The most despicable vault experiments in Fallout history

When navigating the Fallout games, the bleak nature of the world leads players to some disturbing discoveries. Look a little deeper than simple skeletons on the ground, however, and it becomes clear the vaults are some of the most sinister locations in the games.

There is a certain irony in the idea that the places designed to keep people safe in the event of nuclear annihilation quickly become some of the most dangerous to live in. Unfortunately, this is not a quirk of circumstance and is absolutely by design, according to the game’s lore.

Vault-Tec, the company that built the vaults in the Fallout universe, is arguably one of the most nefarious organizations in any game. Entrusted with the future of humanity, they instead chose to use the vault system to perform a series of experiments on the inhabitants.

These vary wildly, with some designed to study human behavior in extremis and others simply staging grounds for chemical and biological experiments. That said, some vaults are considerably worse than their immediate peers.

The five worst vaults in Fallout games

Vault 11

When entering Vault 11, very little appears to be wrong. All of the traditional vault features are present on first inspection, with Protectrons, Robobrains, and Sentry Bots still actively pursuing their duties. That changes when cycling through the entries on the terminals, however, all of which describe an experiment as devastating as it is pointless.

Upon entering the vault, the new residents were told that if they did not sacrifice one person each year, then the computer running the show would kill everyone. This was totally untrue. As soon as the dwellers refused to do so, a Vault-Tec message would play, commending them on their morality and opening the vault.

Unfortunately, they were unable to come to this realization before only five of the original group remained. Their fate remains largely unknown, though they likely headed out into the wastes. A cut character simply known as the Vault 11 Survivor has been found in the game files, suggesting at least one may have made a life for themselves. 

What remains of the vault is a monument to the tragic events that occurred within.

Vault 75

There are few more immediately jarring concepts than human experimentation involving children. Unfortunately, that turned out to be Vault 75’s raison d’être. Built under Malden Middle School in Fallout 4, it was billed as a safe place for the children to go in the event of nuclear war.

When the bombs dropped, the children were taken below and taught to fear the surface world that they would come to refer to as “Uptopland.” They were then educated and told that they would be trained so that one day they could return to the world above.

In reality, the strongest and most intelligent children were hand-picked and “harvested.” The purpose of this was to further understand the human genome and the process of creating super soldiers. It remains one of the most morally reprehensible vaults in the entire Fallout canon.

Vault 92

One of the most bizarre experiments in Fallout 3, Vault 92 was designed to serve one highly specific purpose. To the general public, it was designed to hold 245 of the world’s best musicians, in an effort to “preserve musical talent” when the nuclear war began.

When the worst occurred, the musicians came to the vault, counting themselves among an extremely lucky few. Almost immediately, the vault’s true purpose was initiated as Overseer Richard Rubin implemented Vault-Tec Confidential Plan WNMSCE (White Noise Mind Suggestion Combat Experimentation).

This was designed to find further applications in combat scenarios, but things quickly spiraled out of control. What followed was a rapid descent into insanity for the former prodigies, with half the vault becoming maddened by the sound. 

Many turned murderous and killed those who remained, leaving nothing but the overarching feeling of death in Vault 92.

Vault 87

Located in Fallout 3’s Capital Wasteland, Vault 87 can be found northwest of Little Lamplight. It is arguably one of the most important vaults in the entire series, serving as the birthplace of Super Mutants in the ruins of D.C.

After the vault’s original purpose was scrapped, the scientists and Overseer began to experiment heavily with the Forced Evolutionary Virus or FEV. In news that surprised nobody, the Super Mutants eventually escaped, kidnapping people from the wasteland and bringing them back to the vault for mutation.

Eventually, the FEV began to run out, and the Super Mutants headed out across Washington in a fruitless endeavor to find more. For the hundreds of people experimented on here and the countless more killed by the Mutants, Vault 87 has been a hugely destructive force.

Vault 68

Vault 68 is a bit of an outlier as it never featured in any Fallout game, but the impossibly dark nature of the site warrants its inclusion. The vault only appears in the Fallout Bible, a series of background documents for the original Fallout games, written by game designer Chris Avellone.

The vault was designed to accommodate 999 men and one woman, the post-apocalyptic implications of which need no elaboration. Avellone mercifully expands very little upon the vault’s fate, which is likely considered a step too far, even for Fallout games.

We do know that there is a reverse equivalent, Vault 69, in which 999 women were placed with one man. Its fate is similarly murky, a rare blessing in a harsh, nuclear-scarred world.