10 Most Terrifying Enemies In The Fallout Franchise

The things that go bump in the night throughout the Wasteland make it a horrible place to live.

By Brian Knowler /

Since 1997, across over a dozen gaming platforms and through almost a half dozen game companies, the Fallout franchise has enthralled millions of fans with its mix of role playing, action, outstanding writing, strong characterizations, and a wide variety of ways to tackle the games.

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Oh. And enemies. So many enemies.

No protagonist, no matter how powerful, is useful without equally worth antagonists. The various makers of Fallout, from Fallout 1 right up to Fallout 76, have done one of the finest jobs of world-building in any game series ever. That includes hundreds of different mutant, animal, insect, robot, undead, and human enemies to negotiate with, threaten, pacify, maim, kill, and loot for weapons, ammo, armour, and caps.

Some of these foes, however, have taken on legendary status, not only in the Fallout games, but in gaming in general. Not content to just be cannon fodder like a Ghoul or Molerat, these beasties give pause to even the hardiest of Lone Wanderers and Vault Dwellers. These are enemies who make you stop to make sure you have your weapon reloaded and stimpaks at the ready before trying for a stealth kill or saying to hell with it and rushing in, guns blazing.

These are ten of the most terrifying Fallout enemies ever stared at through the iron sights of a pipe pistol.

10. Super Mutants

Super Mutants are a mainstay of the Fallout world, first appearing in the original and being present in every version since. They are one of the most common enemies you will encounter during the games, but their size, hatred of humans, and variety of types make them deadly no matter how many of them you may cross paths with.

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Super Mutants were human before exposure to the FEV turned them into massive, muscle-bound humanoids standing between 7 and 10 feet tall and weighing around 800 pounds. Their skin grows thicker, giving them natural built-in armour, and changes colour. In addition, they use huge pieces of armour as well as almost all weapons that humans can use. Add in their powerful melee attacks and surprising speed and you have quite the tank.

And let's not forget the oldest and largest Mutants, the Behemoth...

The truly awful thing about Super Mutants is that almost all of them retain enough intelligence to carry on conversations with the player character (West Coast mutants) or scream threats and insults at the player character (East Coast mutants.) Because of this, we are constantly being reminded that these hostile, sometimes psychotic creatures were once human beings, changed into monsters against their will.

You almost feel bad when pulling the trigger.

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