15 Most Disturbing Fallout Vaults, Ranked (2024)

The Fallout series is one of the most popular and beloved series in video games. Initially created by Tim Cain, Interplay, and Black Isle Studios, Fallout takes place in post-nuclear war America. Unlike other depictions of the post-apocalyptic, Fallout is cynical and full of elements of Cold War-era technology and ideals.

One of Fallout's most well-known elements is its vaults. Company Vault-Tec created several underground shelters for Americans to wait out the radiation and nuclear fallout. Unfortunately, Vault-Tec's signature bunkers were each designed with a specific experiment in mind to inflict on its Vault Dweller residents. While the series has seen the player dive into many vaults, some are genuinely entrenched in depravity and wickedness.

Updated on May 31, 2024, by Michael Colwander: Prime Video's Fallout has been a huge hit introducing new fans to the disturbing world of Vaults. While Vault 33 and other Vaults from the show are terrible in their own ways, they pale in comparison to some of the worst Vaults in Fallout.

15 Vault 108 Is Infamous For Its Gary Clones

Fallout 3

The Vault 108 Experiment:

• Only the Chief of Staff, Chief of Security, and Morale Officer roles were established
• Other roles were to be assigned by the Overseer who was to be determined at a later time (ultimately Brody Jones, who had a rare form of cancer)
• There was only a limited amount of power, providing a sense of urgency

"Gary." "Gary!" "Gary?" "Ah, Gary." Vault 108 has long been burned in the minds of Fallout fans for its sheer creepiness. Vault 108 is full of these Gary clones who pretty much only say "Gary." They're extremely hostile, attacking any non-Gary in sight. How did Vault 108 descend to this state?

Vault 108 was set up for failure in order to accelerate advancement and test leadership conflicts. Only a few positions were formally filled, with the rest selected by a to-be-determined Overseer, and the power supply would not have been enough to last the entire duration of the Vault experiment. The scientists in Vault 108 focused on cloning a single man, Gary. Gary was cloned a total of 54 times, which proved to be the deadly number as the hostile Garys overran Vault 108.

14 Vault 94 Was Full Of People Not Ready For The Wasteland

Fallout 76

The Vault 94 Experiment:

• Pacifist Vault
• Designed to see how well the non-violent interact with wasteland survivors

Living in Vault 94 must have been pleasant at first. Peaceful and non-violent. Very similar to Vault 33 in Prime Video's Fallout. There were no weapons and plenty of recreational areas. Vault 94 was designed with agriculture at its center to ensure sufficient needs on the surface when that time comes.

However, the experiment behind it was anything but pleasant. Vault 94 was designed to see how sheltered people interact with the violence-filled wasteland. Ambassadors would go to the surface to try to broker deals with wasteland societies and invite survivors to the Vault. Naturally, this led to the Vault's downfall as its dwellers weren't capable of defending themselves

13 Vault 106 Drugged All Of Its Inhabitants

Fallout 3

The Vault 106 Experiment:

• Inhabitants were drugged through the air filtration system

While some Vault Dwellers managed to live relatively safe lives in their Vaults, others were not as fortunate. Vault 106 is one of the most heartbreaking Vaults of them all. After ten days upon entering, the Vault inhabitants were drugged through the air filtration system.

The Overseer was well aware of this experiment. Over time, the psychoactive drugs led to a violent uproar among the victims, and eventually Vault 106 was overrun by the drug-induced dwellers. When the Lone Wanderer visits Vault 106, the psychoactive drugs are still being pumped through the air filtration system, even after its inhabitants had long perished. The hostile inhabitants remaining are not the original Vault Dwellers, but unsuspecting wastelanders that wandered in.

12 Vault 51 Was Run By A Computer Who Subjected Its Dwellers To A Battle Royale

Fallout 76

The Vault 106 Experiment:

• A Vault run by a computer
• The goal was to find the best leader possible and determine the best method to bring them to light

Vault 51 was first only available through Fallout 76's Nuclear Winter battle royale mode. Once that was shutdown, Bethesda gave players the opportunity to visit it whenever in the main game. Much like a battle royale mode, Vault 51 was designed to find the best of the best.

At the head of Vault 51 was a computer system ZAX 1.3c with the hopes of determining the best way to find the best possible leader. An election was first performed, but every Vaut Dweller voted for themselves. After a few other experimental failures, Seargent Robert Baker, who was brought in to assist ZAX, suggested that a true leader rises up in the face of a crisis, so crises ZAX would create. ZAX would subject the Vault Dwellers to a series of social experiments and competitions, which effectively became a battle royale as the Vault Dwellers would die in some fashion throughout the process until one remained.

11 Vault 92's Musicians Succumbed To White Noise

Fallout 3

The Vault 92 Experiment:

• A Vault full of musicians
• A steady wave of white noise would be implemented in hopes of mind control

At the surface, Vault 92 seems pretty tamed. A Vault full of musicians in an environment to create music and ensure their art perseveres in the new world. It's easy to why many musicians were drawn to Vault 92. Sadly for them, there was an ulterior experiment.

Vault 92 was designed to use a low-frequency white noise into order to manipulate its Vault Dwellers. The experiments were initially successful, however, the white noise grew to become too much, leading to a surge in violence thanks to neurological changes causing degradation in their cognitive state. It also didn't help that Vault 92 was built in a poor location where the underground water, causing the Vault itself to deteriorate.

10 Vault 75 Goes To Show That Raising Child Soldiers Is A Fool's Errand

Fallout 4

The Vault 75 Experiment:

• Turned children into genetic super soldiers

For many fans of the series, current developer Bethesda doesn't understand what made Fallout famous in the first place. While Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 are overall good games, they tend to lack the same creativity and charm of their predecessors. With that being said, Bethesda occasionally has nailed the feel of Vault-Tecs experiments throughout their games.

Vault 75 is located under Malden Middle School. Its position reinforces its purpose: to turn children entering the vault into an army of genetically gifted individuals. When the war broke out, adults and more troublesome children were killed. The remaining subjects were trained in brutal experiments and tests. Eventually, the test subjects overthrew their captors and escaped — a rare good ending in the Fallout series.

9 Vault 19 Is The Most Disturbing Version Of Red Vs. Blue

Fallout New Vegas

The Vault 19 Experiment:

• Divide people into two separate color-designated areas
• See if paranoia could develop through non-chemical or non-violent means

Fallout: New Vegas is widely regarded as the high watermark of the franchise. Following Fallout 3, Bethesda entrusted Obsidian Studios to develop the next Fallout entry. While it must sting for Bethesda that Obsidian, in 18 months, made a better game than they had with years of development time, Obsidian's excellent world-building should always be remembered first.

Vault 19 is a perfect example of how Obsidian captured the depravity the series is known for. Vault 19 was separated into "Blue" and "Red" sectors, with Vault-Tec officials sowing paranoia and distrust between the two. Eventually, things got chaotic, and nearly all the residents were killed in an entire-blown conflict.

8 Vault 95 Perfectly Exemplifies "It Sounded Good On Paper"

Fallout 4

The Vault 95 Experiment:

• See if drug and chem addicts could recover
• There is also a hidden stash of chems

What made Vault-Tec deceptively effective at its goals was how they were able to present itself on the surface. Vault-Tec promoted its vaults with numerous benefits for its populous by promising a haven from the nuclear wasteland. Vault 95 in Fallout 4's Commonwealth was one of Vault-Tec's most deceptive and twisted creations.

Built as a bunker specifically for drug addicts to kick their addictions, Vault 95 was peaceful for a while. Of course, considering what Vault-Tec is, they planted a single individual to uncover a stash of drugs following a long period of peace. Unfortunately, the introduction of addiction turned Vault 95 into a bloodbath.

7 Vault 87 Features More Of Vault-Tec's Usual Wickedness

Fallout 3

The Vault 87 Experiment:

• Testing FEV by forcing it on Dwellers

One of Fallout's most well-known groups is the Super Mutants. Intentionally introduced in the first Fallout, Super Mutants were created when the Enclave introduced humans to the FEV virus in sickening experiments. As if one test ground of the FEV wasn't enough, Fallout 3's Capital Wasteland featured another.

Vault 87 was a fair bog-standard vault, except that the residents were forcefully exposed to FEV by Vault-Tec. Considering how violent and unstable the majority of Super Mutants are, it wasn't long until the former vault residents escaped Vault 87 and wreaked havoc on the Capital Wasteland.

6 Vault 22 Has Both Promising & Horrible Elements To It

Fallout New Vegas

The Vault 22 Experiment:

• Agriculture in preparation for the surface

Regarding the world of Fallout, vegetation and greenery are hard to come by. While there are pockets of the landscape where nature can still thrive, the nuclear fallout killed a majority of plant life throughout the world. As such, Vault 22 seems to be a good idea on paper. Of course, with Vault-Tec, there's also a problem.

Vault 22's purpose was to experiment with plants and animals to find an effective means to grow vegetation once the residents leave the vault. Indeed, this sounds like a noble cause; sadly, Vault-Tec's methods for these experiments were unproven. One of the experiments the scientists brought in was plant spores, which eventually turned all the residents into undead plant-fused monsters called "Spore Crawlers."

5 Vault 112 Is An Isolated Simulation Nightmare

Fallout 3

The Vault 112 Experiment:

• Vault Dwellers live in a pre-war simulation

Fallout 3's main plot revolves around the player character searching for their father, James, who escaped their vault. The player character follows in their father's footsteps, leaving their home vault and chasing James across the wasteland. Eventually, the player catches up to James; unfortunately, it's not easy.

The player follows James to Vault 112, a sparsely populated vault where all the residents are imprisoned in a simulation of pre-war America. This simulation is, unfortunately, controlled by the cruel Vault Overseer, who tortures the residents for his amusem*nt and tries to get the player to help him as well.

4 Vault 118 Is Built On The Rich Exploiting The Poor

Fallout 4: Far Harbor

The Vault 118 Experiment:

• Seeing if the rich and the poor could coexist

While Fallout 4 was generally well-received when it was released in 2015, many fans felt the storytelling and writing were significant steps down from Fallout: New Vegas. Seeing the desire by fans to experience the deep, morally grey storylines found in previous entries, Bethesda made one of Fallout 4's DLCs, Far Harbor, more of what the fanbase wanted.

One of the places of interest in Far Harbor is Vault 118. Vault 118 was split between a handful of wealthy individuals who lived in luxury and a sea of poor workers who lived in a cramped section. By the time the player reaches the vault, the rich residents have put their brains in robots to live forever, while the poor workers have long since passed.

3 Vault 77 Gave Fans One Truly Messed-Up Tale Of Survival

One Man, And A Crate Of Puppets

The Vault 77 Experiment:

• One Vault Dweller with only puppets to keep him company

Video game lore outside the games can be both a blessing and a curse. While many series like Halo have their lore intertwined in the world while leaving the door open for other media to explore their universes, other franchises use outside lore to pretend to have "rich" universes. Fallout is one series where the lore adds a lot to the universe.

Vault 77 is the focus of the comic One Man, and a Crate of Puppets. As the name suggests, Vault 77 had only one resident and a crate of puppets. As expected, the lone resident quickly lost his mind and made the puppets his only friends. Eventually, the Man escaped the vault and murdered two slavers, earning him the name "Puppet Man."

2 Vault 12 Was One Of The Series' First & Most Barbaric Vaults

Fallout

The Vault 12 Experiment:

• The Vault Door didn't close fully

While the original Fallout game hasn't aged well in gameplay or graphics, its story, writing, and world-building will forever stand the test of time. Before Bethesda made the franchise lighter, Fallout was initially presented as a horrible, bleak world, and its vaults served monstrous purposes.

Vault 12's experiment was simple; the door to the vault didn't close properly. While the residents hoped the vault would protect them, they faced intense radiation in an enclosed environment. Some of the residents managed to survive as ghouls, retaining their intelligence, but most faced the brunt of Vault-Tec's irremovable actions.

1 Vault 11 Is A Twisted & Evil Showcase Of Vault-Tec's Experiments

Fallout New Vegas

The Vault 11 Experiment:

• Once a year, a Vault Dweller would need to be sacrifice or else everyone would die

Fallout: New Vegas features the series' most memorable environments. As excellent as the main story is, the world of Mojave Wasteland features plenty of places where one could only imagine what happened. Of all of Vault-Tec's sins, Vault 11 might be the worst.

Vault 11 was standard except for one thing: an AI controlling the vault demanded the residents sacrifice one resident a year, or everyone would die. This yearly sacrifice continued until there were only five left alive. The AI then told them they'd be allowed to leave if they refused to sacrifice anyone. Wracked with guilt, four of the five survivors took their own lives, and the fate of the lone survivor is left unknown.

Fallout

The Fallout franchise, a hallmark of post-apocalyptic gaming, transports players to a retro-futuristic world devastated by nuclear war. Set in an alternate history where advanced technology and 1950s culture collide, the series begins in the year 2077, when nuclear bombs devastate the Earth. Survivors emerge from massive underground bunkers called Vaults to navigate the harsh wastelands, filled with mutants, raiders, and remnants of pre-war society.

Each game in the series, from the original Fallout to the latest installment, presents a unique narrative centered around themes of survival, exploration, and moral ambiguity. Players often assume the role of a Vault Dweller or Wastelander, making crucial decisions that shape the fate of various factions and settlements. With its open-world design, intricate storytelling, and deep role-playing mechanics, Fallout has captivated audiences, offering a rich blend of action, strategy, and atmospheric storytelling that examines the enduring human spirit amidst desolation.