10 Best Quests in the Fallout Franchise, Ranked

Fallout is one of the most renowned franchises in gaming history. The series has everything a great Action RPG can offer, from interesting characters and expansive world-building to robust RPG mechanics, and of course, some of the best quests in gaming, period.

While each game gives you a different taste of the post-apocalyptic wasteland, even among the myriads of interesting quests, there are some that stand out more than others. Sometimes, this is because of their rewards, narrative, storytelling, or simply how they factor into the player’s journey.

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Some quests introduce you to new and interesting characters like Mr. Fantastic in the Lucky Old Sun in New Vegas, or reward you with new unlocks and special perks like the Rad Regeneration perk in the Wasteland Survival Guide in Fallout 3. Some even give you insane weapons and armor to cause havoc across the land, or pacify it, whatever you may decide.

Apologies to fans of Fallout 2 and Tactics, but the sheer volume of iconic quests in the rest of the series overshadows what those entries had to offer.

10

Confidence Man – Fallout 4

From Zero To Hero

Travis will not standup for himself in fallout 4 quest confidence man

Music and radio have played a big role in all the Fallout games since Fallout 3, so much so that even radio DJs like Mr. New Vegas and Three Dog become endearing characters that fans still don’t get tired of listening to. However, Travis Miles, the host of Diamond City Radio, doesn’t get nearly enough love, and that’s a shame.

Travis is a socially awkward, low-self-esteem individual who can barely hold a conversation, kinda like me and most other Fallout players. The premise of the quest is that you have to help Vadim Bobrov, the owner of the Dugout Inn, earn something to feel proud about and gain some confidence. His idea involves having a bunch of raiders stage a fight, and you helping Travis fight them off.

Things take a turn for the worse, unfortunately, and the raiders kidnap Vadim and take him to Beantown Brewery. You have to work with Travis to get him back, and once the quest is finished, you can feel Travis’s new demeanor and cool attitude. It’s a simple quest, but it made me feel proud that I made that much of an impact on an NPC you listen to pretty regularly.

9

Become An Initiate – Fallout 1

Whispers Of The Pre-War World

Fallout 1 has a memorable main quest, and it’s a shame not many people have played it. The one that sticks out to me the most is Become An Initiate. It’s given by Cabbot at the Lost Hills Brotherhood of Steel bunker. Apparently, to join the BOS and get access to power armor and their laser weapons, you will need to retrieve an ancient Brotherhood disk from an area called The Glow.

You will need lots and lots of Rad-X and RadAway to combat the radiation, as well as a rope to get inside. This pre-war facility faced a nuclear bomb head-on, and it shows. The quest is simple enough, but the exposition it provides is chilling.

It is here you learn about the FEV, and shuffling through these ancient ruins makes me feel that Bethesda liked this quest too, since we have seen a lot of similar ones in future games where you explore vaults and old science facilities.

The quest is not complicated and basically involves you finding some keycards and fighting some robots, but the real meat is in the terminals you can read. As a lore-enthusiast, it’s a treat for me. When you find the disk and turn it in, you’re now a member of the Brotherhood of Steel, meaning you can now wear a full T51b Power Armor set.

8

Trouble On The Homefront – Fallout 3

You’re A Hero, But You Need To Leave

In Fallout 3, you escape from the vault to look for your father, but the events that are put into motion on that day culminate in Trouble on the Homefront. After completing The Waters of Life, you will pick up the Vault 101 distress signal on your radio. In it, Amata asks you to return to the vault to stop the overseer who has supposedly gone insane.

I love this quest, because it shows how the situation in the vault has changed because of what you and your father did. It’s on the brink of civil war, with the younger people wanting to open the vault and the older ones wanting to keep it closed. It’s your job to find a solution to this problem.

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By now, you will have explored the wasteland quite a bit, and you can decide what would be the best course of action. The overseer wants to keep the vault closed and rule with an iron fist, while Amata wants to open it and explore the wastes. Butch wants to sabotage it. Your skills in speech and the evidence you collect open up a lot of options, and that’s why I love it so much.

7

The Secret of Cabot House – Fallout 4

A Taste Of The Lovecraftian

An inner room of the cabot house in fallout 4

The Fallout series is post-apocalyptic, but in every game, there is a Lovecraftian metanarrative that exists simultaneously and adds a lot of depth to the world. The Secret of Cabot House is one of those quests that wears its inspiration on its sleeves.

There is a lot of mystery and intrigue, even though the gameplay is a bit conventional. Essentially, you have to help Jack Cabot prevent raiders from freeing his father, Lorenzo. Now, Lorenzo is not just some random wastelander. He is an incredibly powerful individual kept immortal by a strange alien artifact.

The reason I love this quest is because I, myself, am a fan of Lovecraft’s mythos, and this quest actually pays homage to it wonderfully.

The plot thickens after you make some interesting discoveries, and you have the choice to kill Lorenzo or free him. Either path gives you access to unique rewards. Killing him will get you a unique weapon called Lorenzo’s Artifact gun, and rescuing him will give you an unlimited supply of the Mysterious Serum.

6

Wasteland Survival Guide – Fallout 3

For Science!

The Wasteland Survival Guide acts like an extended tutorial that introduces you to the gameplay mechanics, helps you explore the map, and gives you some nifty items to make your adventures a bit easier. You can get it by talking to Moira in Megaton and agreeing to help. Doing this early is the best decision I made in the game. It’s a long quest, and you can pick up Dogmeat on the way.

It’s broken up into three chapters, dealing with basic survival, dangerous creatures, and civilization, respectively. The thing I love the most about this quest is that it’s one of the few in Fallout 3 that takes your SPECIAL stats into account. Plus, how well you complete the objectives determines the final reward. In my opinion, it is the perfect blueprint for quest design.

5

Arizona Killer – Fallout New Vegas

Veni, Vidi, Vici

President Kimball with a sniper scope on him

Arizona Killer is a guilty pleasure of mine. It’s a bit controversial for reasons I’ll explain, but that doesn’t take away from its fun in the slightest. You’ll get this quest if you sided with Caesar’s Legion and have talked to Cato Hostilius after finishing Et Tumor, Brute?

The outer worlds Ellie (left), Fallout: New Vegas NCR Ranger (Center), Atomfall (right).

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The premise is simple. Assassinate the President of the NCR, Aaron Kimball. That explains its controversy, but if you played it, you can’t deny it’s surprisingly well-designed.

There are different options you can choose to complete the objective, and the open-endedness of the quest is something I miss in future Fallout games and games in general.

4

G.I. Blues – Fallout New Vegas

The King Sends His Regards

G.I. Blues puts the world-building and intricate politics of the Fallout world front and center, and for that reason, I love it to death. To get the quest, speak with the King in Freeside. He’ll be the Elvis-looking guy. Can’t miss him.

The quest is made up of multiple small objectives. Initially, I was just investigating a crooked bodyguard, but the tension picks up soon after when you discover that there have been fights between the locals of Freeside and the NCR squatters.

Being the detective and navigating through this volatile situation was thrilling, and the quest has a lot of room for choices, too. In the end, you receive a special favor from the King, and I’d encourage you to keep it in your back pocket if you want the perfect ending. Also, the quest unlocks Nothin’ But a Hound Dog, giving you access to my favorite companion, Rex.

3

How Little We Know – Fallout New Vegas

The Godfather In New Vegas

New Vegas has a lot of wacky side-quests, but How Little We Know is all about classic mob drama. You can get this quest automatically as you work with the NCR, Yes Man, or Mr. House, or do what I did and finish Bye Bye Love by Joana in Gomorrah. She will give you a tip about an Omerta member named Cachino, starting the quest.

The quest is extremely open-ended and puts you right at the center of an Omerta power struggle. It’s dark, explosive, and bloody, and that’s what makes it so fun.

You meet the big boss himself, Big Sal, and can either side with him or the backstabbing Cachino. One of the possible rewards for this quest is the gold-plated Pimp-Boy 3 Billion, so do you need another reason to do this?

2

Replicated Man – Fallout 3

Self-Determination Is NOT A Malfunction

The Replicated Man is an homage to the classic movie, Blade Runner. You get this quest in multiple ways. Holotapes containing important information about the android can be found in clinics all over the wasteland, or you can talk to Dr. Zimmer in the Rivet City science lab. He tells you that he is missing a rather expensive robot and asks for your help in finding it. It sounds simple enough, right?

A simple matter of property retrieval turns into a hunt for a synthetic humanoid across the Capital Wasteland. It all comes back to Rivet City, and you are presented with a choice. Turn the android in, or give him a chance at freedom. I always choose the latter. Even when the remaster comes, I don’t think my choice will change.

There are a few things I like about this quest. For one, it has some of the best voice acting in the entire game. Secondly, you can get A3-21’s plasma rifle if you side with the android, which is a game-breaking weapon. Lastly, it is a brief glimpse into the location and premise of Fallout 4, which was still 7 years away at the time.

1

That Lucky Old Sun – Fallout New Vegas

A “Theoretical Degree In Physics” Required

This quest is not only my favorite in the Fallout series, but is also one of the most memorable ones for the fanbase, considering all the memes made about Mr. Fantastic over the years. Speaking of Mr. Fantastic, you meet him after getting the quest from Lt. Haggerty at the HELIOS One power plant. The NCR seized the place from the Brotherhood, but is having some trouble getting it up and running. That’s where you come in.

There are a ton of choices, and the objectives take your skills and even perks into account, so no two playthroughs of this quest will be the same. I did this quest with the companion Arcade Gannon, who might be appearing in season 2 of the Fallout show. Having him around opens up unique dialogue options, adding more personalization.

At the end, you activate the facility and can route the electricity to wherever you wish or overload it entirely. Each choice will have its own consequences. However, this is also your chance to activate ARCHIMEDES II, a massive orbital cannon. Talk about an overpowered quest reward. Imagine playing this quest in a New Vegas remaster. We can only dream.