sense; the shadow government had a vested interest in ending the world so it could conduct its experiments and survive the competition.
Leveling the outside world, waiting for the dust to clear, and then recreating the world as you see fit – this is how Vault-Tec plans to ‘bring America back from the dead’.
The core rulebook for Modiphius’ 2d20 Fallout roleplay dedicates an entire chapter to establishing Vault-Tec and Vault knowledge. The opening paragraphs nicely summarize the company’s core contradiction:
Without the protection of their core product line, it is questionable whether any recognizable fragment of humanity would have survived to repopulate the Wasteland. Through their craftsmanship and patented technology, they saved the human species.
That said, what lurks in some of their vaults – whether it’s technology, failed biological experiments, or simply humanity feral in the dark for decades – represents the most dangerous threats to humanity’s survival.
They say you can’t have it both ways. Vault-Tec proved them wrong.