Falloutis undeniably a post-apocalyptic franchise with a heavy leantowards science fiction.
Yet, those supernatural qualities are persistent throughout the series in fascinating ways.
The original InterplayFalloutentries kept most of their weirdest oddities non-canonical by making them rare, luck-based encounters.
Things like King Arthur by way ofMonty Pythonand a British blue telephone box arent actually part of theFalloutworld.
Even modern players cant escape or entirely explain the outright eldritch.
Fallout 4s Mama Murphy is a good example of how thin that line can be.
Thats not the only example of Fallout mysteries only loosely connected to scientific explanations.
And on the grassy fringe liesFallout 3s Treeminders.
Chemicals and science cant explain all of this away, even when it tries.
A Ghost Story
Nuclear fire can turn its victims into shadows burned into the world.
But ghosts are also relatively safe, arent they?
Theyre echoes of the past that can only offer a good scare.
Hail Ug-Qualtoth!
However, a similar influence lurks withinFallout.
But thats not where the secrets of Uq-Qualtoth end.
Chronologically, it may not even be where it began.
Fallout 4cementsthe Lovecraftian punbehind the Dunwich clan with the Dunwich Borers dig site.
According to them, that is where the fanatics lost their way.
Deep within this cultist hole are sculptures previousFalloutplayers will instantly recognize from the Dunwich Borers quarry.
Deeper still is a still living, breathing, tentacled… thing.
Still, none of that explains an unsettling, smiling figure that occasionally appears in Appalachia.
Hes scarier than the Mysterious Stranger, and just as random.
When Is the Supernatural Too Much of a Good Thing?
Yet, when it comes to Appalachia and its robust crop of urban legends, it all makes sense.
76plays with the plausibility of such things as toys.
All throughFallout, plausibile and incomprehensible horror combine in ways subtle and overt.
All of those occurrences bring us back to variations of the same question.
Inexplicable things are happening post-war.
Thats a fact of life inFallout.
Ghosts, psychic phenomena, and eldritch beasts are very real in the Wastes.
Among such things are scientific fakes: let loose by human folly.
Much to my dismay, it doesnt seem likely that Bethesda will ever place an entire horror game inFalloutssetting.
Yet, despite my desires, that may be the right move.
InFallout, the paranormal exists alongside 50s-style aliens, cultural paranoia, andBlack Mirror-level science fiction horrors.
Thats part of why the Todd Howard formula still just works despite our grumbles.
Theresalwaysanother weird secret to discover, whenever we need to retreat from our own for a few hours.
In an election year, Id like to personally thank the Wise Mothman for that.
