Bethesda games always rewarded players for their time spent exploring their games, and boy was it worth it, games like Skyrim, Oblivion and Fallout being the franchises that showed the gaming industry what story-driven RPG’s should look and feel like from a lore standing point.
This does not apply to Fallout 76, as the developers locked behind a “grinding wall” all the new lore that involves the mysterious Vault 51. Players that explored the open world would find themselves locked from accessing Vault 51, but last month this was change, only for those that put lots of hours into Nuclear Winter, the latest Battle Royale mode. If you don’t meet the grind cap that Bethesda set for Vault 51, then you’re on your own, trying to find information about the lore behind it from YouTube videos or blog posts.
Behind the Vault
The mystery behind Vault 51 lies in a labyrinth of human shelters, ordinary regions, and gardens, but all these are locked behind laser grids when you first start your experience in this game. The only way of accessing them is by grinding an elevated Overseer Rank through the Nuclear Winter matches.
The first accessible area is The Theater, at Overseer rank 6. Inside it, resides a vast collection of holotapes belonging to the original Vault residents. Such a resident was a businessman named Harold Clark who gained access in the vault by posing as someone else. “Get this: ‘there’s this giant computer here and ‘it’s running this whole show by itself!” he says in it. “Nobody pulling the strings, does it all on its own! Amazing!”
Harold Clark refers to ZAX, a computer that holds artificial intelligence and is referred to in other Fallout games as well, first hinted in Fallout 76 though a series of clues.
Bethesda tried for some time to give ZAX a proper story and now seems like the perfect moment with the opening of Vault 51.
ZAX’s Implications in Vault 51 Tragedy
Put together, the whole collection of holotapes and dozens more terminal entries scattered across the vault depict a sinister tale. They share a story of 52 people that are slowly walking towards their doom thanks to ZAX’s nefarious experiments. ZAX’s work is easy, as the residents don’t even try to understand or help each other. The democratic elections that the residents want to hold are ruined once again by ZAX that exposes the candidates’ darkest secrets. One resident named Helen Marks tries to calm down the waters inside the vault, but she’ll meet a cruel end, delivered by ZAX. This dark tale is only accessible through the main computer room, which is locked off for anyone bellow the Overseer rank of 100.
The Players Riot
The players began rioting, saying that they would want to learn about the story through a more comfortable mode, some complaining about the PvP aspect of the grinding. Riot user Glorf12 said: “I ‘can’t stand PvP. After a month ‘I’m only level 30. I hate every second of playing Nuclear Winter yet if I want to know the lore of the place ‘I’m forced to do it or I have to watch a video.”
Perhaps Bethesda will hear out their fans and share this story with everyone, discarding the grinding that locked the players behind this fantastic story.
Andie is an IT lover and in his free time he likes to make tutorials dedicated to those interested in Android programming. Continually seeking for challenges he likes to test his skills and knowledge. Is thrilled to be part of the S4Tips team and hopes that together we can contribute to community development.
