Fallout 4’s Cut Vault 120 Was A BioShock-Style Underwater Lair

Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard has revealed a BioShock-inspired underwater level that was cut from Fallout 4. The post-apocalyptic role-playing game takes players on a deadly adventure across Boston and pits them against all manner of raiders and mutant creatures. Like its predecessors, Fallout 4 features various Vaults throughout its open world, with these claustrophobic dungeons often containing horrific secrets and foes.

The world of the Fallout series was ravaged by a devastating nuclear war, with humanity’s only survivors having taken shelter in specially-made Vaults. Fallout 3 and 4 both kick off with the player character leaving their Vault to explore the world beyond, and other Vaults can be discovered and explored throughout both titles. It is revealed that the Vaults were used to conduct scientific and social experiments by the sinister Vault-Tec, with players able to discover each shelter’s detailed and often disturbing backstory by investigating further underground. Players were even able to build their own Vaults in Fallout 76 and a DLC in Fallout 4, allowing them to customize the underground bases in any number of styles.

In an Ask Me Anything thread on Reddit, Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard revealed that an underwater Vault sadly was cut from Fallout 4. During the digital Q&A one user asked Howard about Vault 120, an area that was cut from the final version of the game, as well as the title’s abundance of underwater areas. In an answer to both questions, Howard revealed that Vault 12o was meant to be a BioShock-style underwater Vault. A massive sentient octopus, likely mutated like so many of Fallout‘s other creatures, would have apparently lived outside of the sunken settlement. The revelation begs the question of whether a Big Daddy or a Brotherhood of Steel soldier would win in a fight.

While the Fallout series’ unique post-apocalyptic America has become quite iconic, BioShock‘s underwater city of Rapture is one of gaming’s most recognizable locations. The deep-sea dystopia is featured in the 2007 first-person shooter as well as its 2010 sequel, with both titles detailing the setting’s fascinating and in-depth backstory. Built as a utopia free from government and religious influence, Rapture soon fell into anarchy due to class conflict and its citizens’ addiction to genetic modification. Combining an Art Deco style with decaying aquatic horror, BioShock‘s beloved Rapture would have been a perfect fit for a Fallout Vault’s design.

Fallout 4 is a truly massive game, so it is only logical that some content would not be able to fit into the finished product. In the case of a truly remarkable idea, such as a Rapture-inspired underwater Vault area, this can be a very sad missed opportunity. Vault 120 could have possibly been added into the game as post-launch downloadable content, so the dungeon’s total omission from the game is all the more unfortunate. While Fallout 4‘s modding community could potentially add Vault 120 back into the game, for now the post-apocalyptic BioShock level is only a dream.

Fallout 4 is available on PS4, Xbox One and PC.

Source: Todd Howard/Reddit

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