History VideoGame / Fallout76

* VideoGameCrueltyPunishment: You can kill any player who are at least level 6, but your first few attacks will do very little damage: the point of these attacks is to inform your target that you wish to fight them. If they refuse and don't fight back, you can still kill them, but this earns you nothing. Not only that, but you are also marked as a "wanted murderer" on the map for everyone in the server to see. "Wanted Murderers" will receive full damage from other players (even their own teammates) as if they're actively participating in [=PvP=], and will not be able to see anyone else on the map. This means they will never see their own punishments coming. If someone kills you after that, they earn a bounty of caps paid out of your own pocket, and should you be unable to cover this bounty for some reason, you will then be slapped with a 50% damage penalty against other players for the next ''four'' hours that cannot be dodged by server-hopping, on top of the aforementioned damage reduction. In other words, running around killing helpless noobs for fun is generally a bad idea. This also applies to damaging or breaking into another player's property. Even something as simple as picking a lock on a player-installed door earns you a bounty.
** If you [[spoiler:treated Jen badly during Invisible Ties and killed her mother, she will take a part of the gold you find in the Vault 79 raid and [[WhatTheHellHero call you out on being an asshole.]]]]

It's 2102, and [[RunningGag Vault 76 is an okay place to live.]] [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer No, seriously,]] [[NotHyperbole it is!]] Constructed in the heart of UsefulNotes/{{Appalachia}} to celebrate America's tercentenary in 2076, Vault-Tec really outdid themselves -- everything's been running just as advertised since the bombs dropped 25 years ago, and soon the day will come when you reemerge to start rebuilding.

* TheStraightAndArrowPath: Previously cut from ''Fallout 4'', bows (and crossbows) are available for those who are less ballistically-inclined, and come with their own respective perks. There are also a multitude of different arrow types that can be crafted for use as well.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Filling in the role for them are the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Scorchbeasts]], huge bat-like monsters with the ability to release [[MakeMeWannaShout devastating sonic blasts]]. They're swarming up from the underground, killing anything in their path, and spreading TheVirus that creates the Scorched. The main purpose of the nuclear silos in the game's storyline is to get the Scorchbeasts off your back by ''[[NukeEm nuking]]'' their entry points into the surface.

At the end of February 2023, the ''Mutation Invasion'' update was released, bringing mutated enemies previously only found in Daily Ops into public events at the top of every hour. June 2023 saw the release of the ''Once in a Blue Moon'' update, introducing two new cryptids to the game (the Blue Devil and the Ogua) as well as a new quest line for the Blue Ridge Caravan Company.

* BonusBoss: [[TomTheDarkLord Earle]] Williams, a man [[WasOnceaMan turned]] wendigo colossus from exposure to radiation turning him into a cannibalistic mutant, who can be fought in Monongah Mine.

* {{Cap}}: Vendors of most kinds tend to have a daily cap for trading to prevent players from exploiting the game's economy, such as standard merchants only having a shared global limit of 1,400 caps, and Legendary grinders only outputting a maximum of 300 scrips outside of double weekends. Most forms of currency also have set upper limits to them that the player can carry (e.g. 40,000 for caps, 6,000 (formerly 5,000) for Legendary scrips, etc...), whereupon earning in excess of these thresholds will cause the extra amount to be wasted.

* EiffelTowerEffect: The New River Gorge Bridge can be seen still standing after the Great War. Players can also explore Camden Park and various other famous locales in the region, albeit under different names; the National Isolated Radio Array is meant to be a stand in for the Green Bank Radio Telescope, the Whitespring Resort is essentially the Greenbrier, Mountaintop Ski Resort is loosely based on the famous Snowshoe Mountain Ski Resort, the Palace of the Winding Path is inspired by the Prabhupada's Palace of Gold in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Vrindaban,_West_Virginia New Vrindaban, West Virginia]], and Hillfolk Hotdogs is a stand-in for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillbilly_Hot_Dogs Hillbilly Hot Dogs]] (complete with a dining area made out of an old bus).

* KillThePoor: The Cutthroat Raider gang were wealthy people and foreign nobility who were visiting the various mountain lodges when the bombs fell. They quickly decided the best course of action was to take the SocialDarwinist route to survival.

* NuclearMutant: Sufficient exposure to radiation in this game can cause you to gain a mutation, granting both positive and negative side effects. Mutations never wear off, but can be cured through the use of [=RadAway=]. The Starched Genes perk card can protect you from gaining mutations, as well as prevent you from losing any you already have. The Enclave bunker sells mutation serums and recipes for you to craft them yourself, but they are obscenely expensive.

* PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling: One effect of nukes is that it causes lots of legendary ghouls and ghoulified legendary monsters to spawn in the irradiated area. This can allow you to quickly level up by killing the high-level enemies there, assuming you can keep the radiation at bay. Whitespring falls victim to nukes on a regular basis for this reason, as it's already infested by ghouls. The radioactive fallout turns them into stronger glowing versions of themselves.

* PlayEveryDay: The game rewards atomic points for completing certain objectives every day (killing enemies, crafting, etc.), as well as daily events which offer supplies and experience for completing them. With the introductions of seasons and S.C.O.R.E. XP for completing daily and weekly challenges, atoms can only be earned from completing other challenges, such as social, world, combat, and survival challenges, or buying them from the [=PlayStation=] Store for RealLife cash.

* {{Prequel}}: The game takes place in 2102, 25 years after the Great War and 59 years before the original ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}''.

** Bethesda also announced a "Break-it Early Test Application" (a "BETA" test) for before launch, admitting that their game may be buggy: a very common complaint of Bethesda games, almost to the point where the bugs are part of the company's identity. All joking aside, the game itself uses the Creation Engine, which despite numerous improvements over its predecessor (the Gamebroyo), is still notorious for being unstable and buggy.

* TreeTopTown: Tanagra Town is essentially a giant clod of rock, dirt and junk that's been ripped from the ground and lifted into the air by huge vines [[spoiler:with a giant metal face like the one at the bottom of Dunwich Borers in a cave in the center.]]

** One of the new mutants is the Beast of Grafton, a headless bipedal monster that takes TopHeavyGuy to a grotesque new level.

** In public survival; eating pre-war foods like Cram, Potato Crisps, and boxed steak is much better than lugging around foods that rots like soups, warm steaks, juices, etc, as eventually all that food you prepared is going to be nothing but fertilizer. Same with Boiled Water, since as long as players have a water pump and good source of wood they can make their base more prosperous, whereas Purified Water is used mostly as a secondary Stimpack.

** What it ''does'' offer are scrap and repair kits, as well as carry weight boosters that significantly trivialize the scavenging and managing of your resources, which comprise a considerable portion of the core gameplay experience. The Fallout 1st subscription provides even more egregious examples in the form of the Scrap box and Survival Tent, the former of which lets you offload all of your crafting materials at the press of a button, and the latter is an indestructible, scaled-back C.A.M.P. that can be deployed separately at no cost almost anywhere in the world (and also contains the aforementioned Scrap box).

* {{Cap}}: Vendors of most kinds tend to have a daily cap for trading to prevent players from exploiting the game's economy, such as standard merchants only having a shared global limit of 1,400 caps, and Legendary grinders only outputting a maximum of 300 scrips outside of double weekends. Most forms of currency also have set upper limits to them that the player can carry (e.g. 40,000 for caps, 5,000 for Legendary scrips, etc...), whereupon earning in excess of these thresholds will cause the extra amount to be wasted.
* CentralTheme: The Overseer spells it out in one holotape for any players who hadn't figured it out yet; [[spoiler:trust. She thinks the various 'good' groups would've survived if they'd just trusted each other and worked together instead of closing ranks and trying to do it alone. Many of the quests involve deception and abuse of trust, including the main quest. Even the minor faction The Order of Mysteries was destroyed, in part, by mistrust and betrayal.]]

* CombatResuscitation: Unless they were one-shot by a sufficiently-powerful attack, players who were depleted of health will collapse to the floor with one HP remaining, where they can be revived by sticking them with a stimpack, or if the assisting person has the Quack Surgeon perk card equipped and alcohol on hand, by giving them a swig of liquor to get them back on their feet.

** The entrance to Site Charlie (one of Appalachia's nuclear missile silos) is disguised as a cargo elevator in a processing factory; terminal lore entries found in the factory imply that the pre-war US government subsidised the business and maintained a bare minimum of activity to keep up appearances.

* EiffelTowerEffect: The New River Gorge Bridge can be seen still standing after the Great War. Players can also explore Camden Park and various other famous locales in the region, albeit under different names; the National Isolated Radio Array is meant to be a stand in for the Green Bank Radio Telescope, the Whitesprings Resort is essentially the Greenbrier, Mountaintop Ski Resort is loosely based on the famous Snowshoe Mountain Ski Resort, the Palace of the Winding Path is inspired by the Prabhupada's Palace of Gold in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Vrindaban,_West_Virginia New Vrindaban, West Virginia]], and Hillfolk Hotdogs is a stand-in for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillbilly_Hot_Dogs Hillbilly Hot Dogs]] (complete with a dining area made out of an old bus).

* EvenEvilHasStandards: The Raiders as a faction in this game surprisingly enough still have standards and lines that they will not cross. Under the leadership of Meg Groberg, they strictly forbid slavery and excessive violence, preferring to only plunder what they really need instead of sacking communities wantonly, and find the more zealous and/or bloodthirsty factions such as the Cult of the Mothman and Blood Eagles too morally abhorrent to their liking. Even their significantly more lawless predecessors, despite being what they were, still found certain practices like Gourmands' cannibalism to be going way too far.

** In regards to legendary crafting, the most vital components that you're likely going to need a lot of are modules, which can only be acquired by trading in unused Legendary gear for scrips, and then using said scrips to purchase the modules from Purveyor Murmrgh. The problem is then many-fold, as each module costs 50 scrips to buy, there's a hard cap of 300 (formerly 150) every 20 hours that can be gotten from feeding Legendaries to the grinder, and rolling traits on equipment often cost between three and four modules each out of the six you can afford with this amount. Due to the random nature of Legendary crafting, there's no guaranteeing that you can roll the desirable traits with just your daily income. While seasonal scoreboards can give a lot of both resources, and there are the occasional double scrip weekends, they're far from being reliable methods of farming them.

* FearsomeCrittersOfAmericanFolklore: Many of the mutant creatures found in Appalachia are based off of actual Appalachian folklore. For example, there's the Beast of Grafton from Grafton, West Virginia, the Wendigo, and the Snallygaster from western Maryland.

** The Scorched plague was either eradicated or quarantined inside Appalachia before [[VideoGame/Fallout3 2277]], as none of the immediately neighboring areas in the Capital Wasteland ever acknowledged it being a thing.

** The player characters inexplicably cannot be infected by the Scorched plague regardless of how many of these enemies they fought. Even if one were to somehow surmount the many {{Beef Gate}}s of the Savage Divide and Cranberry Bog to skip the vaccination entirely and battle Scorchbeasts unprotected, they will never be turned into a Scorched. While there ''was'' a player version of the Scorched plague that was cut from the game during development, the game scripts simply treat it as a 5% DamageIncreasingDebuff when fighting Scorched enemies and nothing else.

* HealingFactor: One of the mutations one can acquire is literally named this. It gives the carrier accelerated health regeneration when out of combat (i.e. the detection meter being anything but "Danger"), but significantly dulls the effects of chems taken, including Stimpacks.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: With no human [=NPCs=] to speak of most of the backstory of the region came from various notes and audio logs left behind by the people of the region who tried surviving before Vault 76 opened. Apparently there were several different factions all with distinct leaders and goals trying to overcome the Scorched threat and the raiders to rebuild civilization. They're all long dead, but the Resident can at least continue their work and finish what they started.

* KryptoniteFactor: Scorched take extra damage from weapons crafted with Ultracite, but as a tradeoff these same weapons do reduced damage to everything else.

* NuclearMutant: Sufficient exposure to radiation in this game can cause you to gain a mutation, granting both positive and negative side effects. Mutations never wear off, but can be cured through the use of [=RadAway=]. Certain perks can protect you from gaining mutations, as well as prevent you from losing any you already have. The Enclave bunker sells mutation serums and recipes for you to craft them yourself, but they are obscenely expensive.

* {{Plaguemaster}}: Scorchbeasts are the source of the Scorched plague, spreading clouds of it as they fly by. This isn't just a backstory element, either. Scorchbeasts will do this in combat, and any creatures caught in the cloud will be converted into Scorched, assuming they're vulnerable to the plague.

** This even extends to the series' signature Power Armor, with an Excavator set designed specifically for mining; the left and right arms quadruple all mining yields when worn together, and a full intact set of Excavator armor boosts the player's carry weight by a whopping 100 pounds.

* AscendedFanfic: Quite a few of the new tracks for Appalachia Radio comes from the popular ''Fallout 4'' [[https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/637 "More Where That Came From"]] mod.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: After joining the Enclave, you have to attain the rank of General to access the command center and the armory. You accomplish this by going out and killing starred legendary monsters and Scorchbeats, or by finishing Enclave events. Ten of any combination of those will make you a General. A cut quest was supposed to go even further, where players would compete with each other for the position of ''President'' of the Enclave in a [=PvP=]-enabled public event that involves traveling across Appalachia and accumulating ballots in your favor, culminating in a king of the hill-style standoff at the Watoga Civic Center where the winner takes all.

* PlayEveryDay: The game rewards atomic points for completing certain objectives every day (killing enemies, crafting, etc.), as well as daily events which offer supplies and experience for completing them. With the introductions of seasons and S.C.O.R.E. XP for completing daily and weekly challenges, atoms can only be earned from completing other challenges, such as social, world, combat, and survival challenges, or buying them from the PlayStation Store for RealLife cash.

On June 10th, 2019, Bethesda released the ''Nuclear Winter'' DLC, which includes a 52-player battle royale where players will fight to the death for the right to become the overseer of Vault 51. Players have to scavenge gear, build structures, and avoid getting killed by other players, the wildlife itself, and the encroaching ring of fire.

In March 2022, the ''Invaders from Beyond'' update was released, re-introducing Zetan aliens to the world of ''Fallout 76''. September 2022 saw the addition of "Expeditions" expansions to the game (repeatable randomized missions in areas outside the main West Virginia map). The first of these expansions, ''The Pitt'', sends players to the ruins of Pittsburgh previously featured in ''VideoGame/Fallout3''. In December 2022, the ''Nuka-World on Tour'' update was released, introducing a Nuka-World traveling roadshow in the Ash Heap region.

* AmusementParkOfDoom: You've got Wavy Willard's Water Park up in the Toxic Valley, Tyler County Fairgrounds in The Forest, and Camden Park and Nuka-World on Tour down in the Ash Heap. All four locations are filled with various dangerous mutants, and sometimes other nasty hazards like toxic water or airborne diseases. This being ''Fallout'', the Resident can also find evidence of shady things going on even before the bombs dropped.

*** {{Exaggerated|Trope}} with the Dragon. It's a ''4-barreled'' musket that deals incredibly high damage, but because of this it breaks quickly and it takes a whooping ''10 seconds'' to reload.

On June 10th, 2019, Bethesda released the ''Nuclear Winter'' DLC, which includes a 52-player battle royale where players will fight to the death for the right to become the overseer of Vault 51. Players have to scavenge gear, build structures, and avoid getting killed by other players, the wildlife itself, and the encroaching ring of fire. A later DLC, ''Wastelanders'', dropped on April 14th, 2020 and featured the much-requested return of fully voiced human {{NPC}}s, dialogue trees, and an expansion to the main quest involving two factions, the idealistic, friendly Settlers and the ruthless, pragmatic Raiders, vying for a legendary treasure hidden somewhere in Appalachia. Two story expansions, ''Steel Dawn'' and ''Steel Reign'' focusing on a expeditionary force of the Brotherhood of Steel have also been released. In December 2021, the ''Night of the Moth'' update was released, introducing a Cult of the Mothman subfaction. In March 2022, the ''Invaders from Beyond'' update was released, re-introducing Zetan aliens to the world of ''Fallout 76'', and in December 2022, the ''Nuka-World on Tour'' update was released, introducing a Nuka-World traveling roadshow in the Ash Heap region.

* WrongWire: Invoked as part of the Undetonated Bomb encounter, where if the wrong wire is cut, which is very likely to happen since the correct one is random, the thing will explode in your face and potentially kill you as well.

* ShoutOut:
** To ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'':
*** Behind the counter at the Giant Teapot is a series of wooden blocks spelling out the word "LATE" next to a scrap of paper with "10/6" written on it.
*** A mountaintop location east of the Tyler County Fairgrounds features a table setting, as well as hats and board games, reminiscent of the Mad Hatter's tea party.
** A Jangles the Moon Monkey doll can be found lying on a stretcher in the AVR Medical Centre [[Film/{{Alien}} with a toy alien attached to its face.]]
** The Order of Mysteries is one to the ''ComicBook/BatmanFamily''. The group involves a vigilante group run by a hero focused on stealth and gadgets who adopts orphans to train as fellow vigilante fighters.
** The Sons of Dane Compound was populated by a group of people known as the Sons of Dane until their partying drew the ire of a monstrous, cannibalistic creature, driving them away. [[Literature/{{Beowulf}} Sound Familiar]]?
** The description for the Heroic Photomode pose in the Atomic Store reads [[Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy "You may not be the hero Appalachia deserves, but you're the hero Appalachia needs"]]
** The Insult Bot random encounter is one to the [[Series/BigBrother Zingbot 3000/9000]], occasionally borrowing its inspiration's catchphrase as well.
---> '''Insult Bot:''' "One of us is slow, devoid of a personality, and has no friends. The other is a protectron. Zing!"
** A chalk rendering of one of UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein's field equations can be found in a doghouse near an isolated cabin, referencing Doc Brown's dog Einstein from ''Film/BackToTheFuture''.
** A deceased ghoul called Willie can be found holding a [[Literature/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory golden holotape]].
** One of the generic combat taunts of the Pitt Fanatics is [[Film/AChristmasStory "Careful! You'll shoot your eye out!"]]
** The glassed cavern in the Cranberry Bog contains a series of wooden blocks spelling out the word "[[VideoGame/ColossalCave PLUGH]]".
** One of the game modes in Fallout Worlds is called "[[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Dweller Must Die]]".
** The name of pre-war bank robber Al Wortzik is a nod to '''Al''' Pacino's character Sonny '''Wortzik''' in Film/DogDayAfternoon.
** One of the apartments in Morgantown contains a series of wooden blocks spelling out [[Franchise/{{Doom}} "BFG"]].
** A whole bunch of references to VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim:
*** The raid decals used by the raiders bear a strong resemblance to the Shadow marks used by Skyrim's Thieves Guild, even using the same marks for "loot" and "empty".
*** A series of blocks spelling "WE KNO" next to a framed picture with a bloody handprint can be found at the Mount Blair Trainyard, referencing the Dark Brotherhood's mysterious note.
*** Speaking of the Dark Brotherhood, Sara Matthews of the Treehouse Village Retreat proposes their name as an alternate moniker for the Brotherhood of Steel, as she considers their name [[TomTheDarkLord "lame"]].
*** A carriage containing three dead settlers can be found on a path west of Vault 96. Fittingly enough, this is one of the possible locations the player can wake up in after blacking out from drinking Nukashine, [[GoodMorningCrono referencing Skyrim's own intro]].
*** One of the questions for the Pioneer Scouts's Medic badge exam references Skyrim's infamous "arrow to the knee" meme with a question about a patient named Ricky that has been shot in the knee with an arrow. One of the incorrect answers is "advise Ricky to give up on adventuring".
*** The Blue Ridge Caravan Company's vendor Rudy Fernandez paraphrases Skyrim's "Khajit has wares, if you have coin" line by saying, "Rudy has wares, if you have caps."
** The Gourmands raider faction share their name with the White Glove Society's restaurant in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' (which likewise serve human flesh).
** The Industrial district of The Pitt features a streetcar numbered [[Literature/Fahrenheit451 "451"]].
** The name of the achievement trophy for reaching maximum reputation with the Crater Raiders is called "[[Music/GarthBrooks Friends in Low Places]]".
** To WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}:
*** One of the terminal entries in the [=RobCo=] Research Centre is titled "Good news, everyone!", referencing Professor Farnsworth's {{Catchphrase}}.
*** A piece of graffiti can be found in the Metal Dome that reads "Bite My Rusty Metal Ass", in reference to Bender's {{Catchphrase}} "Bite my shiny metal ass!"
*** Pre-war actor Elliot Manfield (who now calls himself Xerxo) was best known for playing a "dashing space rogue" called Blast Hannigan, referencing ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'s'' Zapp Brannigan.
** A location north of the Sunshine Meadows Industrial Farm is named "[[Franchise/ASongOfIceAndFire Game of Thrones]]". [[{{Pun}} It consists of two skeletons sitting on toilets]].
** The last sentence of the note "My advice" reads [[Film/{{Hackers}} "It's in that place where I put that thing that time"]].
** The last known survivors of the Appalachian Brotherhood of Steel are named "R. Rosen" and "Gilden", in reference to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}.''
** A random encounter features a Miss Nanny called Mia and a Mr. Handy called Vlad talking back and forth in an endless loop, referencing a meme featuring two Google Home devices of the same names likewise stuck asking each other questions in an endless loop.
** To {{Franchise/HarryPotter}}:
*** A Golden Eyebot will roam around the arena during the "Test Your Metal" event, similar to Quidditch's Golden Snitch.
*** [="TestZach"=], one of the game's developer test cells, bears the display name of [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince "Snape Kills Dumbledore".]]
** One of the terminal entries in the R&G Processing Centre references the "headlight fluid" meme.
** [[Literature/{{It}} A clown holding a red balloon]] can be found inside a fridge at the Whitespring Golf Club.
** When extracing the mysterious component from Fort Atlas's machine core during the "Mother of Invention" quest, the player can choose to [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk quickly swap it out for a heavy sack of dirt]].
** One of the quests for the Crater raider faction is called "[[Franchise/JamesBond From Russia With Lev]]".
** The illustration on the Enforcer perk card is a parody of the film posters for Film/KillingThemSoftly.
** A pre-war concert at the Rusty Pick featured a country singer named Jesse "The Dancin' Bandit" White, a reference to Jesco "The Dancing Outlaw" White. The setlist also included some real-life country songs, such as "[[Music/TownesVanZandt Snake Song]]", "[[Music/JohnnyCash The Wayfaring Stranger]]" and "[[Music/JasonIsbell The Devil Is My Running Mate]]".
** One of the guards at Eastern Regional Penitentiary is named [[Music/JimCroce Leroy Brown]].
** One of the terminal entries in the Garrahan Mining Headquarters mentions a Family Fun Day event featuring a band called [[Series/TheKidsInTheHall Rod Torfulson's Armada]].
** One of the Raider vendor bot's greetings starts with the words "[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI It's dangerous to go alone]]".
** The picnic table at the glamping site west of the Pumpkin House features seven beer bottles arranged in the minimalist version of Webcomic/CtrlAltDel's "Loss" strip.
** The Metal Dome features graffiti reading [[Film/MadMaxFuryRoad "Oh what a day what a lovely day."]]
** A school bus containing a series of wooden blocks spelling [[Literature/TheMagicSchoolBus "MAGIC"]] can be found in the parking lot outside Camden Park. In addition, an orange tie Mr. Fuzzy doll wearing a clown hat can be found in the driver's seat, vaguely resembling Ms. Frizzle.
** From Commander Sofia Daguerre's ally questline:
*** The name of the overarching questline is [[Literature/TheManWhoFellToEarth "The Woman Who Fell to Earth"]].
*** The title of the opening quest, "One Small Step", is a reference to UsefulNotes/NeilArmstrong's famous quote, "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."
*** The quest titled "Who Sat Down Beside Her" is a quote from the nursery rhyme "Little Miss Muffet".
** From the "Lying Lowe" quest:
*** The terminal security passcode is [[AWolfInSheepsClothing "aSQUATCHinSHEEPSclothing"]].
*** The operation is codenamed "Mary's Little Lamb", referencing "Mary Had a Little Lamb".
*** The field operative, Calvin van Lowe, is codenamed "Blacksheep", in reference to "Baa Baa Black Sheep" (which is also the name of the subsequent questline).
*** His handler is codenamed "Bo-Peep", in reference to "Little Bo-Peep".
*** The fixer is codenamed TheBigBadWolf (or "Wolf" for short), referencing ''Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs''.
** An unmarked riverside cottage near the Kanawha Nuka-Cola plant contains several references to WebVideo/MonsterFactory's series of Fallout 4 videos:
*** The name "PAM" is spelled out in wooden blocks on top of the TV.
*** A Radroach wearing a bowler hat can be found sitting on the toilet, referencing Roachie.
*** A coffee tin can be found in a crib in the cottage, referencing Pam's claim that her real son is a coffee tin.
*** The destroyed Mr. Handy is a reference to Fallout 4's Codsworth, whom Pam calls her "metal husband".
** A couple of the quotes of the Lumberjack Protectron found near Gilman Lumber Mill reference the Lumberjack Song from Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus:
---> '''Lumberjack Protectron:''' "Lumberjack Protectron works all night and also works all day."
---> '''Lumberjack Protectron:''' "Lumberjack Protectron cuts down trees, but does not require lunch or lavatory facilities."
** A holotape found in the Black Bear Hunting Lodge is called [[Literature/TheMostDangerousGame "The Addington's Dangerous Game".]]
** In the quest "The Ol' Weston Shuffle", should the player ask Johnny Weston "Why don't we just go there, kill everyone and save Hal?", Johnny will sarcastically call the player a "murder-hobo", in reference to one of the varieties of RPG {{Munchkin}}s.
---> '''Johnny Weston:''' "Whoa, kick it down a notch, Captain Murder-hobo. That's plan B. Plan A is all about safety and finesse."
** The customer comment terminal at the Top of the World contains a number of references to ''Series/MurdochMysteries:''
*** The heading reads "W. Murdock & J. Ogdin", referencing the show's title character William Murdoch and his wife Dr. Julia Ogdin.
*** The "Crabtree Burger" is a reference to George Crabtree, and one of the burger's ingredients is listed as "Canadian Bacon", referring to the fact that the show was produced, shot and set in Canada.
** One of the terminal entries at Camden Park mentions Marty Porkins being promoted to "Assistant to the Park Manager", before the title is changed to "Assistant Park Manager". This refers to a RunningGag from ''Series/TheOffice'' in which the Assistant to the Regional Manager (Gareth Keenan in the UK version, Dwight Schrute in the US version) repeatedly falsely claims that he is the Assistant Regional Manager.
** One of the old patient rooms on the first floor of Fort Defiance (the former Allegheny Asylum) features a skeleton lying in bed wearing a nightcap with a pillow over its face, referencing the finale of ''Film/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest''.
** A doghouse can be found in the forest near Vault 76 with a skeleton on its roof, a birdhouse in a nearby tree and various baseball items strewn on the ground outside, referencing Snoopy, Woodstock and other characters from ''Franchise/{{Peanuts}}''.
** You may occasionally run into an Eyebot [[Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin leading a pack of rats with flute music]].
** Pervis Wilson, a pre-war inmate at The Eastern Regional Penetentiary, was nicknamed [[Creator/RebelWilson "Rebel"]].
** The note "My story" begins with the words "Yep, it's me again. You're probably wondering how I got myself in this situation..." referencing the Main/RecordNeedleScratch meme popular on Website/FourChan and Website/{{Tumblr}}.
** The perk card images for Archer, Expert Archer and Master Archer all depict Vault Boy dressed up as Myth/RobinHood.
** The "Rodney's poem" note in Clancy Manor is completely composed of punchlines to many of Creator/RodneyDangerfield's one-liners.
** To ''Film/TheShining'':
*** Torrance House contains multiple references to the film, including the "redrum" scene, the fire axe and the hedge maze, in addition to being named after the surname of Jack Nicholson's character.
*** A second floor room of the Allegheny Asylum (now Fort Defiance) also contains a series of wooden blocks on the floor spelling out "REDRUM".
** One of the dialog choices when conversing with the CAMP lite ally Xerxo (a ghoul who [[DaydreamBeliever thinks he's an alien]] due to TraumaInducedAmnesia) is "I, for one, welcome our new Zebulonian overlords," referencing Kent Brockman's famous [[TheQuisling Quisling]] meme from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons.''
** The game's live-action trailer begins with a woman in a country-style dress spinning around firing machine guns in each outstretched arm, referring to a similar pose by Creator/JulieAndrews' character in ''Film/TheSoundOfMusic''.
** The name of Tanagra Town, as well as a graffiti in its bus stop reading "Darmok + Jalad" are references to the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E2Darmok "Darmok"]].
** The Ordnance Express perk card features Vault Boy's face on the front of a locomotive, resembling [[WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends Thomas the Tank Engine]].
** The note "Untitled" consists solely of the words "Chapter One: The night was--", referencing the opening scene of ''Film/ThrowMommaFromTheTrain.''
** A female skeleton can be found in the middle of the dried-up Summersvile Lake, [[Film/Titanic1997 reaching out to another skeleton's partially-sunken arm]].
** A Comrade Chubs teddy bear can be found sitting on the front of a truck on the highway east of Bleeding Kate's Grindhouse, referencing ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'''s ending where antagonist Lotso is found by a trucker and tied to the front of his truck.
** The mycology notes found in Abandoned Bog Town contain the words [[Series/TrueDetective "time is a flat circle".]]
** The title of the note "Time enough at last" is a reference to the [[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E8TimeEnoughAtLast episode of the same name]] from ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959''. The names featured in the note are all those of real-world people involved in the episode: "Venable" refers to Lynn Venable, the writer of the original short story; "Brahm" refers to John Brahm, the episode's director; "Sterling" refers to Creator/RodSerling, the show's presenter and writer of the teleplay; and "Meredith" refers to Creator/BurgessMeredith, the actor who played the main character Henry Bemis.
** One of the holotapes from a priest of the Mothman cult begins with the words [[Film/{{Videodrome}} "The cathode ray tube is the retina to the mind's eye"]].
** There are collectible bears throughout the game. In one area you can find a Grizzly Bear, a Panda, and a Polar Bear in a stack next to a child's note. The bears are in the same stack order as the main characters in Creator/CartoonNetwork's ''WesternAnimation/WeBareBears''.

** An unmarked rvierside cottage near the Kanawha Nuka-Cola plant contains several references to WebVideo/MonsterFactory's series of Fallout 4 videos:

** The FEV vat room within the Westek Research Center is almost the spitting image of the ones found in The Master's lair (seen during the "dipping" ending) in the first ''[[VideoGame/Fallout1 Fallout]]''. Fortunately, the virus culture is inert and won't turn you into a super mutant if you fall into it, and can even be collected and drunk like normal water, though it doesn't serve any practical purpose other than giving you a lot of radiation.

** One of the paintjobs you can find for your power armor is a red and black paint scheme called Outcast Paint, referencing the Brotherhood Outcasts in Fallout 3

** The Gourmands raider faction share their name with the White Glove Society's restaurant in VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas (which likewise serve human flesh).

** You may occasionally run into an Eyebot [[Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin leading a pack of rats with flute music]].

** The customer comment terminal at the Top of the World contains a number of references to Series/MurdochMysteries:
*** The heading reads "W. Murdock & J. Ogdin", referencing the show's title character William Murdoch and his wife Dr. Julia Ogdin.
*** The "Crabtree Burger" is a reference to George Crabtree, and one of the burger's ingredients is listed as "Canadian Bacon", referring to the fact that the show was produced, shot and set in Canada.

** One of the terminal entries at Camden Park mentions Marty Porkins being promoted to "Assistant to the Park Manager", before the title is changed to "Assistant Park Manager". This refers to a RunningGag from Series/TheOffice in which the Assistant to the Regional Manager (Gareth Keenan in the UK version, Dwight Schrute in the US version) repeatedly falsely claims that he is the Assistant Regional Manager.

** One of the Pipboy games you can find is ''[[VideoGame/{{Wasteland}} Wastelad]]''.

** [[PlayedForLaughs Hilariously]] [[InvertedTrope inverted]] by one of the quotes of the Lumberjack Protectron found near Gilman Lumber Mill:

*** The fixer is codenamed TheBigBadWolf (or "Wolf" for short), referencing Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs.

** One of the generic combat taunts of the Pitt Fanatics is [[Film/AChristmasStory "Careful! You'll shoot your eye out!"]]

** One of the side quests for the CAMP ally Commander Sofia Daguerre is called "Who Sat Down Beside Her", referencing the nursery rhyme "Little Miss Muffet".

** One of the Pipboy games you can find is ''[[VideoGame/{{Wasteland}} Wastelad]]''.

** There are collectible bears throughout the game. In one area you can find a Grizzly Bear, a Panda, and a Polar Bear in a stack next to a child's note. The bears are in the same stack order as the main characters in Creator/CartoonNetwork's ''WesternAnimation/WeBareBears''.
** You may occasionally run into an Eyebot [[Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin leading a pack of rats with flute music]].

** A Jangles the Moon Monkey doll can be found lying on a stretcher in the AVR Medical Centre [[Film/{{Alien}} with a toy alien attached to its face.]]
** To ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'':
*** Behind the counter at the Giant Teapot is a series of wooden blocks spelling out the word "LATE" next to a scrap of paper with "10/6" written on it.
*** A mountaintop location east of the Tyler County Fairgrounds features a table setting, as well as hats and board games, reminiscent of the Mad Hatter's tea party.

** To WesternAnimation/Futurama:

** One of the game's achievement trophies is called "[[Music/GarthBrooks Friends in Low Places]]".

** Two references to ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'' can be found in the game:

** A whole bunch of references to VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim can be found in this game: