Fallout Season 2 Needs To Introduce Franchise’s Most Insidious Creations

The Institute is the mysterious organization that created synths in the Fallout universe. The one wrinkle for Fallout Season 2 introducing synths and the Institute is the fact that we see the Brotherhood of Steel’s Prydwen in Season 1. While this may not seem like a big deal, those who have played Fallout 4 will know that the Prydwen only survives the events of that game if the Institute is destroyed. 

But, just because the Institute is destroyed in canon doesn’t mean Fallout Season 2 can’t introduce synths. The ending of Fallout 4 saw the hidden facility known as the Institute completely destroyed, but there were many synths living outside of that facility at the time. The Railroad, a faction dedicated to freeing synths, snuck plenty of them out of the Institute and then there were characters like Nick Valentine who were obviously unaffected by the Institute’s destruction. 

The synths were one of the biggest plot points in Fallout 4, with the various factions you meet all having very different opinions on them. The Brotherhood of Steel viewed them as a threat to humanity, the Railroad wanted them to be able to live normal lives as sentient beings, and the Institute created them and used them as tools for their own bidding. In fact, the lore and potential stories for synths are so extensive that Fallout Season 2 might be better served by briefly introducing them so that synths could be a focal point of another season down the line.

Synths are some of the most interesting characters in the Fallout lore, and they could be a big part of the Fallout series in the future. Gen 1 and Gen 2 synths are very robotic-looking and often used for combat or labor purposes, possessing little to no sentience. Meanwhile, Generation 3 synths are specifically modeled to look human and have sentience.

In Fallout 4, the Institute even uses Gen 3 synths to replace people, which could have some terrifying implications. Fallout Season 2 could even do a surprise reveal that one of the characters we’ve come to know is a synth. One of the coolest things about Fallout 4 was the fact you could go the entire game without realizing a character is actually a synth.

While Fallout 4 had some overall mixed reviews at the time of its release, it’s safe to say that many fans view the Institute and its synths as one of the most interesting expansions to the lore. And even if the Institute is destroyed, Fallout Season 2 could easily show that synths are still being made, whether that be through scientists who survived the Institute’s destruction, synths creating more of themselves, or some other plot device.

We’ll have to wait and see if the hit Amazon series does decide to include this important part of the video game lore sometime in the future.