A controversial classic in Bethesda’s longstanding post-apocalyptic action RPG series, Fallout 4 was a game not without its share of issues upon release. The story about a pre-war veteran who wakes up in the future and goes out to look for their missing son across the Commonwealth, there were plenty of hiccups regarding the game’s story upon initial release.
These included a lackluster karma system, a linear main plot, and most importantly, plot holes left hanging that felt incomplete. Yet some of these storylines weren’t as unfinished as many believed as much as they were rushed in their own development. Here are in-game storylines that might seem like plot holes, but aren’t actually plot holes.
10 It Was Father/Shaun All Along
Shaun being Father to the Institute is one of the biggest twists in the game. Yet, why did he make it so difficult for the player to reach him? As the leader of the most technologically advanced faction could have easily brought the Sole Survivor to him.
However, it wasn’t until Shaun learned that he was dying, when he’d sought to free his parent whom he didn’t really know to continue his legacy. Atop of this, it’s not really Shaun’s fault that the Sole Survivor is the one who shoots up the wasteland to go find his son.
9 Kellogg’s Consciousness In Nick Valentine
One of the many dropped storylines in the series is part of the Dangerous Minds quest. Where the synth detective known as Nick Valentine, downloaded part of the mercenary Kellogg’s personality into his mind. Leading fans to wonder if Nick’s personality was being taken over by Kellogg’s.
Yet, the reason that this plot hole doesn’t work out is that Nick is one of two prototypes for the first independent thinking synth. And while the original Nick Valentine’s personality is of heavy influence on his character, just because there are memories of a person, doesn’t make them that person.
8 The Institute’s Underground Tunnel
The institute is the most technologically advanced faction in the game. Which is why it’s heavily lauded to be accessible only by teleportation. At least, until a convenient plot hole is found regarding Sturgis’ discovery of the secret tunnel beneath the building.
Yet, upon the second look, the logic for this Deus ex machina is sound given that it’s built as a waterway cool for the institute’s nuclear reactor. One that’s heavily irradiated with its own radioactive protection. Atop of this, it’s foolhardy not to have some sort of physical escape in case of an emergency. No matter how advanced the society.
7 Why The Institute Didn’t Make More Cyborgs
Conrad Kellogg is the institute’s magnum-totting evil mercenary, who had over time, replaced a large degree of his body with cybernetics over time. Causing his skin and appearance to remain exactly the same in what’s considered one of Fallout 4’s biggest plot holes in the game.
Many wondered why it was that Kellogg hadn’t aged or changed, and if this was the case, why hadn’t the institute followed suit in creating more cyborg-like humans? But given how inhumane Kellogg was, plus the fact he’d killed Father’s mother, it’s not hard to see why they’d hesitate to make more.
6 Shaun’s Kidnapping As A Baby
Shaun was beloved by the institute for his untainted pre-war DNA. However, one big plot hole was why not just take Shaun, or really any surviving cryogenically frozen vault dweller’s DNA?
Well, a big reason was to see how a child could develop in a post-fallout world. Shaun was a perfect radiation-free subject taken as a baby, to see how he could develop in the wasteland. A pure specimen brought directly from the old world.
5 When Jet Was Made
In Fallout, Jet is a highly addictive drug stimulant that speeds time for its user. A chemical meta-amphetamine, made from both mushrooms and Bramin dung whose creation supposedly happened after the bombs initially fell.
Yet, in Vault 95, it’s realized that inhabitants during the pre-war days got doses of both Jet and Psycho. Even though the drug wasn’t realized until Fallout 2. How was this realized? Well, it’s heavily implied iterations of Jet existed prior to the war, especially given that its name is obviously based on a real-life drug.
4 Roger Warwick Is A Synth
On a terminal inside the bioscience wing of the Institute, it’s revealed that Roger Warwick was replaced by a synth so that they could experiment with genetically modified seeds up on the surface. Yet for some reason, when confronted and killed, he drops no synth components, which lets players question if he truly was a robot?
Yet, Roger Warwick is a synth. One of the third-generation models, which basically, according to Reddit, heavily implies that he’s as close to human as synths can be. Perhaps human enough to leave no traces of synthetic components.
3 Liberty Prime
In Cambridge Polymer Labs, the player can meet Molly the robot. Who reveals the history of the laboratory, and more importantly, how the place was involved with the construction of Liberty Prime. Who led to the successful liberation of Anchorage.
Yet, Molly was wrong, and it was the invention of power armor that won that infamous battle. Whereas Liberty Prime remained buried and hidden for years beneath the pentagon until the brotherhood found it years later. However, this same Molly was the one unable to assess that director Elwood had turned into a feral ghoul. So it was never the most reliable.
2 Teleportation
The biggest issue in the game is the idea of teleportation. Which the institute uses to move about. Having such a technology almost instantly fixes almost all of the world’s in-game problems, with many arguing that an unlimited-ranged teleporter ruins the nature of the story.
However, teleportation isn’t so simple, as the science, like many things in fallout, was never fully accurate. Electromagnetic shields, like ones that the Brotherhood employs, can cause signal interference. Atop of this, we see cases again and again of teleportation never dropping targets to a precise destination, needing things like a molecular relay, Pip-Boy, or grenades to accurately hone in.
1 Paladin Danse
One of Fallout 4’s major companions is Paladin Danse. A proud commanding officer in The Brotherhood of Steel. In one of the game’s biggest twists, while the player meets Shaun, the Sole Survivor discovers that Danse is in fact a synth. The question many players have wondered is how is it that Danse didn’t know that he was a human. Let alone, why fight for The Brotherhood Of Steel, who are sword to kill synths.
Well, Danse is just like Warwick, in that he’s a third-generation model. Still mostly himself, Danse still has human experiences, including a fierce loyalty to Maxson and The Brotherhood and what they meant. Because even though he isn’t human, Danse still had human experiences and is willing to fight for those beliefs.
