Top 10 Fallout Vaults

As the first vault revealed in the “Fallout” series, this has a special place in history. Vault 13 was developed by Vault-Tec to study the effects of prolonged isolation, with the goal being to keep its door shut for 200 years. Sadly this plan was botched when the vault's water chip malfunctioned in the original “Fallout”, with one inhabitant being sent out to find a replacement. By game's end, said inhabitant was forced to leave Vault 13 – followed in turn by other citizens, forming the Arroyo settlement seen in “Fallout 2”.

Vault-Tec has more than a few failings to their name. One concept that didn't quite work was a vault that would house people of radically different ideologies, intended to be opened after 50 years. What resulted was Vault 15, which fell victim to a schism, had four distinct factions depart in the aftermath, was ransacked for materials and eventually became inhabited by squatters. While it did result in some raider groups forming, Vault 15 also spawned the settlement of Shady Sands... the precursor to the New California Republic.

And here we thought red versus blue was enough of a divisive conflict. As shown in “Fallout: New Vegas”, Vault 19 was a very deliberate experiment; Vault-Tec sought to investigate the effects of segregation by separating vault inhabitants into two coloured sections. Coupled with a sulphur leak into the air supply, this created a tangible amount of paranoia leading to a mass exodus. By 2281, Vault 19 was inhabited by the Powder Gangers – and infested by fire geckos.

Experimentation at its most inhumane. In 2078, the citizens of Vault 87 were lead into airtight chambers and exposed to the Forced Evolutionary Virus, thus creating the first East Coast super mutants. From that point onward, the super mutants expanded on the original experiments – kidnapping humans across the Capital Wasteland and exposing them to FEV, hoping to preserve their new species. The vault itself is a challenge to explore, both because of the abundance of super mutants on patrol and the vault's radiation levels peaking at over 3,500 rads per second. But hey at least you can find Fakwes in here to help.

Fear the Puppet Man, for he approaches. Conceived as part of a collaboration between Bethesda and Penny Arcade, Vault 77 was said to have been designed to house one man... and a crate full of puppets. The story goes that this man eventually descended into madness, treating the puppets as people and going on to murder slavers. Strangely enough, the tale of Vault 77 may be canon as of “Fallout 3”. Players exploring Paradise Falls can find a Vault 77 jumpsuit, as well as a holotape of a slaver terrified by the prospect of the jumpsuit's owner returning.

Such a noble goal, such a horrifying outcome. That's the legacy of Vault 22, a rare “green” vault designed to preserve plant life in the face of the nuclear apocalypse. Unfortunately, the rapid growth of plants in a confined space lead to the spread of mutagenic spores, turning the vault's human inhabitants into spore carriers. What remains of Vault 22 is a dilapidated locale, overrun by mutant plants and humans alike. Don't travel here lightly.

There's poor judgement, and then there's this. Planned by Vault-Tec to illustrate the effects of radiation on a population, Vault 12 was designed with one key flaw: its door didn't shut completely. The resulting trace radiation allowed entry could certainly be said to have affected the populace – everyone in Vault 12 was slowly turned into ghouls. Over time, the vault itself would be made to serve as a town, becoming the Necropolis seen in the original “Fallout”.

Sometimes you just want to go where everybody knows your name. That's not an issue for Vault 108, inhabited solely by clones of a man named Gary. Vault 108 houses a cloning lab and was once home to other survivors, including a terminally ill Overseer and a dedicated staff. While it remains unclear what exactly transpired, the fact that each new Gary is very aggressive and all seems to have the “Matt Damon syndrome,” It leaves you to wonder what exactly happened in the vault.

No escape for the people. Vault 112 was clearly designed for experimentation from the ground up: it could only house 85 people, kept inside a virtual reality world and maintained via cryogenics. However, it's doubtful anyone suspected the overseer Dr. Stanislaus Braun would abuse his power, tormenting and killing the vault inhabitants in virtual reality before wiping their memories and commencing anew. What makes things worse is the ambiguity of the experiment's outcome – was the intent for Braun to satisfy his sadistic tendencies, or did building a virtual haven drive him mad?

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:

Vault 21
“Fallout: New Vegas” (2010)
Gambling-based vault

Vault 43
“One Man, and a Crate of Puppets” (2008)
Vault containing 20 men, 10 women & a panther.

Vault 68 & 69
“One Man, and a Crate of Puppets” (2008)
One contains 1 man and 999 women. The other holds 1 woman and 999 men.

Vault 92
“Fallout 3” (2008)
Populated by famed musicians, secretly tested on for posthypnotic suggestion.

Vault 34
“Fallout: New Vegas” (2010)
Vault with an overstocked armory that lacked a lock.

Humanity's flaws have never been so brutally apparent. Like other vaults of this nature, Vault 11 existed as an ongoing social experiment; its citizens were told to sacrifice one of their own each year, or risk collective death. After endless conflict and a full-blown schism the remaining five survivors finally abstained from killing... at which point the vault's true purpose of highlighting the best of humankind became apparent. By the events of “Fallout: New Vegas”, four of the five survivors seemingly committed suicide out of despair, with the fifth's whereabouts unknown.

Do you agree with our list? What’s your favourite Vault-Tec vault? For more fallout-proof Top 10s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.