When did the Brotherhood of Steel first show up in West Virginia? What’s the real origin of Fallout‘s big green super mutants? Fallout 76 takes liberties with more than a little of the series’ lore, but Bethesda doesn’t seem to be too worried about it, making light of timeline contradictions with a funny callback to Fallout 4.
If you’re intent on discovering everything in Fallout 76 for yourself, beware that there are light spoilers ahead. Nothing groundbreaking or central to the game’s main plot, but a warning nonetheless.
Kent Connolly. Remember him? He was a ghoul from Fallout 4 who worked in a radio station in the late 23rd century and was obsessed with the Silver Shroud, a vigilante character from a comic book series that existed before the war that turned America into a nuclear wasteland.
According to messages you can discover in one of Fallout 76‘s quest lines, he was also a big fan of another character from the series, the Mistress of Mystery, and he was more than a little disappointed in continuity errors between the original comic books and her later appearances in the radio play adaptation.
That’s all according to messages that show up on a computer terminal in the game’s Riverside Manor location. It’s the home of the fictional in-game actress Shannon Rivers, who played the character in the radio version. She lived there after the war with her husband, and the two of them adopted orphan girls and taught them how to fight, just like the fictional Mistress of Mystery.
The quest line around her character is one of the better ones I’ve come across in the game so far, and it also provides a funny side commentary on how lore metastasises and breaks down the longer a series goes on.
“I wanted to complain about the history of the Eye of Ra as depicted in Season 7, Episode 12, “The Thieves of Thebes,’” reads a message in the computer terminal, which is signed by super-fan Connolly. It goes on:
“This episode seems to suggest that the Mistress may not have possessed the Eye during her second expedition to Egypt to vanquish the Cult of the Unseen Seer. As I’m sure you know, in Mistress of Mystery #141, a flashback shows the Mistress wearing the Eye at a museum gala that must have occurred between the first and second expeditions. The fan consensus is that she obtained the Eye during the first expedition, although I personally think it was among the relics she inherited from her father the archaeologist.”
Connolly goes on to write that he hopes maintaining the history and continuity of the character’s canon is as important to her as it is to him. In a postscript, he adds that he was “dismayed” to see the character’s dress had been altered because it was difficult to fight in, possibly an allusion to some Fallout fans own complaints when the Power Armour in Fallout 3 was changed from previous appearances in the series.
Prior to Fallout 76‘s launch, some players were confused about the the apparent existence of Brotherhood of Steel insignia in the game. The series’ existing timeline stipulated that this faction, originating in California, shouldn’t have appeared that far East so early on. Bethesda responded at the time with a tweet papering over the contradiction and chalking it up to “satellites.”
Super Mutants also were believed to have been created only months prior to the events of Fallout 76, making their prevalent appearance in the game another mystery.
Of course, the Connolly reference in this game doesn’t make much sense either, given that he’s a character from Fallout 4, which takes place long after Fallout 76, a prequel to the rest of the series. That’s assuming that the person referenced in the computer terminal is the same ghoul running a radio station hundreds of years later.
Either way, I’m looking forward to seeing how Fallout‘s most devoted fans try to reconcile the game’s increasingly wild lore. Something tells me that as Fallout 76 continues to expand and get updated, it’s only going to get weirder.
Comments
17 responses to “Fallout 76 Easter Egg Pokes Fun At Lore Inconsistencies”
Do you guys just find your content from Reddit? Lately I’ll read something on reddit and then soon after see it posted on this site as news.
Yeah Reddit is a big contributor to most gaming sites.
Might seem a bit on the nose for a frequent redditor but for folks like myself who rarely visit it’s not as noticible.
(Seriously, I think my entire reddit history is from searching google for people who experienced the same weird and rare bugs etc)
Oh man been playing this a few hours so far and…
Oh man. I just.
This has got to be one of the laziest, worst online open world games I’ve ever played from a big budget studio.
What the hell Bethesda?
Complete opposite experience for me. About 20 hours in, half solo and half with friends, and we’re all having a blast. Better than most any other multiplayer survival game I’ve played.
I’m same as you, having a blast. From various comments I’ve read it seems some people are determined to hate the game no matter what. Others go the complete opposite and will claim to love it no matter what.
I’m just taking it as it is and am having fun. My favourite part of Fallout/Elder Scrolls games is always just setting off to explore and discover what stories are waiting and Fallout 76 is packed with things to find.
The only thing I’m struggling with is materials fro crafting…adhesive/gears/screws are the bane of my existence. I have an adhesive farm now but it doesn’t have an output anywhere near what I need.
It’s not like the game is without its bugs, but for the most part they’re the charming kinds of bugs you’ve kinda grown to love over the series. I’m finding the story genuinely interesting, and I love that so far I’ve been able to join the Responders, the Firebreathers, the Mistresses of Mystery and of all things, the US Army.
Also love that clothing only ways 0.1, so you can collect different appearances fairly freely. I’ve also encountered Mothman once, scared the crap out of me with its red eyes.
I’ve encountered the mothman twice…first time it was just over a hill so I couldn’t quite see it. As I was approaching to get it in line of sight and start shooting it flew up and away.
Second time I’d just finished an event at the lighthouse. Came down to the bottom and he was standing there waiting for me. He gave me a buff of some sort and then flew away. I didn’t shoot because he was friendly.
Having played through the weekend now this game is only getting more fun the longer I play. Absolutely loved the Firebreather quests. Really feels like you’re descending into hell.
Yeah an adhesive farm sounds really fun seems like Bethesda are taking it to the next level with this one lol idk when I think of fallout I instantly imagine crafting so much adhesive I can barely move because I’m stuck to my seat by the fun and engaging 4k adhesive content. Epic lulz guys, it seems like everyone just wants to just hate on this game for no reason like wtf, I am having so much fun rn, I’m a real gamer btw, I’ve been playing bethesda games since the days of skyrim and I even pre-ordered the special pip-boy edition for $400.. haters need to grow up and laboriously gather random junk components like the rest of us
See you’re just being obnoxious and hating on it for no real reason.
Adhesive farms existed in Fallout 4 too, if you can farm extra why wouldn’t you?
Are there any big name survival games its similar to for comparisons sake?
If its like rust then i’m out but if its like 7 Days to die or something like that i’m in.
I haven’t played 7 Days to Die so I can’t compare with that one. It’s different to most survival games I’ve played, but I’d say it has the most in common with Subnautica. Mainly, the story is discovered rather than your typical RPG exposition, the further you venture from the Vault more more dangerous things tend to get (both monster-wise and environmentally), and the whole ‘there were other humans but they’re gone now’ thing. You need to manage hunger and thirst, which I think was optional in Subnautica but mandatory here.
Differences include being able to shoot and kill things obviously, and there’s a much more comprehensive set of quests rather than Subnautica’s fairly slim offering. F76 also has the SPECIAL system although it’s quite different to the main games. Here, SPECIAL starts at 1 in each and you gain a point to allocate every level up to 50. Instead of skills and perks, you get perk cards that start at 1 star and can be combined to make higher star cards. You can assign as many stars to a stat are you have in that stat, so for example if you have 5 endurance you can assign a 3-star Lead Belly card (which makes you take no rads from eating/drinking) and two 1-star Endurance cards, or one 2-star Endurance card. It’s quite different to the main Fallout games but it works quite well.
Other things to keep in mind are weapons have condition and the condition runs out rather fast, carry limits are a thing and in camp stash limits are a thing (though that’s being increased soon). Bethesda has also said they’re adding ultrawide support and FOV slider before the end of the year.
Sounds like it might be something I would enjoy, I will pick it up once the price has dropped a bit and once i’m bored with BFV.
Thanks for the in depth description!
It’s cool you like it but I’m really not impressed by what should’ve been so much more by a Triple A studio. From the complete lack of settings for the PC including something as simple as a FOV slider (fixed with a future update… awesome… but still why not in there to begin with?), also 24 people per server is just very, very empty given the size of the game.
The quests for me just feel bland and generic, I’ve been playing with a mate but not a single thing in this screams ‘must buy’. This should never have been a full priced product given its current state, which if we’re absolutely honest given the amount of glitches and problems, can be best described as ‘still in alpha’.
Maybe in time it’ll get better or far more interesting, but for now I’d rather spend my time with more rewarding games.
24 per server feels about right tbh. Having played it a bunch there are common areas everyone passes through around the same level – the main story quests. One I did yesterday I saw 3 players as I was heading in and ran into another 2 on my way out. That’s a quarter of the server going through one space within about 20 mins of each other. Also around Faltwoods (the tutorial hub/first town) there tends to be a number of players running about. Ran into a level 61 there.
The bonus of open world though is if you want to be left alone by other players you just go off in a different direction. Still get that single player Fallout feel but with the bonus of multiplayer being an option. It’s a balance I didn’t appreciate from watching videos, had to play it first.
As for the quests there are some really great ones in there…again though you need to play the game to see for yourself. Even one I had to just run from A to B then back to A on a time limit it sent me through a spot with a high level enemy that I had to kill on the run. Was stressful and fun, I rarely feel pressure in open world games but it got my heart pumping. The Firebreather’s final exam quest is awesome too. Very atmospheric in there…it’s hard to explain just how good that quest was. My favourite so far and I’m just getting started.
Paid $50 for the game and I’ve already got my money’s worth, haven’t had this much fun in a long time.
I’m still waiting for this to be declared non or semi non cannon because it turns out that its another computer simulation to prepare people for life outside the vault
That only applied to west coast super mutants out of Mariposa. Even before F76 lore, it was already established that east coast super mutants were the product of FEV experimentation from Vault 87, which would have commenced the same year as the bombs. It’s also established that FEV experiments took place at Mariposa before the bombs, so it’s feasible that super mutants may have been created at any number of WestTek or military facilities even before 2077.
Of course it’s the same Kent Connelly, he’s a pre-war ghoul. It makes total sense that he’d write fan mail to the actress that played the Mistress of Mystery, she crosses over with the Silver Shroud in some of the radio shows.