10 Most Breathtaking Moments In Video Game History

9. Stepping Out Of The Vault - Fallout 3

You spend the first hour or so of Fallout 3 cooped up underground, taking refuge inside Vault 101 with other survivors hundreds of years after nuclear war ravaged the surface. Your character only knows the simple life of a vault dweller, and has no idea what the outside world is like.

All of that changes when your father mysteriously leaves and you are forced to venture out into a post-apocalyptic Washington D.C. to find him. The door swings open and you are blinded by the sun. As your eyes adjust to your first glimpse of natural light, the landscape slowly comes into focus, and in an instant a vast and dangerous world is open to exploring at your leisure.

Few games have been able to demonstrate the scope of its open world quite like Fallout 3. By holding off on giving you free reign to explore the world, the reveal becomes that much more effective. It's a simple moment that is over in seconds, but fans continue to discuss it to this day.