The Creepy Fallout 4 Easter Egg That Pays Tribute To Edgar Allan Poe
Fallout 4 has its fair share of easter eggs, but one of them might be creepier than others. Over the course of its bizarre storyline, the Fallout series has frequently dabbled in horror. In Fallout 3, the Dunwich Building referenced H.P. Lovecraft both in name and in its allusion to an eldritch god. In Fallout 4, Dunwich Borers, a quarry, also sounds awfully similar to The Dunwich Horror, a novella by H.P. Lovecraft. But the developers of Fallout appreciate more than Lovecraft. There's also a reference to horror master Edgar Allan Poe hidden within Fallout 4.
In the "Old Guns" mission, associated with the Minutemen quest line, the player character must go to the Castle, a star shaped fort the Minutemen plan to reclaim. Inside the Castle lies a skeleton behind a partially destroyed wall. Near the broken wall, players can find a cask of Amontillado wine. If any of this sounds familiar, it's because the scene references Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Cask of Amontillado."
How does it reference Poe?
Edgar Allan Poe wrote primarily during the mid-1800s and worked in a variety of genres. However, Poe's horror works, like "The Black Cat" and "The Fall of the House of Usher," may be more familiar to readers than his more mundane titles. Published in 1846, "The Cask of Amontillado" follows the story of a man named Montresor who harbors an extreme hatred for the nobleman Fortunado. Because Fortunado insults Montresor, the latter man creates a plan to kill the nobleman. After getting Fortunado drunk on wine, Montresor buries him alive by enclosing him within a brick wall.
In Fallout 4, the story isn't laid out in such detail, but literary gamers can catch the reference. There's no mistaking the reference after finding a skeleton behind a brick wall, complete with bottles of wine scattered nearby. It's a haunting scene, even if you don't immediately pick up on the reference. As if the wasteland wasn't horrifying enough.