Summary
Fallout 4is the fourth main-series entry into Bethesda’sFalloutfranchise - now with its own TV show - set in a post-apocalyptic North America transformed by a massive nuclear war. Well known for its RPGs, Bethesda puts all of its characteristic love and care into theFallout 4factions and NPCs, resulting in a great experience for players.
From series stalwarts like theBrotherhood of Steeland the Children of Atom to new additions like the Minutemen,Fallout 4has a good range of factions for players to encounter. The mysterious Institute faction is quite possibly the franchise’smost evil faction, thanks to its laundry list of atrocities.
10Synthetic Bird Spies
The Birds Aren’t Real
Fallout 4included a variety of birds, a nice touch showing that there are still pockets of unmutated wildlife here and there in post-apocalyptic America while adding to the ambiance ofFallout 4’s post-apocalyptic Boston. Except they weren’t, actually, real birds - they were synthetic birds created by the Institute to spy on the denizens of the Commonwealth.
So not only do the people of the Commonwealth need to worry about being replaced by synths or being monitored by synth spies, but even the birds are at it. And the worst part is - nobody knows.
9Involvement in Commonwealth Provisional Government
Mass Killing
At first glance, the Institute’s involvement in the Commonwealth Provisional Government is a good thing. A sign that the Institute wanted to explore beyond its walls and become involved with the rest of the world. Many NPCs offer disparaging comments about the CPG, most notablesynth companion character Nick Valentinewho says it was ‘dead before it began’.
But the Institute was part of the talks for four years until it sent a synth representative to the talks, and the synth went rogue and killed everyone present. People at the Institute claim it was an accident, but even so, sending an experimental technology instead of a trusted human to such an important talk seems like a poor choice.
8Kidnappings and Replacements
Attack of the Clones
The Institute is something of a boogeyman inFallout 4’s Commonwealth, being viewed as the source of many of the world’s ills. One notable belief is that the Institute kidnaps people and replaces them with synths - and nobody is safe from it. Such things are usually the domain of conspiracies, but in this case, it’s absolutely true.
The Institute really does kidnap people and replace them with synths, and nobody is safe. The Institute is known to have replaced random farmers, scavengers, and even political leaders in Diamond City. And it’s not like they kept the kidnapped people around, either - they’re all dead.
7Created Super Mutants on the East Coast
Research Without Ethics
Super Mutants are a universal scourge on post-apocalyptic America in theFalloutseries, being big, dumb brutes mutated by the Forced Evolutionary Virus. Violent and aggressive, Super Mutants are difficult to manage and a big source of stress for Wastelanders.
And the Institute made them. Multiple times, even kidnapping people from the Commonwealth to experiment with FEV. The mutants ended up being released back into the Commonwealth, where they did what Super Mutants do best: indiscriminate killing.
6Sent Poorly Programmed Early Gen Synths Roaming the Commonwealth
Garbage In = Garbage Out
As part of its need for various material resources - scrap, minerals, all the good junk that players love carting around - the Institute sends out bands of early-gen robotic-style synths to do its manual labor. A great idea, except these robotic synths are poorly programed and end up killing anyone who gets too close to them.
This is especially a problem when they target sites that are tempting to any good scav. Institute sources claim they’re not supposed to kill like that, but the synths do spend an inordinate amount of time killing anyway.
5Kidnapped the Player’s Baby
They Took Shaun
As if living through the end of the world wasn’t enough, the player character and their spouse had to seek shelter in a local Vault-Tec Vault. Not ideal, but better than living in a nuclear Wasteland.
But it was all actually a trick, and the player’s family got put into cryogenic sleep for an undefined period of time. But at least they were together, and they still had their baby. That was something. Except the Institute came in and kidnapped Shaun right from the Vault - without ever opening the Vault door. And the player had to stand there and watch, helpless.
4Killed the Player’s Spouse
Evil Without Cause
Ripped suddenly out of cryogenic sleep - itself an unwanted imposition by the shady Vault-Tec - the player character’s spouse is faced with an impossible situation: someone trying to steal their baby. Not an everyday sort of scenario.
The spouse tried to keep hold of Shaun but got shot for their efforts, resulting in death. Not great. But there was no real need to kill the spouse other than that the Institute didn’t need them alive.
3Destruction of the University Point Settlement (and others)
Clear The Area
Almost like a dark version ofFallout 4’ssettlement quests, the Institute tasked its synths with clearing out University Point and acquiring a piece of tech from the interior buildings. Apparently, the synths took it the wrong way and killed absolutely everyone in sight - and some who were hiding.
This wasn’t a one-off event either, with various NPCs sharing stories about the Institute wiping out entire settlements of people for whatever nefarious reason.
2Killing Everyone in Vault 111
Kill The Spares
Vault 111was a secret cryogenic research facility, one which had dozens of people kept alive from before the Great War which destroyedFallout’sAmerica. Nobody signed up for that, but that’s how Vault-Tec worked. But they were alive, at least.
Except when the Institute was done kidnapping Shaun for its Gen 3 Synth program, they shut off the life support system, leaving the player character as the only man standing. A Vault full of innocent people… gone.
1Created And Enslaved Human-form Synths
Does This Unit Have A Soul?
Touted as its crowning achievement by the Institute bigwigs, the Gen 3 Synths are essentially 3D-printed humans with a bit of cybernetics and some other enhancements thrown in. No doubt a great achievement, but there was considerable debate in the game - even within the Institute - about whether or not synths were people.
And the Institute used them as slaves. Literal cannon fodder, as workers to do the jobs nobody else wanted to do, kept them in line with the threat of memory wipes and other more severe punishments. Also,depending on player choicewipes out an independent settlement of free synths in Far Harbor.
