10 Terrifying Fallout Vaults You Wish You'd Never Opened

'Do Not Open. Ghouls Inside.'

By Jules Gill /

So... we're all just going to agree from the off that Vault-Tec are the true evil of the Fallout franchise, right? I mean, it seems that the end of the world was the best thing to ever happen to this company, as it took mere moments for the facade to slip and for the evil experiments to begin.

Advertisement

Promising the "lucky" few who could reserve a space in one of these high tech vaults a life beyond nuclear annihilation, Vault-tec preyed on those desperate, rich, or foolish enough to think that they could barter for a normal life after the bombs dropped. Deep inside these massive underground hubs, every vault was different from the last in terms of layout and provisions, but one thing that was terrifyingly constant throughout all of them, was that Vault-tec never cared once about those who resided within.

It's what makes stumbling across the Vaults in the Fallout franchise so conflicting; there's sure to be some good loot stashed away in there, but what horrors are you going to find within? Well let's travel deep and pray our light source doesn't dim...

10. Vault 51 - Fallout 76

A true leader is an individual who steps up in the face of crisis.

Advertisement

It was this one simple and fairly throwaway line that ended up being the entire downfall of Vault 51, as whilst other vaults were run by Overseers made of flesh and blood, this Vault was run by a computer known as ZAX.

ZAX's directive was to find the "perfect Overseer" from the residents of the Vault, which sounds simple enough, but after repeated failures with voters only voting for themselves, class disputes and all forms of trials in between failed to produce a sole winner, ZAX took matters into its own hands.

Thanks to a comment made by an advisor to the robot, ZAX began instigating challenges and trials for the residents to overcome as a means of finding someone who would step up and take control. Water supplies were turned off, food withheld and sleeping arrangements shifted, all of which resulted in infighting and distrust.

Things came to a head when ZAX revealed that the only true way to have a clear winner was for the residents to kill one another until only one remained. Oh, and to make matters worse ZAX wasn't happy with the winner and locked him out of areas of the vault causing the man to sink into a depression. Brilliant.

Advertisement