It’s another hotly anticipated video game-to-TV adaptation that’s got everyone excited (this nerd included), but if you’re confused as to where Vault 33 is in Fallout and if you can find it in the games, you’ve come to the right place. The Prime Video series debuted on April 10, 2024.

The Fallout franchise is a series of video games set in a post-apocalyptic, alternate reality Earth. The two defining characteristics of the universe are that the micro transistor was never invented, meaning all electronics stayed bulky like in the 50s and 60s; and everything is nuclear-powered because of a lack of oil resulting in retro-style cars with reactors as engines. As a result of tensions between the US and China, a nuclear apocalypse wipes out much of humanity in the year 2077 and the games are set at varying times after that “fallout”.

In the show, we have our protagonist, Lucy (played by Ella Purnell). She’s an optimistic Vault-dweller with an all-American can-do spirit. Her peaceful and idealistic nature is tested when she is forced to the surface to rescue her father. Aaron Moten is Maximus, a young soldier who rises to the rank of squire in the militaristic faction called Brotherhood of Steel.

He will do anything to further the Brotherhood’s goals of bringing law and order to the wasteland. Walton Goggins is the Ghoul, a morally ambiguous bounty hunter who holds within him a 200-year history of the post-nuclear world. These disparate parties collide when chasing an artifact from an enigmatic researcher that has the potential to radically change the power dynamic in this world. Central to humanity’s survival is the Vaults and their lore is just as fascinating. But where is Vault 33 and can you visit it in-game? Let’s dive in.

  • Where is Vault 33 in Fallout?

    Where is Vault 33? So the Prime Video show in general is very much Fallout canon, but Vault 33 isn’t in the games because it’s purely an invention of the show’s creative team. Bethesda’s Todd Howard, who also served as executive producer on the show, explained why this is the case during an interview with Vanity Fair.

    “I did not want to do an interpretation of an existing story we did,” he said. “That was the other thing—a lot of pitches were, you know, ‘This is the movie of Fallout 3…’ I was like, ‘Yeah, we told that story.’ I don’t have a lot of interest in seeing those translated. I was interested in someone telling a unique Fallout story. Treat it like a game. It gives the creators of the series their own playground to play in.”

    That said, the Fallout show is set in what remains of Los Angeles post the Great War of 2077, specifically 219 years after the fallout in the year 2296, making it the latest entry chronologically in the main Fallout series. Previous locations in the games include Las Vegas, Boston, and Washington, D.C.

  • Where are Vaults 31 and 32 in Fallout?

    In something that’s never been done before in the Fallout universe, Vaults 31, 32, and 33 are connected. Through a mysterious selection process, Vault-Tec allocated places in these fallout shelters to certain people in the event of a nuclear war. With limited people in said vaults, that of course results in a limited gene pool and incest is something that the games never really touched on, but the show does.

    “When we delivered the pilot to Bethesda just to read, Todd [Howard]’s first comment was, ‘You know, we never really tackled the incest thing. That’s a good idea,’” showrunner Graham Wagner told Den of Geek magazine ahead of the show’s premiere. “That obviously could’ve gone the other way. But [Howard] was just like, ‘Hats off, guys,’” Wagner says. “That was what made him really proud to be working with us,” Robertson-Dworet adds.

  • What the show doesn't tell you...

    Vaults are underground shelters built by the Vault-Tec Corporation to protect a portion of the population from the nuclear devastation that ravaged the world. However, unbeknown to the inhabitants, many of these Vaults were not merely designed for survival but also served as social experiments conducted by Vault-Tec for various scientific and social purposes. These experiments ranged from the benign to the morally dubious, and they played a significant role in shaping the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout. You can discover in the game if you read through the many terminals and clues scattered throughout the world.

    Each Vault experiment was unique, with its own set of parameters and objectives. Some Vaults were designed to test the effects of isolation on human behavior, such as Vault 3, which was sealed shut for over 200 years, leading its inhabitants to develop a tight-knit but insular society. Others, like Vault 11, subjected residents to extreme psychological pressure by forcing them to sacrifice one of their own each year under the false pretense that failure to do so would result in their demise.

    Some experiments focused on social dynamics and governance, such as Vault 15, which housed a diverse population with conflicting ideologies, ultimately leading to a violent schism and the birth of several raider factions in the wasteland. Meanwhile, Vault 22 conducted botanical experiments that resulted in the creation of deadly mutant plant life, posing a threat to anyone who dared to explore its overgrown halls.

    The revelation of the Vault experiments served as a sobering commentary on the moral ambiguity of scientific research and the lengths to which organizations are willing to go in the pursuit of knowledge, even at the expense of human lives.

    Fallout is available to stream in full on Prime Video. Here’s how to watch it for free.

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