Amazon Prime Video’s Fallout is officially a hit. Critics and fans love it, and the studio is so impressed a second season has already been confirmed. Much like The Last of Us, a popular television adaptation will bring a new audience to the Fallout games, which debuted on PC back in 1997.
Those early isometric games laid the foundation for open-world roleplaying with a focus on solving problems how you see fit. And, as anyone who’s ever ventured outside of a vault will know, you by no means have to play a goody-two-shoes hero. So, here are the ten most monstrous, sadistic and downright evil things you can do across the Fallout series.
8. Nuke Megaton (Fallout 3)
Let’s get this out of the way early. Megaton is probably the first major town you’ll discover in Fallout 3 and a place you’ll periodically return to during your travels. It’s a neat little town of humans and ghouls coexisting and is built around an unexploded nuclear bomb.
And so you get a choice. Disarm the bomb or detonate it. Wiping the town off the map gives you 1000 caps, a nice room over at Tenpenny Towers, and a sweet mushroom cloud explosion. The real price is your conscience. Did the apocalypse teach you nothing?
7. Burning Harold (Fallout 3)
The mutated Harold is one of the few legacy characters in the franchise, appearing in the first three mainline Fallout games. A former vault dweller, he was mutated by the Forced Evolutionary Virus. After a tough life, he’s found peace by the time of Fallout 3 and has mutated into a tree-like form, with the oasis around him one of the few green spaces in the Capital Wasteland.
The player encounters Harold and, recognizing that he’s a tree, wonders if he’s flammable. As it turns out, he very much is! As this kindhearted creature screams and writhes in flames you have a moment to reflect on your actions. At this point, even the most coldhearted player might consider loading an earlier save file.
6. Rapid unscheduled disassembly (Fallout: New Vegas)
The Wasteland isn’t a great place to live, what with the deathclaws, raiders, slavers and so on, so we can’t blame the ghouls inhabiting the REPCONN test site for wanting to blast off in a rocket to somewhere happier. Arguably their journey to the stars is bound to end in disaster, but at least they get to live their dream.
But if you’re playing an evil character you can convince their human assistant that it’s not fair they’re leaving him behind and sabotage the launch. You can pour cereal into their engines or screw with the navigation, but either way, you can then grab some popcorn and watch Fallout‘s take on a SpaceX launch as the hopeful ghouls die in a rocketfuel fireball.
5. Annul your marriage (Fallout 2)
Life after the apocalypse can be lonely and sometimes even a faithful dog just doesn’t cut with when it comes to company. But play your cards right in Fallout 2 and you can tie the knot. Your husband or wife will then become a permanent member of your party. Finally a happily ever after!
Well, not quite. Maybe you get a little sick of them following you about and maybe you’re short of a few caps… One day you pass the slaver’s guild and put two and two together. Yup, you can sell your dearly beloved into slavery. And, if you want to twist the knife, you can tell your father-in-law what you’ve done and watch him keel over from a heart attack.
4. Arcade games (Fallout: New Vegas)
The Mojave desert isn’t short of grunting illiterate and uneducated freaks, so meeting Arcade is a breath of fresh air. He’s a doctor, scientist and political theorist with strong opinions on the political future of the region. At the core of his personality is his passion for individual liberty and independence, which puts him at odds with the Roman Empire cosplayers of Caesar’s Legion.
You’ll soon realize that Arcade really hates Caesar in particular. But, Caesar is very powerful, needs a doctor and Arcade fits the bill. Needless to say the freedom-loving Arcade’s worst nightmares are realized as you sell him into slavery as Caesar’s personal doctor. Enjoy your worst possible life, Arcade!
3. Shoot the hostage (Fallout 4)
Fallout 4 doesn’t offer too many options to be truly evil, but the otherwise heroic Silver Shroud quest can wrap up quite diabolically. This revolves around geek ghoul Kent Connolly, a huge fan of superhero the Silver Shroud. You end up wearing the costume and fighting evil, only for the questline to end with Kent being held hostage.
The villain says “Step any closer and we got to see what’s inside Kent’s head!”. Huh, well now I’m curious. Blasting Kent is so unexpected even the raiders are shocked and scared. You’ll then massacre them and complete the quest, but… not as a hero.
2. Project Impurity (Fallout 3)
Project Purity aims to provide clean water to the Capital Wasteland and is a big part of Fallout 3‘s main questline. But, in the Broken Steel DLC those dreams of a happy and healthy new society can turn into a nightmare. If you align yourself with the villainous President Eden you can insert a modified forced evolutionary virus into the purification system. This will make water lethal to any mutated creature.
That means it’s goodbye ghouls and goodbye super mutants! Oh, and as radiation levels mean most regular people have some mutations it’s goodbye to almost else everyone too! Or, as the ending puts it “the capital wasteland, despite its progress, became a graveyard”.
1. Hugs for daddy (Fallout 2)
In contrast to the last one this isn’t some world-changing decision, but a piece of sheer petty cruelty that few games can match. A mobster hires you to kill a politician and have a lot of leeway in how to get past his security and whack him. But, if you’re feeling outright devilish you can reverse pickpocket a live grenade into his infant son’s inventory then give him a special message to tell his dad.
The kid excitedly runs to his beloved dad to give him a hug and *KABOOM*. Mission accomplished. You monster.