The world of Fallout is filled with a wide variety of unique creatures, characters, and factions for players to become enthralled by. From the meager Radroach to the technology-driven Brotherhood of Steel, the diverse inhabitants of the post-apocalyptic United States keep the radioactive landscapes engaging from entry to entry. Oftentimes, the games allow players to join factions and fill various roles, such as a New California Republic Ranger or the leader of The Institute. However, the Fallout games seldom had players begin games within existing factions. To help spice up the nearly 30-year-old series, Bethesda Softworks could make a new Fallout game wherein players begin the game as a member of the villainous Enclave.
Related
Fallout 4: 10 Worst Settlements
Fallout 4 introduced player settlements to the series, bringing new ways to interact with the world. But some locations are a mistake.
Fallout’s Enclave Faction Explained
In the years leading up to The Great War in 2077, many United States businessmen, politicians, high ranking military officers, and scientists secretly united with the goal of gaining control of the U.S. government for their own endeavors. This Enclave of individuals foresaw an inevitable conflict with China and the nuclear annihilation of the U.S., subsequently building numerous safehouses and oceanic shelters to survive the war. Not only would the Enclave largely survive the bombs, they intended to use the war as an opportunity to assume control of the U.S. government and begin reshaping the country to their interests.
Unlike the experimental and often monstrous vaults, the Enclave was allowed to prosper within their widespread installations, growing their numbers and developing new technologies and biological experiments. Some of their more notable creations include intelligent Deathclaws, Duraframe Eyebots, X-02 power armor, Hellfire power armor, and the biochemical weapon FEV Curling-13. On top of their new creations, the Enclave would often utilize pre-war technology such as the X-01 power armor, plasma weapons, laser weapons, and Vertibird gunships. The Enclave’s technological superiority and government connections further gained them access to numerous vaults for experiments and the acquisition of test subjects.
The Enclave’s Many Failed Missions
Despite their technological superiority and belief that they’re the last remnants of the true United States, the Enclave has often been thwarted by the wastelanders they so despise. In Fallout 2, the Chosen One managed to stop the Enclave’s planned extermination of all life in the U.S. and subsequently destroyed their Oil Rig headquarters off the coast of California. Most of the Enclave were reorganized in the Capital Wasteland thereafter by President John Henry Eden with the plan to contaminate local water systems with modified FEV. However, the Enclave were once again stopped by a vault dweller, the Lone Wanderer, alongside the Brotherhood of Steel in Fallout 3. Most of the Enclave is presumed destroyed, though small pockets of Enclave still occasionally pop up.
During
Fallout 2
’s development, the Enclave was originally intended to have designed the vaults as experiments for the creation of a starship to transport the Enclave people into space.
The Potential of an Enclave Protagonist
Allowing players to start a Fallout game within or later join the Enclave could open a new wave of both story and gameplay opportunities. If players begin a game as a member of the Enclave, it could introduce fans to a never-before-seen look at the organization’s internal affairs and day-to-day life. It could additionally allow players to play in the most evil way yet by taking part in extermination missions against wasteland settlements and experiments with wildlife. Bethesda could even expand upon the Fallout 4 settlement and robot workbench features to allow Enclave players to design their own mutated or hybrid creatures similar to intelligent Deathclaws.
In terms of the story, the hypothetical Fallout Enclave game could be set before Fallout 2 or before Fallout 3 when the Enclave were still in large numbers. Alternatively, it could be set after Fallout 3, following a struggling Enclave remnant as they seek to reunite with other scattered Enclave forces. One of the big choices in the game could be to continue supporting the Enclave, fight against it, or go out alone, similar to Siggi Wilzig’s story in Amazon Prime’s Fallout show. If players choose to support the Enclave in this Fallout game, they could help rebuild the faction and lead the way to the Enclave finally bringing true utter destruction to parts of the United States wasteland.