Summary
Fallout 4follows the franchise’s tried-and-true formula by combining 1950s-esque Americana with a far-future, sci-fi setting. This leaves plenty of room for references both pop-cultural and historical from not one, but two, styles of storytelling.
We’ve gathered our personal favorites for your perusal, but there’s so much more to discover as you roam the Commonwealth. From Donkey Kong to Deckard, Die Hard to The Silver Shroud, here are the ones that cracked us a collective smile.
1Red Menace
Several games-within-games can be found in Fallout 4, including Red Menace. In full-blown Fallout fashion, the title references America’s cultural fright of their Communist enemies, but it won’t take long to recognize Red Menace’sgameplaydesign.
Red Menace plays out like Nintendo’s original Donkey Kong video game. Climbing ladders, evading threats, reaching the top to end the level - it’s all there, and unmistakably so.
2NRT-1001
Plenty of Fallout fans are keen on The Elder Scrolls and vice versa. This is hardly shocking, seeing as both The Elder Scrolls and (from Fallout 3 onward) Fallout are developed by Bethesda Game Studios.
From Bethesda’s open-world design ethos to faction-centric storytelling, their pair of flagship franchises have plenty in common.
Fallout 4’s Experiment NRT-1001 plays homage to all this; a bioluminescent plant with restorative properties and a designation that can easily be read as “NIRNROOT”? This flora is a crossover with The Elder Scrolls' own shiny substance in all but (exact) name.
3Blade Runner
Over in Diamond City, Nick Valentine runs a detective agency fittingly titled Valentine Detective Agency. Nick, as it happens, is also unaware that he’s a synth. Ditto with the highly influential 1982 cyberpunk movie’s lead character Deckard, or at least, that’s what many viewers believe.
But you don’t need to squint to wonder whether Diamond City’s got an ode to Blade Runner. A noodle-selling robot says one thing when you’re near him: “Nani ni shimasho ka?”
It’s the same Japanese query asked by the noodle seller in Blade Runner. There’s even the SAFE Test, which is designed to determine whether the participant is human or synth (“replicant” in Blade Runner terminology.)
Then again, that one might be broader-reaching; Battlestar Galactica, anyone?
4Lovecraft
Tucked away within the vast expanse of Fallout 4 lies the foreboding and unsettling location known as The Dunwich Borers.
As you venture into this abandoned quarry, you are immediately struck by its uncanny resemblance to the haunting and eldritch horrors that permeate the works of H.P. Lovecraft, most notably his chilling tale, “The Dunwich Horror.”
5The Silver Shroud
This one isn’t a specific pop culture reference, but rather, one sweeping, reverential hat tip to the superhero serials of the 1940s. The Silver Shroud is an in-universe fictional superhero with the genre’s trademark dramatic dialogue, catchy phrases, and peak noir atmosphere.
There are more overt references to various old-school superheroes, such as someone exclaiming “Holy Cannoli,” much like Batman’s sidekick Robin frequently did back in the Caped Crusader’s TV show.
The Silver Shroud’s radio serial saga is all unquestionably reminiscent of Detective Story Hour, a 1930s radio drama based on Detective Story Magazine’s timeless early 20th-century tales.
6Ozymandias
Poet Percy Bysshe Shelley helped to further immortalize the Egyptian pharoah, Ramesses II, when he penned the poem “Ozymandias”, referencing one of the titular ruler’s Greek names. Its words are timeless, and they’ve been quoted countless times throughout all manner of media.
Including, as it happens, by Nick Valentine if you take him to the General Atomics Galleria. As Nick gazes upon a massive statue of Mister Handy, he’ll paraphrase a line from “Ozymandias”, albeit mockingly.
7Cheers
In Boston Common, there’s a bar called Prost. Patrons have come to regard Prost as a second home, or arguably even their first. It is, as the 1980s smash-hit sitcom Cheers' theme song always sang, “where everybody knows your name.”
The thing is, “Prost” is German for “Cheers.” Within Fallout 4’s spin on the show, there are plenty of nods to specific bits, such as two skeletons holding hands - a nod to Sam Malone and Diane Chambers, major characters played by Ted Danson and Shelley Long, respectively.
8Star Trek
Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek (1966-1969) has spawned no fewer than nine spinoff shows and 13 feature films. Star Trek, though decidedly more space-driven (yes, there are references galore inStarfield), still manages to leave its mark on Fallout 4’s Commonwealth.
Robotic companion Ada quotes one of Star Trek’s most famous phrases: “Resistance is futile.” (Goodness, but that one’s popped up in so many things."
But Ada doesn’t stop there. “Using a keyboard. How quaint.” If you’ve ever watched Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, you’ll remember Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott speaking those words at a San Francisco factory after having time-warped back to 1986.
And if you haven’t seen that movie, trust us on this - do it.
9Die Hard
In the action-fueled Die Hard series of films, Bruce Willis' John McClane, the tough and quippy hero, is a police officer who doesn’t always impress his superiors. McClane has a tendency to leave all manner of property damage in his wake while thwarting bad guys.
As it happens, the same can be said of Willison, a police officer cited in a BADTFL regional office terminal for keeping the peace at any property-destroying financial cost.
There’s even a direct quote from the first Die Hard found on a note in one of Fallout 4’s hidden bottles.
