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Put yourself in the shoes of an American citizen right before the bombs fell in the Great War. You’ve had the fortune of being selected to enter a Vault in case of a nuclear attack. You’re proud of yourself, thinking that you’ve secured your family’s survival for at least this generation, if not for generations to come.
As we all know, the Great War started and ended in a matter of hours on October 23, 2077. Some of the population was herded into the Vaults that Vault-Tec had managed to complete, but the majority of the populace was left to perish. But you, you’ve got your place in a Vault. All is well for you and your family.
Or so you think.
Life was good if you happened to be a member of one of the 17 control Vaults. But if you lived in any of the other Vaults, you were subject to any of the wild, sickening experiments dreamed up by Vault-Tec as part of their joint program with the U.S. government called the Societal Preservation Program.
Vault 95 was one such Vault. The experiment of this Vault played on its residents’ addictive behaviors, leading them to believe they had conquered substance abuse, only to pull the rug out from them after several years of isolation.
In this particularly twisted scheme, Vault-Tec’s goal was never to treat or to help the Vault dwellers’ tendencies for addiction, but instead only to test how the human mind and spirit reacted to an unlimited supply of the very substances that would ultimately lead to their death.
Looking to learn more about what took place in the cold, metal corridors of Vault 95? This Vault 95 Guide aims to provide you with all of the essential information concerning this Vault, including related quests and characters. By the end, you’ll know all you need to know about the cruel events of Vault 95.
Bottom Line Up Front
- Vault 95 is one of over 100 Vaults constructed by Vault-Tec before the Great War in the Fallout video game series.
- Vault 95’s residents entered with various addictions, were treated with group therapy to the point of thinking they had overcome those same addictions, then finally exposed to a lifetime supply of chems, alcohol, and tobacco, subsequently leading to a breakdown of any semblance of order in the Vault.
- Vault 95 is featured in Cait’s companion quest, “Benign Intervention.”
Location
Vault 95 is found in Fallout 4, the 8th entry in the Fallout franchise. It is located on the outskirts to the northeast of the Glowing Sea, just south of the Robotics Pioneer Park.
The Purpose of Vault 95
Vault 95’s original purpose was, in at least some sense, altruistic. It was intended to act as a rehabilitation center for people addicted to chems like Jet and Psycho. To live in the Vault, you had to live by the rules of the Vault-Tec Rehabilitation Program, which included attending daily support meetings to check in on everyone’s well-being.
Intentionally or unintentionally, Vault 95 also had a functioning democracy for a few years. Unlike in other Vaults, the Overseer position was decided by residents every year after a vote. Jane Myers is the only Overseer on record for the Vault, so she must have done an acceptable job of running the support meetings and taking care of the general upkeep tasks required of keeping Vault 95 running smoothly.
Unknown to the rest of the Vault dwellers, a Vault-Tec agent with ulterior motives was living among them. Randall Gutierrez was an observer for Vault-Tec, placed in Vault 95 to make note of their behavior and the outcomes of their treatment. He also made sure that all residents participated in the rehabilitation program.
Above all else, he was there to confirm Vault-Tec’s hypothesis that, given no alternative, humans can overcome addictive behavior. He was able to reach this conclusion after 5 years of research. After that, his little social experiment took a drastic turn that would end in tragedy.
The Hidden Stash
Any healing or growth achieved in Vault 95 by the support groups and addiction treatment was quickly and unceremoniously undone by Gutierrez. Five years after Vault 95 closed its door and the rehabilitation program began, Gutierrez revealed a massive secret stash of chems, alcohol, and tobacco in the dead of night. The next morning, residents began to discover all of the substances they had fought to break free from, renewing the cycle of addiction.
It didn’t take long before the Vault descended into chaos. The bonds that had been forged through group therapy were severed as the residents turned on each other to secure their next hit of Buffout, Jet, or Psycho. The resulting violence led to the deaths of a large number of the people living in Vault 95. Some tried to resist their urges and continue with the rehabilitation program, but they eventually succumbed to their addictive behavior.
Some residents, like an individual by the name of J. Scott, figured out that Vault-Tec was behind everything. In their private terminal, we can read when J. Scott learned of Vault-Tec’s betrayal, his fight to uphold the progress he had made as an individual, and his eventual return to chems as a way to cope with the bloodshed and loss in Vault 95’s final days as a functioning bunker.
Sometime after these events, Vault 95 was discovered by the Gunners. It now serves as a base of operations for the violent group. To fully explore the Vault and all of the lore it has to offer, you’ll have to fight your way through Gunners, robots, and turrets.
Related Quests
Benign Intervention
This quest involves one of Fallout 4’s potential companions, Cait. Cait suffers from chem addiction and will often use chems to improve her abilities in battle. Provided you gain Cait’s trust and reach over 750 affinity with her, she’ll open up to you about her fight with addiction. She’ll also mention hearing about a machine located in Vault 95 that was used to treat chem addicts.
You’ll have to fight your way through the Gunners that have taken up residence in the Vault since its collapse. Upon reaching the treatment room, Cait will have to be convinced to carry through with the process.
Ultimately, the treatment is successful, and as a result, Cait will no longer actively use chems. This also affects your ability to use chems or drink alcohol while Cait is your companion. Doing so will cause her to react negatively, leading her to judge your actions by calling you a hypocrite.
If you care about Cait as a character, I think this is a companion quest that is well worth completing. I personally don’t use a whole lot of chems when I play, so I have no problem staying away from the substances while Cait follows me.
Related: Continue reading our full Fallout 4 Quest Guide
Cleansing the Commonwealth
Players that opt to join the Brotherhood of Steel will receive this quest from Knight Rhys in the Cambridge Police Station. It isn’t one quest per se, but a collection of quests that send you to random locations to defeat the enemies located there as part of ridding the wastes of forces hostile to the Brotherhood.
One of the possible locations you’ll have to travel to is Vault 95, where you’ll have to defeat the Gunners (or rather, one specific Gunner that is marked) in its halls. Return to Rhys once clearing the Vault to successfully complete the quest.
Quartermastery
Quartermastery is similar to Cleansing the Commonwealth in that you’ll receive a random location to travel to, complete a task there, then report your success to a Brotherhood of Steel member. The member, in this case, is Scribe Haylen, who you first meet in the quest Fire Support at the Cambridge Police Station.
Haylen tasks you with recovering three specific pieces of technology: a flux sensor, a haptic drive, or a reflex capacitor. One of the random locations where you can find these items is Vault 95. If this is the case, simply travel to Vault 95, find the requested piece of technology, and return to Haylen for your reward.
Randolph Safehouse
This quest can be obtained by speaking with Drummer Boy, a member of the Railroad. One of the Railroad’s safehouses, Randolph Safehouse, has suddenly requested contact after being considered abandoned for several years.
The leader of the safehouse, Mister Tims, needs the player’s help to get synth fugitives out of the Commonwealth, which is one of the Railroad’s goals. Despite the strangeness of the incident, Desdemona, the leader of the Railroad, will agree that the player should help Randolph Safehouse.
Like Cleansing the Commonwealth and Quartermastery, the locations you have to visit in this quest are randomized. You may be asked to travel to Vault 95 and kill all of the Gunners located there. Once complete, you’ll receive your reward after returning to Railroad HQ and speaking to Desdemona.
Treasure Hunt
This is a side quest that has the potential to randomly send the player to Vault 95. As you travel around the Commonwealth, you may come across NPC corpses that hold notes. These notes tell of items in specific locations that can be recovered. Vault 95 is one of these locations. Don’t expect actual treasure, though, as the items obtained in this quest are all fairly common.
Notable Residents
Randall Gutierrez
There are a lot of truly evil characters in the world of Fallout; Randall Gutierrez ranks among them with the social experiment conducted in Vault 95. Here is a man who pretended to be a resident of the Vault and become a legitimate member of the community, only to betray them in the dead of night 5 years after the Vault door was sealed tight. On the one hand, you have to respect his commitment to his job, but on the other hand, his actions were the very definition of despicable.
Though he couldn’t have possibly imagined it, the stash of chems he unveiled to Vault 95’s residents proved to be not only their downfall but his as well. That’s some brutal karma directed in Gutierrez’s direction.
Jane Myers
Jane Myers was Vault 95’s first and only Overseer. She was democratically elected to the position by the Vault’s residents, unlike in most other Vaults where the Overseer was selected beforehand by Vault-Tec.
It was her job to conduct daily meetings and make sure the Vault dwellers followed all the rules of the rehabilitation program. I assume that she, like most others in the Vault, died in the aftermath of Gutierrez revealing the secret chem stash, located behind a wall in Vault 95.
J. Scott
While you won’t come across J. Scott in person while exploring Vault 95 – they’re most likely one of the many corpses that can be found there – you will find documents they left behind. Through 4 log files left on a private terminal, we can gather this person was trying to recover from their battle with addiction, hence their placement in this particular Vault.
They thought they had finally overcome their demons, only to learn they had been duped by Vault-Tec. After Gutierrez revealed the hidden chems, J. Scott locked themselves in their room, trying to keep themselves from cracking from the temptation of a lifetime supply of drugs.
Their 4th log is absolutely heartwrenching. J. Scott’s short sentences and repetition reflect a person losing the most difficult of internal battles:
I can’t take it anymore. No reason to stay sober. It’s just as messed up down here as it is up there. I need something to help me cope.
I don’t care about the program anymore. I don’t care. I don’t. I don’t. I really don’t.
I’m going to go out and be with with [sic] my friends. I hope somebody is left…
– J. Scott, 4th Log Entry, Private Terminal in Vault 95
For me, this particular log entry made Vault 95’s tragedy hit home. While Vault-Tec has a long list of bait-and-switch tactics when it came to their Vaults, this one ranks among their worst in that it helped its residents overcome their worst flaws, only to parade them back in front of them when the time was deemed right.
FAQs
Question: How Can I Get a Vault 95 Jumpsuit?
Answer: Unfortunately, you can’t. Vault 95 jumpsuits are unattainable in the base version of Fallout 4. You’ll see numerous corpses wearing the old remains of Vault 95 jumpsuits, but you can’t loot them.
Question: How Do I Enter Vault 95?
Answer: With a lot of bullets. The entrance to Vault 95 is guarded by Gunners, turrets, and robots. You’ll need an arsenal to shoot your way through and some Stimpaks or food to heal up any wounds you sustain. After you defeat all of the enemies, a nearby elevator will take you down into the Vault.
Question: Where Is Vault 95?
Answer: It’s located just on the edge of the Glowing Sea near the Robotics Pioneer Park. If you’re at a low level or not properly equipped, it’s best to stay out of the Glowing Sea. Powerful enemies like Deathclaws and Super Mutants roam around there and will make quick work of unprepared Wastelanders.
Conclusion
Addiction is a profoundly human disease and one that is extremely difficult to overcome. Vault 95’s experiment, even though fictional, shines a light on this fact, as the residents of the Vault were quick to succumb to their old habits.
In my opinion, Vault 95 represents the best of Bethesda’s storytelling chops, giving the player backstory through terminal logs and snippets of information from characters like Cait. It’s worth paying a visit during your time in the Commonwealth, even if you aren’t helping the Brotherhood of Steel or the Railroad.
With its tragic history and continued relevance in the Commonwealth as it exists in Fallout 4, experiences like Vault 95 are the reason I love the Fallout series.
Continue reading related Vault guides: