The world ofFalloutis full of retrofuturistic technology, with many inventions based on the optimistic science fiction of the 1950s. Player characters wear a computer on their wrists that can play cassette tapes, and pre-war cars can still explode because of the nuclear fusion engine still running under their hoods. Out of all the fantastic inventions that people enjoyed before the nuclear apocalypse, however, robots were by far the most fascinating.
There were a great variety of robot types with some, like the Sentry Bot, programmed for combat. Others,like Mr. Handyand Miss Nanny robots, were built to be domestic servants who could help the average citizen with household chores. Across the range of robot types featured in each game, there are a handful of sentient robot NPCs that players can interact with.
The Lonesome Road DLC forFallout: New Vegasis a fitting way to close out the game. It brings the player character full circle as they encounter the original person tasked with carrying the Platinum Chip to New Vegas for Mr. House. Since that was the reason that the Courier was shot in the head in the game’s opening scene, it makes sense for them to go in search of answers. Along the way, the player finds a sophisticated eyebot named ED-E, which is a more robust version of the base game’s companion of the same name.
ED-E is the only companion who remains “essential” even in Hardcore mode because the Lonesome Road questline cannot be completed without him. He also has more emotions than his base game counterpart and seems to understand more as well. Traveling along the Divide with this little robot is a great send-off to the Courier’s journey.
The Far Harbor DLCtakesFallout 4players to the pre-war town of Bar Harbor, Maine. Despite its history as a tourist destination, the island on which it sits has become a nightmare that would seem at home in Lovecraft’s stories as much as in the game. A radioactive fog settled across most of the island and allowed for all sorts of mutated creatures to attack the few surviving humans. It was in the center of this deadly landscape that DiMA founded the synth sanctuary known as Acadia.
DiMA, like Nick Valentine, is an older synth created by the Institute. His only goal is to achieve peace among the island’s factions — Acadia, the Children of Atom, and Far Harbor — but mistrust and desperation have instead brought the groups to the verge of war. DiMA’s fate ultimately rests in the hands of the players, although he makes a compelling case for why he should be trusted instead of delivered to the Institute or Brotherhood.
8Ada
Companion That Leads The Charge Against The Mechanist
The Automatron DLCforFallout 4adds some interesting mechanics and characters to the Sole Survivor’s journey through the Commonwealth. When installed, the player gets an alert to check out a distress call using the Pipboy Radio. Once there, they encounter a custom robot fighting for her life. Ada thanks the player for rescuing her and then explains that a mysterious figure called the Mechanist targeted her previous owner. Thus starts the quest to track down and kill the Mechanist before his robot minions wreak too much havoc on the Commonwealth.
Ada is a unique companion inFallout 4because players can customize her at a robot workbench (or even build their own robot from scratch). She can be outfitted with a variety of different legs, heads, torsos, hands, and arms, and each type has different abilities. Since she can be tailored to fit any player’s playstyle, Ada is an ideal companion for traveling with, especially for those who roleplay being their Sole Survivor as someone who seeks to help the people they come across.
Liberty Prime was built by the U.S. Army before the Great War of 2077. The forty-foot-tall robot never saw action, however, because there was not a practical way to supply it with the power needed to get it ready for combat. Instead, it was stored underneath the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., where it would sit for nearly two centuries. The Brotherhood of Steel discovered it while exploring the Capital Wasteland in 2255 and, with the help of the Lone Wanderer, got the giant robot working and ready to face the Enclave in 2277.
The behemoth of a robot was able to throw mini-nukes and shoot lasers out of its head, which it used to serve as the spearhead for multiple battles between the Enclave and the Brotherhood. It was eventually destroyed at the Battle of Rockland but could be rebuilt once more in Boston if the Sole Survivor sides with the Brotherhood against the Institute. Liberty Prime is the apex of combat robotics in theFalloutuniverse and is a joy to see in action.
6Codsworth
The Sole Survivor’s Mr. Handy
Before the bombs dropped in October 2077, the Sole Survivor’s family lived in a neighborhood called Sanctuary Hills. The married couple had an infant son named Shaun and a Mr. Handy robot who helped tend to the garden and other household tasks. Two hundred years later, the Sole Survivor left Vault 111 and discovered that their robot, Codsworth, was still faithfully doing his best to keep their garden alive.
Two centuries of drudgery did not seem to wear much on Codsworth who was delighted to see his old master again. His programming is to act as a stereotypical British butler, and so he offers sarcasm and wit instead of complaints when the player does things that the robot dislikes. Between his unique personality and the fact that he is the only companion to know the player character before the events of the game, Codsworth is a unique robot companion to have around.
5Curie
Miss Nanny Companion From Vault 81
Curie was a Miss Nanny robot who was originally designed to help oversee the experiments being done in Vault 81.Vault-Tec’s plan was to dispense diseasesto Vault 81’s residents and then analyze how they behaved. Curie was supposed to help catalog the results and come up with cures for these illnesses. However, the original Overseer managed to subvert Vault-Tec’s plans by sabotaging the nozzles that would have dispensed the pathogens throughout the Vault, and so the scientists wasted their time sealed away by testing their pathogens on mole rats. As a robot, Curie outlived the scientists and finished the work of curing the diseases that they had created.
The player can rescue Curie from her imprisonment and travel with her as a companion. She has special interactions with doctors and can make comments about pre-war life as well. The main thing that sets her apart, however, is that she wants to upgrade to a synth body. The player can do this, so that Curie has the chance to finally live as a human, and she can even be romanced by the player after this questline has been completed.
4Harkness
Rivet City’s Chief Of Security
Harkness was a Generation 3 synthetic humanoid built by the Institute around 2277. He was one of the most sophisticated machines ever built at the time and was programmed to serve the Synth Retention Bureau for his makers. His job was to track down synths that had escaped from the Institute and return them there. Harkness believed this was simply to keep them from being damaged, but it was actually to keep them from using their newly acquired free will to run away from the Institute.
Harkness eventually betrayed the Institute and fled himself, like so many of his previous victims. With the Railroad’s help, he made it toRivet City in the Capital Wastelandwhere he had facial reconstruction surgery to make it harder for the Institute to track him down. He became the head of security for the aircraft carrier’s residents.Fallout 3players, like those inFallout 4, can choose to help this escaped synth or return him to the scientists that made him.
3Victor
Independent Securitron Who Lives In Goodsprings
Victor is a Securitron that was originally built to serve Mr. House. However, he is missing parts of his memory, so not even he realizes that he was still helping his creator after living independently in Goodsprings for over a decade. Since he does not remember anything before moving out to the Nevada town, most of its residents seem to be okay with treating him as if he were just another fixture of the community.
At the start ofFallout: New Vegas, the Courier tasked with delivering the Platinum Chip to the Vegas Strip was shot in the head by a gangster named Benny. Victor was the one who found them and carried them to get help. This kicked off the events of the game since the player controls this Courier. Victor goes on to play a role in many of the ways that the player can choose to play the main story, but the fact that the Courier survived at all is entirely because of Victor.
2Yes Man
Hacked Securitron That Can Be Used To Take Over New Vegas
Benny, the leaderof The Chairmen, found a damaged Securitron and took it to the Followers of the Apocalypse to have it reprogrammed to serve him. The result was the Securitron called Yes Man, whose name derived from the fact that Benny wanted it to do exactly what he told it to with no hesitation. Benny used Yes Man to figure out Mr. House’s plan to have the Platinum Chip delivered back to the Strip and then intervened by shooting the Courier in the head. This was all part of the gangster’s plan to usurp Mr. House and take over New Vegas himself.
The player can eventually take Benny out and use Yes Man to put themselves in charge of the Strip instead. If they choose this route, Yes Man reveals a plan to upgrade and unleash an army of Securitrons which will fight alongside the player in the Second Battle of Hoover Dam. After this climactic battle, the player character will effectively be the king of one of the largest cities left in the land which was the United States.
1Nick Valentine
Diamond City’s Resident Detective
Nick Valentine was an early-generation synthdesigned by the Institute. His first memory is waking up on the surface and feeling as though he was nothing but discarded trash left to fend for himself. He earned Diamond City’s trust by rescuing the mayor’s daughter, despite the fact that he happened across her by accident. He was allowed to work odd jobs for the town, although his work was often interrupted by people asking for his help to find missing people. He stopped his other work and became Diamond City’s full-time detective.
The Sole Survivor rescued Nick from gangsters in Vault 114. Nick, in turn, helped them find a way into the Institute to reconnect with Shaun. Nick is one of the possible companions forFallout 4and his trust can be earned by helping people. Despite being a reviled synth from the dreaded Institute, Nick has never stopped caring about the common people.
