- 20 hours ago
The Fallout universe is massive, dark, and full of hidden lore.
If you’ve never played the games, don’t worry — this video breaks down 20 essential things you need to know about Fallout to fully understand its world, story, factions, and post-apocalyptic setting.
From Vault-Tec secrets to radioactive wastelands, this guide is perfect for newcomers and curious fans alike.
Subscribe to watchmojo.world for more gaming lore, explained videos, and pop-culture breakdowns.
If you’ve never played the games, don’t worry — this video breaks down 20 essential things you need to know about Fallout to fully understand its world, story, factions, and post-apocalyptic setting.
From Vault-Tec secrets to radioactive wastelands, this guide is perfect for newcomers and curious fans alike.
Subscribe to watchmojo.world for more gaming lore, explained videos, and pop-culture breakdowns.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today, we're taking a look at 20 things to know about Fallout
00:11if you have not played the games.
00:13Fully integrated security technotronic officer active and reporting for duty.
00:20That makes two of us.
00:23Number 20.
00:24Mr. House
00:25As many of us already know, Robert House is the big enigmatic bad guy of season 2.
00:29I think you're in the wrong bar, pal.
00:32Hmm.
00:34Obsolescence.
00:36It's a heck of a thing.
00:39You know I try and see it from your perspective.
00:42But it's hard to imagine being so dim as to be caught off guard by the inevitable.
00:47What fans of the show may not know is that he is one of the most popular villains in Fallout history.
00:52He first debuted in the 2010 video game Fallout New Vegas, which takes place many years after the events of the show.
00:58And in this game, House has managed to transcend himself into his master computer.
01:02The same one we saw in the fifth episode of season 2, The Wrangler.
01:06As I know everything, I know who is making what technology, and I acquire that technology at the most lucrative moment in its span of functionality.
01:18However, at this point, he is missing one item that will allow him to gain control of New Vegas.
01:23The coveted Platinum Chip.
01:25Number 19.
01:26Deathclaws
01:27Another menacing creature we saw throughout season 2 is the deadly beast known as the Deathclaw.
01:31This monstrosity was created as a bioweapon during the Great War, and its name is rather appropriate.
01:44As we saw in the show, the Deathclaw is a vicious terror that is impossible to stop, and it's pretty much the same way in the games.
01:50Run!
01:57Wander into the wrong area at the wrong time, and you may be greeted by a rampaging Deathclaw and be turned into mince meat.
02:04It's a different story in Fallout 4, though. Deathclaws are a dime a dozen and not at all threatening early on.
02:10Number 18.
02:11The Commonwealth
02:12For die-hard fans, the Commonwealth's involvement in the story may have gotten some super excited and wondering what events we may see transpire in the show.
02:20Sorry to interrupt. Paladin Harkness, liaison from the Commonwealth. I understand we're discussing a civil war. I must not have gotten my invitation.
02:36For regular viewers, maybe its significance hasn't clicked just yet.
02:39You see, the Commonwealth was a region in Massachusetts that had only ever been mentioned in Fallout 3 before it became the main setting in Fallout 4.
02:47We need someone who can bring the whole Commonwealth together in a common cause.
02:50The region was one of the few that was not as heavily affected by the nukes compared to, well, the rest of the world.
02:56And so, many of the buildings managed to remain intact, more or less.
03:00Number 17.
03:01Lucy's Buff Out Bender
03:03Seeing Lucy getting hopped up on Buff Out was one of the funniest situations she could have landed in.
03:07In my experience, the alternative is the only way to go.
03:14What's the alternative?
03:16Do more drugs.
03:19However, we can understand how some new fans might be a bit confused as to how this substance works and why it made Lucy get intensely sick.
03:26In the games, Buff Out is a chem players can use to grant them a temporary boost in strength and endurance, as well as an increase in your HP.
03:33Take too much of the stuff, and you'll soon start to suffer from withdrawals that inflict a massive debuff on your strength and endurance.
03:39Some games will even penalize you in your agility.
03:41It wasn't until Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 when additional solutions were presented to alleviate Buff Out withdrawals.
03:47Just eat a rad scorpion egg omelet and you'll be fine.
03:51Number 16.
03:52The Search For Family
03:54One of the most frequently used motives in the show is how someone is always looking for someone else.
03:58Lucy is looking for her dad.
04:09The Ghoul is looking for his wife and daughter.
04:11Maximus is looking for someone to help guide him to pure morality.
04:14This motive has become a bit of a trope in the Fallout franchise.
04:17Fallout 3 has you searching for Liam Neeson, I mean, your dad.
04:21Fallout New Vegas initially has you hunting down the guy who tried to kill you over a mysterious package.
04:26And Fallout 4 sends you off searching for your son, who was kidnapped while you were in cryostasis.
04:30Please Sean, I'm your father.
04:32Father help me.
04:33Talk to me.
04:34He's trying to take me.
04:35Just open the door.
04:36Now watch, Fallout 5 is going to send you out to find your best friend's cousin who was three times removed.
04:40Plot twist, he's a Mirelurk.
04:42Number 15.
04:43Freeside
04:44In the fifth episode of Season 2, The Wrangler, we finally got a good look at one section in New Vegas called Freeside.
04:50So this is Vegas, huh?
04:52There you go.
04:54Unsurprisingly, this is a location you can go and walk around in when playing Fallout New Vegas,
04:59and yes, it is just as lowly and miserable as the version we see in the show.
05:03The biggest difference between the show's Freeside and the game's is that the game's version is much bigger, more derelict, and not at all populated.
05:10Granted, Fallout New Vegas takes place much longer beyond the show's point in the timeline.
05:15So it'll be interesting to see how the town's going to handle its Deathclaw problem.
05:19Have they always been here?
05:21Nope.
05:23Number 14.
05:24Victor
05:25While we're on the subject of Fallout New Vegas specifically, let's talk about Victor.
05:29Howdy, p-p-p-p-p-partner.
05:32Is that you Victor?
05:34Victor?
05:36That sure does sound familiar.
05:38No one could have predicted that the Ghoul and Victor would have some sort of history with each other.
05:42What's even more interesting is that we don't even see him hanging around the town he's normally at in the game.
05:47In Fallout New Vegas, Victor is primarily seen patrolling the town you wake up in, Good Springs.
05:52You may catch him wandering the outer perimeter of the place too.
05:55Only trouble is that we don't remember his speech being so glitchy.
05:58Oh, you're leaving already?
05:59Ain't nobody around to get poor Victor company these days.
06:04Just them rangers up in the hills.
06:07Number 13.
06:08Sunset Sarsaparilla
06:10For the first couple of episodes in season 2, we see Thaddeus running a small operation producing
06:15Sunset Sarsaparilla, a soda brand that used to compete with Nuka-Cola before the bombs dropped.
06:20Come on gang, we're only 12 hours into this shift, we've got 10 more to go!
06:24The thing about this drink is that it's only ever been seen in Fallout New Vegas and would later be added to Fallout 76.
06:30In New Vegas, this line of beverages has a special gimmick outside of being another handy soda to keep in your inventory.
06:36Some bottles of Sunset Sarsaparilla have bottle caps with blue stars underneath them.
06:41Collect all 50 of them to earn yourself a special prize.
06:44Just head through the double doors and follow the hallway to your left to the very end.
06:50An attendant will be there to present your prize directly.
06:54Number 12.
06:55Fisto
06:56The Wrangler certainly had some interesting moments sprinkled in, to say the least.
06:59Among these moments was the snake oil salesman having himself a dinner date with a seemingly random Protectron.
07:04Hello gorgeous.
07:06How I've missed you.
07:09But this promiscuous Protectron was no random hunk of metal.
07:12That was the fully integrated security technotronic officer, aka Fisto.
07:16A Protectron who has always wanted to perform more intimately deviant acts instead of helping and protecting people.
07:22And yes, in the game you can have Fisto performance services on yourself, if you're into that kind of thing.
07:28Operation complete. Thank you for your business.
07:32Number 11.
07:33The Kings
07:34Those unfamiliar with Fallout and its world may have been perplexed at the sight of some folks looking like Elvis Presley.
07:39On the one hand, yes, Elvis impersonators have been a part of the Las Vegas experience for decades.
07:51But in the world of Fallout, there is a faction of these people known as the Kings.
07:55This gang was founded by a man who thought that Elvis Presley was actually a deity, worshipped for his fashion and musical talent.
08:02And so, he posed as the King and began wrangling in followers to form the Kings.
08:07As far as we can tell, the guy that built this place was considered the coolest of the cool and taught other people how to be more like him.
08:13Number 10. The Alternate History
08:16War. War never changes.
08:19From an outsider's perspective, it can seem a bit odd how Fallout is set in the far future and yet everyone dresses and talks as if it's still the 50s.
08:27The show never dives into this facet, so allow us to give a general explanation.
08:31With World War II introducing the power of nuclear technology, American politicians, scientists and engineers began entertaining the idea of using nuclear energy in various everyday items.
08:42Of course, this effort never moved forward for a variety of reasons, such as the financial costs and, well, the obvious safety hazards.
08:49Fallout explores an alternate history and ultimately led to a world of violence birthed from the greed of corporations, most notably Vault-Tec.
08:57Because in Vault 101, no one ever enters.
09:01Number 9. The Environments
09:09While the Fallout TV series takes place in California, we have a hard time believing parts of it would look as lush and green after a nuclear apocalypse as it does in the show.
09:18We say this because none of the games ever look this lively.
09:21Sure, there are forests and some plant life, but for the most part, locations in the games are desolate, decrepit, and devoid of anything healthy-looking.
09:28If you decide to go play the games, you'll find that much of your time will be spent trekking across lands covered in sand, dust, and ash, with many landmarks being man-made from parts or built upon now-decimated architecture.
09:39The only shade of green you'll ever see will be from your Pip-Boy or the blast of a plasma-based weapon.
09:44Number 8. The Viscera
09:53At first, Fallout can seem like it goes way too hard on the gore and violence, more than many other TV MA shows tend to.
09:59Some would easily dismiss this as the show trying to attain some level of shock value.
10:03On the contrary, this is very much in line with the games.
10:06With the exception of the free-to-play Fallout Shelter, every game in the franchise has received an M for Mature rating, and excessive violence and gore are the biggest reasons why.
10:14The games even have perks you can obtain to make your enemies' deaths even more explosive, while giving you a small bonus in damage across all weapons.
10:21In our eyes, it seemed everyone in the show was running the Bloody Mess perk.
10:26Number 7. Ghouls
10:32Well, maybe not. But I'm gonna make myself welcome.
10:37As you already learned from the Fallout show, ghouls are humans who are exposed to an obscene amount of radiation.
10:42For better or worse, this has resulted in these people holding extensive lifespans at the cost of their skin and mental deterioration.
10:49Eventually, ghouls can go feral, but as to how long until then, well, this is yet to be answered.
10:55The show introduces a substance that supposedly prevents a ghoul from turning feral.
10:59The games, on the other hand, never introduced this or ever gave an explanation as to how or when a ghoul turns from civil to feral.
11:06They just do, and it happens whenever it happens.
11:09Well, now that is a very small drop in a very, very large bucket of drugs.
11:14Number 6. The Vault-Tec Experiments
11:17But the mission of the vaults should be important to everyone.
11:20And why is that?
11:23Fallout the show places a heavy focus on Vault-Tec's role in causing the nuclear apocalypse,
11:28with one scene explaining how they managed to obtain the funds to make and sell vaults to people.
11:32And yes, all 100-plus vaults were made just so a few individuals could play God and create programs for their buyers to rebuild society.
11:40Each game in the franchise hides a handful of these vaults for players to discover,
11:44and they all harbor secrets that can range from simply odd to the totally messed up.
11:48One vault may have succumbed to mutated monster plants, while another simply cloned a dude named Gary a bunch of times.
11:54Number 5. Stimpaks
12:03There are a few occasions in the Fallout show where characters use an item called a Stimpak to heal their wounds instantly.
12:08If you were one of the folks who thought it impossible for someone to recover so quickly just because of an injection,
12:13we can't blame you for thinking so, but that is really how Stimpaks work in the Fallout games.
12:18Stimpaks are made from a mixture of stimulants and healing agents that were made to significantly accelerate an organism's regenerative abilities.
12:25According to John Cassidy in Fallout 2, Stimpaks were made in massive abundance before the Great War.
12:30Yeah, it was a pretty easy way to insert video game mechanics into a story.
12:37Stimpak
12:38Stimpak
12:39Stimpak
12:40Stimpak
12:41Number 4. You're Special
12:42While we're on the subject of video game mechanics, we should probably address all the injuries in Fallout that should have left a character mortally wounded, if not dead.
12:49From Maximus's bullet wound to Thaddeus's smashed foot, it's hard to believe anyone could survive most of the violence inflicted upon them.
12:55We'd like to believe the show is secretly adhering and making their characters with a special system.
13:00Designed in the games for your characters' stats and strength, perception, endurance, charisma, intelligence, agility, and luck,
13:06we can believe someone like Maximus has a high enough stat in endurance to survive a bullet wound.
13:11Cooper Howard, aka The Ghoul, probably has high stats in perception, charisma, and or agility, which would explain his exceptional gunslinger skills, not to mention his backstory.
13:25Number 3. VATS
13:32One mechanic of the Fallout games that does not make itself known in the show is the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, or VATS.
13:45This allows users to identify and target specific body parts. Successfully landing hits can potentially cripple your enemy and inflict critical damage.
13:52Not once does the show allude to this mechanic in any way, shape, or form. This is probably because the game comes to a complete stop when the player activates VATS.
13:59You gotta keep the show rolling and not get too deep in the mud with the video game stuff, you know?
14:07Number 2. The Enclave
14:09The Enclave
14:10Put your faith in John Henry Eaton, great America, and baseball will live again. Comfort.
14:17Towards the end of Fallout's first season, characters talk of factions inflicting fear to convince others to believe in their truths.
14:23One faction that we saw at play in the show's beginning was The Enclave.
14:26Newcomers may only know of The Enclave in terms of Siggy Wilsack's escape with dog meat, but booting up Fallout 2 or Fallout 3 will reveal an even more sinister side of the organization.
14:36Though it looked and sounded patriotic in Anthems and its leaders' voices, The Enclave conducted inhumane experiments while exercising authoritarian practices to control their followers, all in the name of creating the true humans.
14:48As Season 2 continues, it appears more and more that their presence would be a major part of the rest of the season.
14:54Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
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15:14Number 1. Super Mutants
15:17And more?
15:19This will have to do.
15:21Oddly enough, Fallout makes a glaring omission when it comes to other enemies and races from the games.
15:26Sure, we saw the Assaultron head in the second episode, but where are the Protectrons or Robobrains?
15:31Perhaps the biggest omission of all were the Super Mutants.
15:34Even though they were mentioned in passing once or twice, these Green Hulks weren't seen in any of the episodes until the sixth episode of Season 2.
15:41These folks are just as mysterious as the Ghouls on account of their varying levels of intelligence.
15:46You'll come across plenty of hostile Super Mutants, but most of the Fallout games also introduced settlements of much more civil and organized Super Mutants.
15:53According to the one we saw in Season 2, a war is brewing, likely between House, Kaiser's Legion, the Brotherhood of Steel, and or whoever the Super Mutants are aligned with.
16:02How are you liking Season 2 of Fallout so far? Let us know down in the comments.
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