8 Fallout Companions With Surprisingly Dark Pasts
War may not change, but this lot certainly did.
The Fallout series takes place in a universe that diverged from our own in the 1950s, where the Cold War never warmed, and tensions between the communist east and capitalist west boiled over into full-blown nuclear armageddon.
The games see the player take control of a character living in various parts of the US in the aftermath of the Great War. Nuclear annihilation has a unique way of tipping civilisation on its head, and much of the outside world has become an inhospitable wasteland, inhabited by monsters mutated by the effects of excess radiation exposure.
With that in mind, it is probably not a good idea to try and traverse the wastes alone, and each game has allowed the player to recruit a variety of companions, all from varying backgrounds to aid and assist them as they make their way through post-apocalypse.
However, just as the player has to grapple with moral quandaries as they make their way through life in a world without morality, many of the possible companions also have their own sinister backstories that the player may not even be fully aware of.
8. Dogmeat - Fallout 4
Dogmeat is one of the staples of the Fallout franchise, and for good reason. After all, its human nature to feel a strong connection to man's best friend, and this is likely only compounded in the event of the total annihilation of the majority of the earth's good boys. The name dogmeat actually comes from the 1975 post-apocalyptic film A Boy and His Dog, with the main character using the moniker to refer to his canine companion.
Dogmeat has appeared in all of the main series games so far, but this list entry relates mainly to the Fallout 4 iteration. An interesting fan theory posits that Dogmeat is actually a synth.
While this may seem easy to dismiss, The Institute is instrumental in guiding the player's route through the commonwealth, and there is evidence that they are capable of creating synth animals.
Also, when you consider that Dogmeat is in considerably better shape than most of the radiation-addled mongrels in the wastes, it suddenly becomes quite convincing.