Falloutis loaded with tons of colorful and zany characters for the player to find and interact with in any way they see fit. In fact, part of the charm of the series is being able to influence other characters in interesting ways, especially if it has a tangible effect on the wider storyline. A great example of this is the myriad of companion quests that result in distinct ending slides inFallout: New Vegas.
Not every character is sunshine and rainbows, however. Some characters throughout the franchise can be rather dark and twisted, even if they aren’toutright cartoonishly evil. When dealing with these characters, the player can learn their motivations and discover what makes them so disturbing. In some cases, doing so factors into the story and can be used to influence the narrative in intriguing ways. Here are just a few examples of this exact sort of disturbing characters in theFalloutfranchise.
Fallout (1997)
Fallout
You’ve just unearthed the classic post-apocalyptic role-playing game that revitalized the entire CRPG genre. The Fallout® SPECIAL system allows drastically different types of characters, meaningful decisions and development that puts you in complete control. Explore the devastated ruins of a golden age civilization. Talk, sneak or fight your way past mutants, gangsters and robotic adversaries. Make the right decisions or you could end up as another fallen hero in the wastelands…
The Master should be at the top of everyone’s list when it comes to disturbing characters inFallout. Not only is his appearancethoroughly unsettling, with his flesh fused with machinery and his anatomy misshapen, but his voice alternates between his own voice, a robotic voice, and even a woman’s voice seemingly at random.
Having long since abandoned his humanity, The Master embodies a grotesque desire to bring about a new era. In his new world, only beings matching his twisted sense of perfection would be allowed to survive.
Fallout 2might be more absurd and silly than its predecessor, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t know when to get dark when it needed to. President Richardson is a good example. Naming jokes aside, Richardson is the exact inverse of The Master. He’s cold, emotionless, and devoted to bringing back the old world rather than ushering in a new one.
What makes him so disturbing is his laid-back attitude towards global genocide. A bureaucrat at heart, he speaks about his goals as if they were any other government policy, cold and calculated. Richardson is a reminder that sometimes the most flatly realistic villain is the truly disturbing one.
The last thing most people expected upon entering Tranquility Lane inFallout 3was to be greeted by an unhinged, all-powerful little girl. It was even more surprising that this would be the person James had been searching for the whole time, Stanislaus Braun.
Braun is certainly disturbed. His need to disguise himself as a child while commanding the player to commit heinous acts against the inhabitants ofvault 112is as strange as it is terrifying. The player has the option to refuse his commands and even attempt to kill him, although this goes about as well as one would expect.
4Jaime Palabras
Fallout 3 (2008)
One ofFallout 3’sstandout locations isthe Dunwich building, where the player can discover a rather sinister narrative involving a character named Jaime. Jaime is an insane ghoul living in the caves beneath the building, where he worships and delivers sermons in front of a creepy talking obelisk. Holotapes and terminals tell the story of his reason for being there, as well as his descent into madness.
The suggestion of a supernatural presence is what makes his story so interesting. The method in which it is delivered only enhances the horror factor.
3Dog/God
Fallout: New Vegas (2010)
Dog and God are the split personalities of a singularnightkin super mutantfound inFallout: New Vegas’excellentDead MoneyDLC. Nightkin are known for their mental health disorders as a result of stealthboy usage, and Dog/God is a prime example. He will alternate between these personalities randomly, or on player command.
Dog is slavish and pained, while God is controlling with a sinister undertone. He is also heavily scarred, many of which were done intentionally on Dog’s part. His fate is determined by the player’s ability to deal with these dueling psyches.
2The Think Tank
Old World Bluesmight seem like a fun sci-fi adventure, but towards the end, it is revealed that the kooky scientists that comprise the Think Tank pose a very real danger to the wasteland. These once-human scientists have long since forgotten their past lives as flesh and blood, with their sense of ethics going with it.
Trapped in Big Mt by Dr. Mobius, this cabal of scientific geniuses seeks to use their gifts to enslave others to their academic whims. The player can talk to each of these scientists throughoutthis DLC expansion, and see just how far down the road of madness they’ve gone.
Fallout 4continues Bethesda’s tradition of includingreferences to the work of horror author, H.P Lovecraft. In this case, Pickman is a reference to “Pickman’s Model,” a story about a painter in Boston known for his disturbing work.
Fallout 4’sPickman follows roughly the same pattern. He is an artist living in the commonwealth, where he floods his house with horrific pieces made out of the bodies of raiders who happen to wander in. The player can explore his home and witness all his macabre creations, and even Pickman himself, who seems rather well-mannered for a sociopath.
