Transcript for:
Exploring Cut Content in Fallout: New Vegas

Cut Content. Every single modern game has some degree of content that was left on the cutting room floor. Unused locations, incomplete levels, testing areas, and even entire characters and story arcs are dropped when deadlines close in, and a finished game is needing to be shipped out. Typically, this content appears harmless enough. Empty areas, lines of dialogue, and textures not used. Yet, every once in a while, dataminers and explorers come across hidden content that stands in stark contrast to the tone of the game. One player by the name of drb0sch details their journey in uncovering this disturbing cut content through venturing outside of the playable area in Fallout: New Vegas. In a series that I’ve come to call Outside the Mojave Outpost, b0sch discovers a horrifying secret lurking beyond the boundaries of New Vegas, one that will pull them into a liminal hellscape, and into a wasteland devoid of life. Outside the Mojave Outpost When I was first sent this channel, I was sent by way of this initial video. I’ll admit, at first, I believed this was being sent as a joke. The video starts off relatively normal - a bit too normal, might I add. The player details their attempts at successfully getting outside of the Mojave Outpost location in the game. They hop over a fence, detail the little to no loot around, and begin exploring deeper into the undeveloped part of the map. The description, innocuous enough, details the player’s process of making the video: “Marc suggested I did a voiceover but I had no mic so the text was a compromise, intro and outro were cut off for whatever reason but it's not like anyone outside the forum were gonna watch these anyways.” And here, with the premise set up, drb0sch moves onto their next video Mojaveraw-14e0f8e5a0d3 Mojaveraw-14e0f8e4aod3. The video begins exactly where we left off: drb0sch is heading further into the undeveloped regions of the map where players typically aren’t able to travel. Initially, there’s not much to be seen. Cracked roads, lifeless terrain, a few scattered abandoned houses from when development likely envisioned a larger version of the New Vegas map, and a strange metal structure sticking out of the sand. However, at around 9:35, the radio music cuts out, and never returns. The low humming of an empty map and the endless droning of crickets fill the gaps between footsteps. An uneasy ambience swiftly falls over the environment. At 10:50, drb0sch finds a rather out of place encampment. A firepit, empty whiskey bottles, and makeshift benches. Out of place amongst the destroyed houses. Then, after interacting with the firepit, a new quest is added: “MJOHNSONVER???YEDGSHCH.” A remnant quest from a prototype version of the game? Stranger still, the quest marker points b0sch to an area just over a mountain, one still deep in out-of-bounds territory. And there, the video ends. Analysis What started off as an innocuous exploration out of the playable area has turned into an unfolding mystery. “MJOHNSONVER???YEDGSHCH.” As user stal_1842 pointed out, Interplay named their projects after US presidents, with the original Fallout 3 codenamed “Van Buren” before Bethesda’s acquisition of the IP. The quest in question here appears to be named after Richard Mentor Johnson, Van Buren’s vice president at the time. The “Ver” of the name indicates the version of the quest, though the ??? throws into question the iteration of the task. The long string of numbers seem as though they’re gibberish, but I’m wondering if they’re an acronym of some kind relating to either the quest or to some plot element yet to be uncovered. The title of the video itself, Mojaveraw-14e0f8e4aod3, specifically the last portion starting with 14, pointed towards a link to a youtube video. Unfortunately, using the string of letters and digits takes us to a video that has been removed from YouTube. If there was another element to this series, it is no longer publicly visible. Lastly, the description of the video states that this is raw footage, originally sent to friends, but posted to the forums unedited in the end. It seems as though we’re looking at older reposted content that originally appeared on a New Vegas or Fallout forum sometime around the game’s release. stuck Stuck continues exactly where the last video ended. Drb0sch is still out of the playable area, and none of the radios are working. Only silence and static play in the place of music or messages. With no other choice, b0sch heads in the direction of the quest marker. Nothing but the ambient wind and distant animals and b0sch’s own footsteps fill the silence. B0sch eventually returns to the entrance of the Mojave Outpost, though as he stands before the gate, he notices that there are no NPCs to be seen inside the map. An outpost completely deserted. Even worse, b0sch finds himself unable to reenter the map. An invisible barrier blocks any means of returning to the playable area despite using the exact same route for exiting it in the first place. Any attempts at fast traveling are met with the repeated message: “error_void; event_inprogress”. After much confusion and looking around aimlessly, b0sch makes the decision to continue traversing around the outside of the map, heading inadvertently in the direction of the quest marker. Analysis A formerly inmaterial invisible barrier materializing to block drb0sch’s path, the complete absence of radio communication from inside the playable zone, a deserted Mojave Outpost where there was first plenty of NPCs, the inability to fast travel to an event being in progress, and our protagonist’s confusion as to where to head next. The game, or at the very least, the quest, is clearly pushing b0sch in the direction of the quest marker, and with little recourse, b0sch heads in that direction. Early on, we’re left with a few key questions: What is this new garble quest? What has happened to the NPCs at the Outpost? And what is this “event in progress” that is preventing b0sch from returning to the map? signal Picking up where we left off, b0sch, still out of bounds, continues to wander in the direction of the quest marker. B0sch routinely scopes out the distance with his rifle, noting the lifeless landscape and the distant mountains. However, at around 1:55 in, they notice something in the distance: one of those strange bull-like statues seen in the second entry, and not just one, but several lined up across the landscape. As b0sch gets closer, a signal is suddenly found: UVB-68. Tuning in, we initially hear nothing but static… until… A mish-mash of different signals and sources: music and radio/new broadcasts and radio communication between pilots and ground control, all meshing together in this chaotic cacophony of noise. And then, smoke rises up in the distance. Drawing closer, b0sch finds a single barrel creating this smoke. A single barrel, and in the distance, another dilapidated house. One that can be entered. And suddenly, all sound cuts out, and the radio falls silent again. Analysis This was a drastic shift from the previous few entries. From a rather slow start, the creepy events begin to pile up the closer b0sch draws to the quest marker. First off, what is the purpose of the bull-esque contraptions seen dotting the landscape? Composed of metal plating, antennae of some kind, and standing upright as if a training dummy, they appear to be pulled out of a legionnaire camp, especially given the bull motif associated with the fascist faction. Next, we have the sudden appearance of UVB-68. UVB-68 is a reference to the real life still-active numbers station UVB-76 based out of the then Soviet Union and into the Russian Republic era. This station, nicknamed “The Buzzer” transmits shortwave radio broadcasts in the form of coded messages. A buzzer is placed intermittently 24/7 and is only occasionally broken by a coded voice transmission in Russian. However, there have been instances where this pattern deviated. For example, in 2001, a Russian conversation was heard in the background, in 2010, excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake replaced the buzzer and phone call conversations were heard in the background, a station broadcast signal heard in 2015, an unknown French speaker in 2020, various pirate high-jackings and spectrogram encoded messages, and so on, not too dissimilar from UVB-68’s mashing together of broadcasts and signals. However, no spectrogram message could be found, at least, none that I could see. As an additional piece of evidence to lend to this theory, while YeDGShch seems to be a random assortment of letters, it is actually a call sign used by UVB-76: ЕДГЩ, or EDGSh. Additionally, the presence of an apparent numbers station, or at least, the reference to the numbers stations, calls back to the Fallout 3 Numbers Station creepypasta that emerged around the time of the game’s release. The story went that after killing Three Dog, the host of Galaxy News Radio, a new radio station would appear that spouted off random strings of numbers that, when translated, supposedly gave predictions of the future. However, none of the events truly came to pass. And finally, what is with the strange shack sitting out in the playable area? A remnant of a quest never fully expunged? Or something else entirely? looting Looting picks up where we left off: drb0sch has entered into the strange shack outside of the non-playable area and begins looting what is inside. Inside, b0sch encounters some oddities. A ham-radio of some kind sits on an end-table, playing indecipherable messages. In the bathroom, a shotgun sits in a bathtub along with a syringe. Neither can be picked up, and the bathroom itself cannot be entered. Attached to the ceiling, a chemistry station is suspended upside down along with two chairs and a table. In the living room, an unobtainable note sits on a bookshelf, a surgical mask and a severed finger in a sunset sarsaparilla crate, and a usable H9000 camera sits on a shelf. When equipped, the camera makes an energy weapon type of sound when a photo is taken. Additionally, multiple holotapes labeled “BLACKBX-102227-1029AM-75-3242-F84G” sit underneath a table as well as developed film, a signalling gun, and a picture labeled “PICTURE-102227-1015AM-75-3242-F84G”. When picking up the photograph, the quest step “MJV_Code Yourself Smarter” appears. The MJohnson quest updates to a marker further out into the out-of-bounds- area, forcing b0sch to venture even further out. Taking a seat, b0sch looks through the new images and audios collected. The first photograph, taken on presumably October 22nd, 2027 at 10:15 AM captures a pilot looking out of the window of their cockpit. Down below, Earth can be seen beyond the glass. Next, the audio file, recorded at 10:17 AM, reveals the following: what sounds like a fighter jet engaging in combat before the audio goes silent. Despite there being an additional 1:13 left on the file, the audio cuts abruptly. The last blackbox photograph, taken at 10:19 AM shows a view from an onboard camera. And finally, the developed film reveals a mountain with antennae like spires shooting up from behind the range. Stepping outside with the signaling gun in hand, daytime has returned to the Mojave Wasteland. Analysis Let’s start from the top. Inside the shack, we see a few interesting clues to the direction of this unknown quest. A shotgun in a bathtub along with an empty syringe imply a rather… dark outcome for the user. The upside down chemistry station is also a strange addition. Now, let’s move onto the blackbox files. First, let’s look at the naming scheme itself: 102227-10XXAM-75-3242-F84G. The first portion, 102227-10XXAM, is the date in which the audio or the photograph was taken. October 22nd, 2027 at 10:15AM for instance. The latter portion however, is a specific military serial number and model of the jet used. In this case, we’re looking at the black box of an F-84G Thunderjet, an American turbojet fighter-bomber aircraft, with the military serial number being 75-3242, signaling that these recordings came from a military exercise or mission of some kind. Now, the Thunderjet was retired in 1964, but given the Atompunk 50-futurism aesthetic, it seems appropriate to use such an aircraft. Additionally, the Thunderjet also bears a visual similarity to the jets used in the Fallout franchise. Given the developed film, I’m inclined to believe this was part of a reconnaissance mission that went south. This also gives more background on the military radio chatter heard in the UVB-68 signal in the “signal” video. As commenters on the video have pointed out, some of the audio is taken from the 1989 Gulf of Sidra incident wherein two US Navy pilots shot down two Libyan aircraft due to perceived acts of aggression. Controversy arose following this incident, specifically that the Libyan Reconnaissance planes were unjustly attacked while the U.S. Department of Defense claimed self-defense on the part of the U.S. pilots. The overall fate of the pilot or pilots is left rather ambiguous. Initial signs indicate some kind of altercation or firefight in the skies, though the exact situation surrounding the recording and photographs is still up for interpretation. Developed film of an installation beyond the mountains, a photograph from onboard navigation systems and from the cockpit, and the audio recording of a situation unfolding. And amongst all these clues, a single signal flare. Perhaps this journey is to uncover the fate of this pilot, or the events surrounding the recording. Yet a question remains: who exactly are we signaling? Mojaveraw-d4c2aa65 Standing outside of the anomalous shack, b0sch continues his journey. Down the hill, a rusted car contains folders and a small radio in the backseat, and inside, small eyebot decorations adorn the old metal. In the backyard, we see a large spire beyond a mountain, and an operational terminal sitting in front of a makeshift antenna. At around 1:55, UVB-68 suddenly picks back up, and behind a wall, a single terminal can be seen out of reach. The terminal that can be interacted with hints towards the maintenance of a variety of laser rifles. Written from the perspective of a field's operation manual, the single accessible entry details how to best repair and maintain a laser rifle as researched by J. T. Benning. Beyond this, b0sch takes a peak behind the metal sheet exterior of the shack and finds an old eye exam chart. Seeing nothing left to explore, b0sch heads to the radio tower next. However, as he gets closer, a whole structure loads into view. An old building with multiple radio towers loads in. Inside one of the old buildings, an object labeled “Remains” is picked up by b0sch. Looking at it in the pipboy gives the message “PipOS Error - 26 [File Not Found]”, though it does restore one health point. In true Fallout fashion, b0sch eats the remains. Along with this, water bottles that take away H2O levels and grant 1.9 million rads sit in a partially buried refrigerator, all while strange howling groaning can be heard over UVB-68. As b0sch draws closer to the old building, invisible barriers prevent him from getting too close. Our protagonist returns to his roaming, encountering radiation and blackened rocks as he does. At around eight minutes in, b0sch encounters a large wall constructed of concrete and rebar out in the out-of-bounds wastes. Passing through it puts them before a sandstorm. Passing through, a destroyed structure is seen in the Eastern zone of the sand storm. And as he approaches, a frantic voice is heard over the signal, punctuated by a scream, then static, and then silence. UVB-68 goes silent once more. Beyond the destroyed structure, b0sch locates the exterior portion of the Canyon Wreckage location meant to bring players to the Great Divide in the Lonesome Road DLC, but like before, he cannot venture back into the map. Defeated, b0sch begins circling around the location, meeting the same invisible barriers as before, and a hatch leading into the earth. Analysis The second Mojaveraw file contains a lot of exposition with little to no answers in sight. First, the terminal sitting outside of the shack includes an entry viewable in Fallout 3. In Fort Independence, the same terminal entry on Laser Rifle/Pistols by J. T. Benning, an outcast scientist, can be found. What it is doing in this location is hard to say, but given the leftover Fallout 3 assets and data in New Vegas, it's not too out of the ordinary to see it included here. What I’m curious about, however, is the inaccessible terminal sitting behind the metal slats of the shack. The UVB-68 signal flares up again in this entry, though provides little context for the situation. No spectrogram images or messages could be interpreted this time around. However, the screaming heard in the latter portion is a slowed down version of the Apollo 1 Spacecraft’s final radio message before the cockpit burned up and the crew perished onboard. Perhaps this real-world tragedy is hinting towards some wider tragedy within the game, specifically in reference to the Thunderjet pilots? Given the remains found at the abandoned building, I can only surmise their eventual fate. While on the topic of the derelict building and the radio towers, the structures bear a striking resemblance to the structure seen in the Developed Film photograph, hinting towards them being one in the same. Additionally, the structures at the top give an explanation for the random metallic structures sprouting up out of the sands: all of them are the topics of radio towers. Every single one is a buried tower with only the very tops sticking out. ground Ground continues b0sch’s journey as he attempts to get back into the Wasteland proper. However, in doing so, he uncovers an entrance to a bunker. Stepping inside, a long stairway down greets him. Down at the bottom, an old bunker of sorts houses an old computer, though the screen produces apparent gibberish. On the opposite wall, another console is able to be interacted with, but all of the commands read “(null)”. Two small and inaccessible doors sit on either opposite walls, one in plain view and another hidden behind a piece of machinery. On the single desk, hundreds of chips to each of the Strip’s casino’s sit inside as some kind of counterfeit operation. B0sch returns to the second terminal and attempts clicking through a variety of the null options. Eventually, photographs pop up. One is of the Mojave Wasteland. Another of the real Las Vegas Strip. Another of real world Las Vegas. One of the sky. A random email pops up reading: “loading it into the console crashes everything. I knew he’d pull something like this.” Another reads “Truck: are you sure this is the right truck”? Another contains a truck cargo manifest, noting that it loaded in Sunnyvale, California before being discharged from Las Vegas. The date also reads October 23rd, 2077, the day the bombs dropped. Behind a piece of machinery, b0sch finds a suitcase that, when deployed, acts as a ticking bomb. However, when time expires, the sounds of gears turning happen instead. B0sch picks the suitcase up and keeps it in his inventory for later. And with that, b0sch ascends the staircase, and leaves the bunker. With nowhere in particular to go, b0sch again continues his exploration as he draws closer to the next quest marker. However, as they venture further into the wasteland, they notice some oddities as they journey. Pockets of debris litter the sandstorm region, punctuated by a crashed fighter jet sunken into the sands. And, strangely enough, flying fish out in the sands. As our player ventures further out into the non-playable area, they find themselves sinking deeper down into a strange depression surrounded by mountains and schools of flying fish. And eventually, beneath currents of sand, b0sch finds himself at the next quest marker: a looming, humming pit that goes into total darkness. Analysis Ground gives more insight into the supposed cut content of the region. The bunker in particular points towards a counterfeit chip operation in progress, with a delivery truck scheduled to make a drop off or pick up the day of the Great War when nuclear bombs decimated the world. According to Fallout lore, the Platinum Chip was scheduled to be delivered from Sunnyvale to Las Vegas, but the start of the Great War halted this delivery. House then spent millions of caps attempting to find the Platinum Chip, which then kicked off the events of New Vegas. It seems strange then that the Chip has made its way to New Vegas along with plenty of other chips, yet the Wasteland still became what it is. Also out of the ordinary are the inclusion of real-world images into the game. As far as I’m aware, this tactic was not utilized in either Fallout 3 or New Vegas, so their inclusion feels out of place. In any case, it showcases three photographs: The first features a starry night sky above the Mojave. The stars themselves are quite bright. The second is of Las Vegas with the Lucky 38 in the shot. White lines of nuclear warheads fly across the skies, indicating the Great War has begun. The third photograph shows the mountain range just beyond Las Vegas. Hardly visible is a nuclear explosion hidden amongst the lighter tones of the photo. The fourth and final photo shows the skies one last time, snapping a picture of nuclear missiles as they fly across the skies. The inclusion of the suitcase bomb might’ve been for a scrapped questline regarding this underground bunker, but for now, it remains unknown. The true mystery lies in the final few shots of the video: the massive pit. In the previous video, one of the bits of chatter heard over the radio are from conversations had between radio personality Art Bell and caller Mel Waters. In it, they discuss a supposed bottomless pit that exists on Waters’ property, stating simply “Now if this is really a bottomless pit, then you may have something the U.S. government wants.” And here we are, staring into a bottomless pit. Additionally, many of the locations seen in these out-of-bounds portions may line up with the nuclear explosions seen in earlier photographs, possibly including our seemingly bottomless pit here. Before, the case for MJohnson being a scrapped quest line could be made, but now, given that the final quest marker is pulling b0sch towards an inescapable black pit, the quest is given an entirely different tone from before. The unfolding mystery regarding this quest now has an element of true unease and horror ingrained into it. To dive into the depths or to stay in the light? weird glow In a departure from previous videos, “weird glow” is not one of drb0sch’s videos at all. Instead, another user posted their video to the same forum. In it, they note a “weird glow” seen beyond the boundaries of the map, and outside of the playable area. A red haze glows just beyond the hill, and just out of sight. Analysis Although some have speculated the glow to be from b0sch’s signaling gun, I believe this to be incorrect. The steady fading in and out of the red glow matches up with the undulating lights of the radio towers. While it would be an interesting theory that b0sch’s adventure has ended up in someone else’s game, I believe we’re instead seeing another player seeing hints of the radio towers beyond the game’s boundaries, meaning that whatever b0sch is encountering out there, it isn’t a secret unique to just their game. Down “Down” continues drb0sch’s perspective as they peer down into the black pit before them. And sure enough, they descend down into it. Down below, they see a light at the bottom and they begin making their way towards it. Down at the bottom, a few items are set up. A computer chair, a chess set, a working terminal, a single lantern, and a ham radio playing static. Then, morse code begins playing, giving us the message before cutting out. And as drb0sch ventures around an area, he finds an entrance labeled “null.” Inside is an expansive cave network, and inside is b0sch’s next marker. Analysis In this shorter entry, b0sch descends down into the dark pit unlike anything seen previously in a Fallout game. At the bottom, a chair, a chess set, a radio, a lantern, and a terminal. In the pit, the terminal itself is never interacted with which leaves us with questions as to what exactly is on it. The imagery of the terminal placed across from the chair with the chess set in between implies a human versus AI game, and the coded message sent in morse code actually gives us an indication to this clever reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey. The chess game recreates the 1968 film’s match between Astronaut Frank Poole and the HAL 9000 supercomputer onboard the spacecraft. In the end, HAL, playing black, wins in the final configuration shown on the chess set in this pit. The radio produces a message in morse code that, when isolated and slowed down, reveals the message: “THIS THING’S HOLLOW -IT GOES ON FOREVER AND-” This itself is a quote from 2001: A Space Odyssey. In this scene, the character Bowman approaches one of the anomalous Monoliths, transmitting continuously to Earth out of fear of disappearing with no one knowing what happened to him. However, as he enters this Monolith, he transmits the message: "The thing's hollow—it goes on forever—and—oh my God!—it's full of stars!" Bowman enters through this “Star Gate” and has the sensation of moving downward, much like how b0sch begins moving downward into the cave system. The cave entrance, in essence, becomes b0sch’s monolith, their Star Gate as they venture somewhere completely alien. I wonder what b0sch will find as they venture further into the maze of a cavern. Even more, the next quest marker lies somewhere deeper in the cave, meaning b0sch’s eventual end-goal lies somewhere within. under In the darkness of the cavern, lit only by their pipboy’s light, b0sch ventures further into New Vegas’ underworld. A buzzing ham radio sits inside a minecart, and strange noises emanate from within the cave. Visibility is low. Blood splatters the earth. And strange organic masses and skeletal structures adorn the walls and ceilings. B0sch eventually finds pools of green, likely irradiated liquid. Mutilated body parts sit in the liquid, and a small encampment rests on a small outcropping. A massive gorebag protrudes from a cave wall. The wind howls inside the dark maze. At around 6:15 in, b0sch stumbles upon the face of a statue sticking out of the cave wall. B0sch then stumbles upon a buried truck containing crates filled with chips for the various casinos on the New Vegas Strip. The sounds of machinery fill the otherwise soundless cave as b0sch walks over wooden planks. A generator, machinery, another ham radio system, a statue head sticking out of the wall, and another dark pit greet b0sch. With few options, b0sch heads down to an exit labeled “null”. And once again, b0sch finds himself in an entirely new cave system. While wandering around in the dark, b0sch discovers the body of a Hieronymus B. On his body are a few items: an emergency mask, flamer fuel, a trader outfit, and an item labeled “instructions.” It reads: “Set it up. You will know where. Unknown friends will come to you.” From there, b0sch descends even deeper into the darkness, unable to return up above. In this new, better lit cave, our protagonist continues to explore, eventually finding a gate that leads to a metal door hidden by thick fog. Upon entering the door, b0sch finds themselves in what appears to be an empty floor for one of the casinos, appearing like one of the cut floors of the Gomorrah. B0sch journeys through the empty floor until he finds a door labeled “null.” Terrifying sounds play as b0sch descends down the staircase. And as he enters the final door… Analysis Let’s roll back to the beginning. Upon entering the cave, b0sch hears the sound of a numbers station buzzing inside the minecart. The buzzing itself is pulled straight from UVB-76, the inspiration behind UVB-68 discussed earlier, albeit slowed down a degree. However, underneath the buzzing, there is another sound: what almost seems like music punctuated by a screaming of some kind. UVB-76, the real world counterpart to this station, had a broadcast that had elements of Swan Lake as well. One major oddity inside the cave is the presence of the abnormally large skeletal structures and the massive pieces of meat as if some large creature or creatures had been killed and flayed down here. And the giant head statues? While these assets are present in Fallout 3, they don’t appear anywhere in New Vegas. A reference to the Dunwich Building and the Dunwich Borers in Fallout 3 and 4, or an indication of something more supernatural or cosmic at play? The truck that b0sch discovers containing the casino chips continues the plot thread presented in “ground.” In that underground bunker, references to some kind of counterfeit or heist operation appeared in the terminals and consoles down below, including a truck scheduled to ship out on the day the bombs fell. This is the same truck in question, and given the machinery discovered, this must’ve been a part of that same operation, right? Speaking of machinery, what exactly is the purpose of those running machines? Of that static producing ham radio? Of this deep hole into the unknown? In this next portion, b0sch finds the corpse of a Hieronymus B., a reference to the real-life figure Hieronymus Bosch, the person our protagonist is named after. A Dutch painter alive between 1450 and 1516, Bosch’s paintings focused primarily on fantastical subjects, on religious themes and scenes, and on interpretations of Apocalyptic settings and of Hell itself. Bosch painted and drew many scenes depicting his version of Hell, a version often steeped in darkness, in destroyed buildings, and in biological horrors. However, given that the Hieronymus B. NPC and drb0sch are wearing the same clothing, the corpse is a representation of the character themself. The note found on the body raises several questions: “Set it up. You will know where. Unknown friends will come to you.” Set what up exactly and where? Who are these Unknown friends? Are we talking about the players who have seen the radio tower glow in previous videos? Or are we talking about something else entirely? The empty level seen later in the video is a developer test level used for dynamic enemy spawning and can be accessed in New Vegas using coc_2EOCAsLoHotelLobby01. Why the player ended up here of all places is still up for question. And why did b0sch hear those terrifying sounds as they approached the door? And why did the screen glitch at the last moment? What are we about to see next? somewhere B0sch’s screen returns to normal, though he finds himself crippled. Taking the stairs up shows only a white void, and going through the doorway downstairs reveals an empty casino. A mural is on the wall, though the faces of the people are blacked out. Other than pointing him in the direction of his next objective, his minimap gives no information. On a table sits a single steak and a bag of acrylonitrile, both of which b0sch takes. B0sch consumes an item called “trimorphic protennoia” that increases his speech by three, consumes the steak to restore his crippled limbs, and consumes the acrylonitrile for plus one health. Upon opening a door and stepping through a wall of white, b0sch finds themselves in an abandoned building. In the distance, some kind of humanoid object can be seen, but the room between them is highly irradiated, forcing b0sch to backtrack. In another room, hobo code is spray painted on the wall. Another opened door leads into a pitch black hallway. Traveling through it puts b0sch inside a destroyed house. The second floor contains some strange buzzing machinery. An office space contains a terminal named “Library”, and on it, some entries that can be read. Some spit out random strings of text, but two in particular contain actual text. A quote from chapter thirty six of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, particularly the Pasteboard Mask speech, and the short story “Three Versions of Judas” by Jorge Luís Borges. At the end, a coded message is put up on screen, one that we’ll look at later. B0sch continues journeying through the looping structure. One room is blocked off by a cabinet and a massive statue head covered by chunks of meat, and another blocked by a wall of radios. With nothing left to explore, b0sch leaves the house and returns to the main area. And there, the video ends. Analysis There is so much to unpack here, so let’s start at the top. On the table in the empty casino sits a bag of the organic compound Acrylonitrile. This is a colorless and volatile liquid that, when exposed to, can cause higher rates of lung cancer. This compound appears in only one place in the entire Fallout franchise: in a single note found in the Vault 96 cryogenics wing following the “Steel Reign” DLC of Fallout 76. Curiously enough, Vault 96 was marketed as “An Ark for the Atomic Age,” returning us back to the religious allusions. Like 2001, the vault residents ultimately fought back against the Vault’s supercomputer, creating a virus called SERAPH, named after the highest ranking angelic beings, to destroy it. While they failed and ultimately died, the animals kept within the vault did go free. B0sch also contains an item called the “Trimorphic Protennoia” within their inventory. The Trimorphic Protennoia, or Three Forms of First Thought, is a Gnostic text from the New Testament apocrypha, a collection of early writings about Jesus and his teachings. While these texts were eventually excluded from New Testament canon for a variety of denominations during the creation and reformation of the Bible over the centuries, Gnostic faiths viewed them as canon. The Trimorphic Protennoia is a Sethian Gnostic text in particular that describes the actions of the figure Sophia, a feminine aspect of God as the Holy Spirit, who descends into the Underworld to defeat the demon Yaldabaoth and the archons. The writing also details the speaker invoking a Sethian baptismal rite by proclaiming the five ineffable seals wherein the reader lives within the light of Sophia and Sophia to live within the reader. And with b0sch reading this, seems to imply the admission of Sophia into themselves. Let’s move onto the symbols painted onto the wall of the house. One symbol simply means “Be quiet,” indicating that b0sch should remain silent. The other states “kind people live here,” noting that while he must remain quiet, a kind person does live here. It does raise the question of the consequence of making too much noise. On the terminal labeled “Library”, three different texts are quoted: Moby Dick, “Three Versions of Judas,” and the Sophia of the Christ. The passage from Moby Dick is the famous Pasteboard Mask speech given by Captain Ahab. In short, Ahab “describes the world and its visible objects as ‘pasteboard masks,’ suggesting that the physical world is a mere facade hiding deeper truths.” Ahab, and by extension the creators of this questline, challenge the reader and the player to look beyond the masks to look for what lies beneath. The second text is the short story “Three Versions of Judas” by Jorge Luís Borges. This short story is written in the form of a fictional scholarly article that provides a critical analysis of the works of Nils Runeberg, a fictitious writer. Nils published two books: Christ and Judas and The Secret Savior as well as a revised version of Christ and Judas. In this story, Runeberg posits that Judas, being the human form of God with all the flaws of a man, is a tragic hero that ultimately led Christ to redemption in order to save mankind at the cost of being eternally hated. Runeberg was subsequently hated and seen as an outcast among theologians and Christians alike, though the writer of the article sees Runeberg as another prophet of God hated for speaking the truth. The last text is one coded in ROT-13. After translating it back, it is revealed to be an excerpt from the Sophia of the Jesus Christ, a New Testament apocrypha like the Trimorphic Protennoia. Now, debate circles around the meaning of the name “Sophia” with some considering it to be a reference to the aforementioned figure, while others claim it to simply mean “Wisdom” and should be read as “The Wisdom of the Jesus Christ.” The text in question is purported to be composed of thirteen questions asked by disciples, and thirteen answers provide by Christ himself. The excerpt included is from the second question asked by the Disciple Matthew. Matthew asks, “Lord, no one can find the truth except through you. Therefore teach us the truth,” essentially asking Jesus how they can find the truth. In response, Jesus describes how indescribable God is, and looks to the “Father of the Universe” as the truth. Now, the big question I have remaining is: why these texts? What is the common denominator and connecting tissue binding the Trimorphic Protennoia, the Sophia of the Christ, the Three Versions of Judas, and Moby Dick? Religious imagery? Tragic Heroes? Or perhaps the simple search for the Truth. In the Trimorphic Protennoia, Sophia brings with her the Truth of salvation, in Sophia of the Christ, Jesus discusses the search for the Truth, the Three Versions of Judas attempt to reveal the truth about Judas Iscariot, and Moby Dick contains heavy themes of searching for the truth beneath the facade of the world. Hell, even 2001: A Space Odyssey seeks to find the Truth for humanity’s origins and the purpose of the Monoliths. Perhaps this is the tethering thread: The search for truths beyond what is seen. As an additional note, the Sophia of the Jesus Christ and the Trimorphic Protennoia are both from the Nag Hammadi library, a collection of early Christian and Gnostic texts discovered near the town of Nag Hammadi in Egypt in 1945. Given the terminal is named “Library,” I can only wonder if this is a reference to the Nag Hammadi library, or simply a name chosen to hold the texts. Trimorphic Protennoia - three people in the mural. New Testament Apocrypha Hobocode - one indicating to “be quiet,” while the other isn’t a true hobo-code symbol. The circle represents “nothing to be gained here” while the line represents “doubtful.” A commenter claims it means “kind people live here” House used interior used in Fallout 3 Pasteboard Mask speech from Mobey Dick Text from the Three Versions of Judas “He-Who-Is is ineffable. No principle knew him, no authority, no subjection, nor any creature from the foundation of the world, except he alone. For he is immortal and eternal, having no birth; for everyone who has birth will perish. He is unbegotten, having no beginning; for everyone who has a beginning has an end. No one rules over him. He has no name; for whoever has a name is the creation of another. He is unnameable. He has no human form; for whoever has human form is the creation of another. He has his own semblance - not like the semblance we have received and seen, but a strange semblance that surpasses all things and is better than the totalities. It looks to every side and sees itself from itself. He is infinite; he is incomprehensible. He is ever imperishable (and) has no likeness (to anything). He is unchanging good. He is faultless. He is everlasting. He is blessed. He is unknowable, while he (nonetheless) knows himself. He is immeasurable. He is untraceable. He is perfect, having no defect. He is imperishably blessed. He is called 'Father of the Universe'.” - The Epistle of Eugnostos, Eugnostos (III, 3), Sophia (III, 4). exploring Exploring continues b0sch’s ventures inside the empty casino floor. One door leads to several other doors and a staircase to a door that requires a key to open. For the first time since the series has started, b0sch attempts to use a console command… with rather explosive consequences. For the first time inside this space, b0sch’s minimap reveals a design of some sort. A kind of red star with him in the center. Heading into a door on his right, b0sch finds himself in a “null” zone with morse code playing on repeat. In the distance, darkened radio spires shoot up into the black sky above. Outside of the area illuminated by their pipboy, the space around drb0sch is dark until he reaches another door. Back inside the casino interior, b0sch makes his way back to the original location. Entering another door, he finds himself in an industrial setting. Inside a toolbox, he finds a singular key, one that is used for the locked door. The locked door brings him into a partially destroyed room with godrays filtering in through the ceiling. One door brings him into a military-esque interior with a roaming map of what appears to be neurons. Another to a single radroach. And another to a version of the Camp McCarran Alamo airport with three electrified beams in the center. The final door takes b0sch into a hotel bedroom, and through it, to an unused Gomorrah casino floor. One room is entirely upside down, a recurring trend seen throughout the series, and another contains a ham radio that plays a repeating numbers station tone with a distorted voice in the background. And as b0sch walks down the hallway… a door opens on its own. The room is empty save for another door that leads to a bathtub filled with black liquid. A prompt to open “null” is given, and b0sch is teleported somewhere else entirely. Inside a standard abandoned building interior, b0sch walks down a pitch black corridor. Many strangely designed restrooms litter this region with red dice scattered across the floor. B0sch finds a mysterious red liquid in a room and makes the choice to drink it before moving on in their exploration. One blocked off room is filled with corpses and lab equipment and… the sounds of footsteps rapidly approaching. Analysis Throughout the entire video series, there have been subtle hints of someone else or something else within drb0sch’s game. The sounds of metal shifting, sounds not assigned to simple background ambience, and now, rapidly approaching footsteps within this dark abandoned building. B0sch descends further down into the darkness, into this endless maze of interconnecting liminal spaces. In one of these spaces is an image of what appears to be neural connections in the brain. In the airport terminal, three metal structures jut out of the ground with electricity sparking between them akin to the electrical impulses between neurons in the brain. The previously seen radio room with morse codes spouts out what I can only decipher as gibberish. Random strings of letters with no apparent meaning. I wonder why the series keeps returning to the imagery of radio towers. Lastly, the red image on b0sch’s minimap looks like a kind of heptagram, a seven-sided star. This symbol has been used in a variety of settings: for warding off evil in Catholicism, for usage in the occult system Thelema, for representing seven planets in alchemy, and so on. What the true meaning of this symbol is still to be seen, but the inclusion here raises several questions. Intro Dr. B0sch boots up their copy of New Vegas. However, Interplay Studio’s logo appears on the screen along with Black Isle’s. This confirms without a doubt that this series takes place in an alternate reality, one where Interplay never sold off the rights to Fallout, and where Black Isle never went bankrupt. A game with strange possibilities and many unknowns. To add credence to this theory, the music heard in the opening intro is the same music used in the Fallout: Van Buren tech demo, the original version of Fallout 3 prior to Bethesda’s acquisition of the IP from Interplay. And curiously enough, the Lucky 38 casino is missing. pod Pod begins exactly where we left off. B0sch enters a dark area, no longer chased by the footsteps. Now in a darkened version of the abandoned casino floor level, he wanders around aimlessly once more. An oversized room filled with giant objects, an abandoned version of the Ultra-Lux with a large newspaper hidden just outside the boundaries, and a door to a military command center containing a pod with a skeleton inside. B0sch decides to activate the briefcase collected all the way back in “ground” and sets it next to the pod, completing 4/5 quest markers, and overall completing the MJOHNSONVER??? Quest. Peering out a window, b0sch sees another area with another pod. However, upon returning the way they came, b0sch finds the darkened casino interior changed with an elevator leading to “null.” Inside a lush cave filled with flora, b0sch once again navigates through a maze-like cavern. At eight minutes, b0sch finds another corpse, this one without a name but wearing the same clothing as their player character, not unlike their own corpse encountered in a previous cave. Then they encounter another, and another, and a whole pile of corpses dressed the exact same way. All with red skin as if they’d been flayed. B0sch finds a small cavernous hallway and begins down it. The area opens up into a dusty and windy space. Visibility is low. And still, they find corpses of themselves. At the end of the cave is a floating white door simply labeled “null” Analysis “Pod” contains some interesting alterations to the New Vegas lore as a continuation of “Intro.” For instance, the newspaper hidden behind a wall in the abandoned Ultra Lux level states the following: “House Under Investigation. Robco’s Future Uncertain.” Counter to current canon, House was never under investigation prior to the Great War, and at no point was Robco’s future uncertain. In this Interplay and Black Isle iteration of New Vegas, what specifically was the fate of House? What was he being investigated for exactly? And how does this relate to the missing Lucky 38 casino along the Strip? Additionally, another headline reads, rather cryptically, “Strange lights over…” with the exact location being too blurry to read. Despite this, I believe it to read “STRANGE LIGHTS OVER PAHRUMP.” While Pahrump is a real life location in Nevada, the location itself was cut from the game. The only remnant of the location existing in the game files is an unused piece of graffiti that reads “AVENGE PAHRUMP”, implying its destruction by Caesar’s Legion. In pop culture, Pahrump is a location in the film Mars Attacks! wherein the Martians land and kill most of the people there. Even the photograph used in the newspaper looks fairly similar to one found on the town’s Wikipedia page. Whether this has bearing on the unfolding ARG or is simply a reference to the Mothership Zeta DLC is to be seen. However, given the crashed Thunderjet mentioned all the way back in “Looting”, I can’t help but wonder if it holds some significance. Next, we have the usage of a Visitron, a virtual reality device seen in the Hidden Valley bunker in the Mojave, and at the Outcast outpost and Vault 112 in Washington, D.C. Inside is a skeletal corpse with chunks of flesh slowly decaying. For some reason, placing the suitcase here completes the ongoing MJOHNSON quest line that began all the way back in the first “Mojaveraw” video. Why this completes the quest and the overall purpose of both the pod and the suitcase are unclear. But, without a quest guiding them, b0sch truly is wandering aimlessly at this point, though it should be noted that b0sch has completed 4 out of 5 tasks in an unmarked quest. The lush cave environment they enter is filled with countless corpses of b0sch, all dressed in the same attire, all nameless, and all with reddish flayed skin. Is this meant to represent a kind of looping purgatory that b0sch has found themself within, doomed to die and repeat the same process over and over again? Does it represent the futility of their actions as they venture further into this liminal limbo? Or does it represent man’s cycle of self-destruction seen time and time again? The description seems to imply that something happened to their hard drive. Videos have become corrupted, and judging from the glitches we’ve been seeing, means only a few videos remain in the series. salvaged Upon entering the white door, b0sch stands in a black space of floating tile squares. Multiple white doors sit on tiles, and a skeleton stands next to a table and chairs. The skeleton isn’t just an asset, but an actual NPC. They contain nothing in their inventory, cannot be spoken to, and all they do is watch the player. Eventually, b0sch begins moving towards another white door and enters it. On the other side, b0sch finds himself in a destroyed environment. The sounds of distant gunfire and explosions fill the silence of this zone. Radio towers illuminate the dusty sky. As b0sch walks, eerie music picks up and explosions rock the screen, until they enter into a cave system. The cave system transitions into a collapsed subway tunnel. Inside, for the first time in the series, b0sch finds a usable firearm. Painted on the wall is a white handprint, a symbol used by the Dead Horses in Zion Canyon to mark an area as taboo. Despite this, they exit into the Mojave Wastelands. Destroyed buildings dot the skyline of the orange-hued sky. B0sch stands in the remains of an old encampment. In it lies the headless corpse of a NPC named “Last Men” with a single .44 revolver sitting next to them. Eerie howling fills the yellow skies… and the video ends. Analysis “Salvaged” appears to show the darkest future of Fallout, one ravaged by war and depravity until the “Last Men” die. This “Last Men” is likely a reference to the Nietzsche concept that describes the “last men” as the antithesis to his theorized “superior being,” the Ubermensch, or Superman. The “Last Men” are nihilists that seek only comfort and security, creating a society of complacency. Nothing but yellow skies and destroyed buildings and craters dot the landscape. A bleak end of the world where nothing but the howling of the dead fill the otherwise silent earth. Given the multiple endings of New Vegas, and given the disastrous outcomes from the Lonesome Road DLC (both with the Tunnelers future and the launching of nuclear missiles), it seems as though the world ultimately collapses, and the Courier, expressed here through b0sch, is wading through the purgatory-esque aftermath of their actions. As a side note, the environments here appear much more completed and fleshed out. Visual effects, a more complete setting, proper ambience, and even lootable items give the locations a more finished and polished feel as if these were truly meant to be explored at one point. nowhere The final video posted as of the making of this video. “Nowhere” picks up where we left off. The video begins with a strange sound with a yellow sky. B0sch finds themselves back in a canyon crater. Above him, silhouettes stare down as b0sch wanders through the destruction. Strange and otherworldly howling punctates the silent environment. Unlike the other videos, distortions and visual corruptions force cuts in the video. B0sch bounces between outdoor settings and interior ones as they navigate a destroyed city. Radio signals return with audio pulled from what sounds like old US military propaganda videos encouraging recruitment, from politicians discussing their choices in armed conflicts, and other actions regarding warfare. Suddenly we cut, and b0sch hides underneath a red sky while in caution, hiding from something out of sight. Visuals return with a large structure in the distance imposed upon a red sky. A radio tower. B0sch is alone in a destroyed building. Howling wind provides backing as they explore the ruined remains of a once thriving city. A key is located, and a better look at the newspaper seen in “Pod” is provided. Sure enough, the headline reads “House under Investigation, Robco’s Future Uncertain.” Additional headlines read “Strange Lights OVer Pahrump,” confirming our earlier theory, as well as “Hidden Business Unveiled by Strip Probe” and “China Annexes ??? Region” The video cuts, and b0sch finds himself back in fiery ruins, and in danger. Analysis “nowhere” stands out compared to all of the previous videos. Gone are the uncut videos of b0sch wandering from one liminal space to another punctuated by brief moments of eeriness. Now, we’re left traversing through a destroyed hellscape with so many unanswered questions. Let’s start with the audio from the video. Two spectrograms are included in this video: one is of a funny little guy, and the other is of Howard Hughes disembarking from an airplane circa 1947. Given that Howard Hughes was used as a basis for Robert House, I’m wondering if this is supposed to represent House, or if it truly is meant to be Hughes. Other photographs in the series so far have used Hughes as a stand-in for House, so we’ll assume this is meant to be House. Additionally, Hughes was known for being an eccentric genius and spent much of his later life involved with aerospace programs, including airplanes. It is important to note Hughes suffered a bad series of plane crashes in his life, including one particularly bad one in 1946 that landed in suburban Los Angeles. While not entirely connected, it is important to note the initial imagery and references to plane crashes earlier in the series do line up with this later usage of Howard Hughes. In the beginning, we also see silhouettes staring down at b0sch from above the canyon. Unmoving and ever watching, these silent observers are the only other form of life we’ve physically seen thus far in the series. The consistent imagery of radio and signal towers litter this wasteland: beams stretching over a canyon and appearing almost perpendicular to the ground, towers pointing straight upwards to the sky, metal structures standing independently and next to destroyed buildings. With those radio towers come the radio signals heard in this video. After being conspicuously absent in large part for several entries, the sounds we hear this time around seem to come from old war propaganda films, from political speeches discussing wartime politics and decisions, and from news broadcasts, with all giving their justifications for their actions: to maintain peace and to ensure security, never with the intention of causing the eventual widespread destruction. And here we are, standing in the ruined world as a product of this military conflict. Two paintings are also focused on in this video. At 7:36, a cropped image of “Gardens of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymous Bosch appears on the wall, specifically focusing on the upper portion of the “Hell” part of the painting. This area details the destruction of man and the collapse of society with destroyed buildings, fires, and silhouetted people standing in stark contrast to the brighter and colorful portions of the triptych. Later, the second painting to appear is “The Son of Man” by Rene Margritte. The famous painting, which features a man’s face covered by an apple, details the hidden parts of people and of life itself. Magritte himself said, “Everything we see hides another thing, [and] we always want to see what is hidden by what we see,” effectively detailing this search for hidden truths in our everyday lives. Right after, we get a better look at the newspaper seen in the “pod” video hidden just out of sight. Here, we get confirmation of theorized headlines. “House under investigation, Robco’s future uncertain” with an image of who appears to be Howard Hughes at a press conference, solidifying that any imagery of Howard Hughes is meant to signify Robert House. Other headlines include “Hidden Business Unveiled by Strip Probe,” “China Annexes Kashmir Region”, “Strange Lights Over Pahrump,” and “Sandy Valley Next?” The Hidden Business might be referring to House’s original plan for maintaining control of Vegas after the war, the creation of the securitrons as a military force using the Platinum Chip, and possibly of his dealings with other business elites in orchestrating the Great Wwar. Given the presence of the Platinum Chip, the terminal entries discussing the Platinum Chip crashing the system, the paperwork on the delivery from Sunnyvale to Las Vegas in 2077, the discussion on ensuring the truck the chips were loaded onto was the correct one and the ensuing crashed truck, I can only assume this is the “Hidden Business” that has House and RobCo under investigation. And given House and the Lucky 38’s integral role in preventing 77 atomic warheads from hitting Las Vegas, then we’re likely dealing with a timeline where House never prevented the destruction of Vegas, and we’re standing in the wreckage of what could have been. The second headline, “China Annexes Kashmir Region”, details the ever growing power of China in this iteration of Fallout. When China struggled to take Alaska from United States forces, the economic and military giant began looking elsewhere. Starting with Kashmir, the newspaper seems to indicate that China is beginning to annex and invade its neighbors in a bid for resources in this timeline. Given the sounds of gunfire preceding the nuclear explosion in “salvaged”, it almost seems like China breached mainland continental United States and began pushing inwards. This, along with the chinese pistol and assault rifle that b0sch carries around, it seems like a far more destructive timeline. The other two headlines are a bit more confusing. “Strange Lights Over Pahrump” might be a simple reference to Mars Attacks!, but given the intentional photograph of a bright night sky on the terminal way back in “ground,” it seems as though there is something more to this claim. The next headline “Sandy Valley Next?” seems to indicate that whatever strange lights were seen over Pahrump might be making their way over to Sandy Valley next. It is also important to note that both Pahrump and Sandy Valley are cut locations from the base game and would, in theory, reside outside of the playable area if they were readded. Dissecting the Lore Let’s start from the lore perspective for this alternate iteration of New Vegas. Outside the Mojave Outpost takes place in an alternate reality, one where Interplay Studios never sold the Fallout IP to Bethesda, and Black Isle studios created their own version of Fallout: New Vegas, likely as the successor to their original project, Van Buren. Several key differences are already apparent: the intro music for New Vegas uses a soundtrack from the Van Buren public demo, the intro image does not feature the Lucky 38 in the background nor aspects of New Vegas, and the lore surrounding the Strip and Robert House himself seems different. At some point prior to the start of the Great War, House came under investigation for a supposed “Hidden Business” during a probe of the Las Vegas Strip, likely his safety measures for the approaching Great War. Through one reason or another, the Lucky 38 is decommissioned, meaning no defense mechanism is put into place for protecting Las Vegas from nuclear bombardment. Despite these differences, the Chip was still loaded up at Sunnyvale but failed to make it to Las Vegas due to the start of the Great War. Prior to the war however, China continued their annexations of Alaska and Canada, likely pushing further in North America than their canon counterparts. Given the presence of Chinese weapons in the destroyed Mojave in “nowhere,” it can be assumed the fighting pushed much farther inwards given the explosions and nuclear blast. This, along with House’s absence, ostensibly proves that the house doesn’t always win, and with New Vegas absent from the cover art, might imply the city doesn’t survive. This version of New Vegas is also constructed quite differently. For starters, after b0sch begins his YouTube series documenting his escapades Outside of the Mojave Outpost, strange objects appear that our version of the game does not contain. A unique radio station in the form of UVB-68, buried radio towers and destroyed radio facilities, references to plane reconnaissance and crashed fighter jets, a chip counterfeiting operation and the start of the Great War, the presence of a massive pit in the Mojave, and a tunnel network that extends far deeper than b0sch could ever realize. And with that, their game isn’t the only one to encounter these oddities. Another player notices a red glow beyond the boundaries of the map, watching the blinking radio towers just beyond the hill give off a red glow. The game appears almost procedurally generated, with someone or something stalking them during their descent. As b0sch descends lower, the game’s atmosphere and tone shifts drastically, submerging them in a bleak version of the Mojave Wasteland. B0sch encounters dead copies of themselves, liminal realms, corpses in VR pods, footsteps chasing them down hallways, and finally, a destroyed version of the Mojave, one filled with dangers lurking around every corner, and answers few and far between. This is a series of events that has already occurred in this reality, having taken place back during New Vegas’ original launch cycle. Posted to forums a decade ago, b0sch is now recovering the lost files and posting them to YouTube for us all to see. What happened for b0sch to wait so long to post these videos? And why are they so corrupted by this point in time? Simply a failure of the hard drive, or due to the enigmatic nature of this alternate version of New Vegas? Decoding the Themes Let’s take a moment and analyze the recurring motifs, themes, plot points, and references throughout the series. We have five main concepts we’re going to discuss: (1) The Radio Motif, (2) The Focus on Robert House & Aerospace, (3) The Theme of Seeking a Deeper Truth, (4) The Destruction of Man & the Military Industrial Complex, and (5) Hieronymous Bosch’s Religious Themes & Descent into Hell. Radio Motif For starters, the series leans heavily into the Numbers Station/Radio Broadcast motif. Whether this has actual bearing on the story or is simply a stylization choice has yet to be seen. The presence of the buried radio towers, UVB-68 and the UVB-76 call sign, the developed photograph, the usage of different kinds of radios, the various signals sent through, the sound of UVB-76 in the minecart in “under”, the dimensions and locations that heavily use these towers, and the destroyed wasteland littered with towers and beams; all of these lend to this idea that somehow these signals and these towers are significant. But how? As of “nowhere”, these visual motifs have done little to propel the story forward, and seem to be more of an ambiance and stylistic choice more than anything else. And yet, b0sch continues to focus on them anyway. Searching for Deeper Truths Next is this consistent return to the theme of Searching for Deeper Truths. The messages hidden in the broadcasts, the radio towers buried in the sands, the morse code from 2001: A Space Odyssey, the scattered bits of lore strung throughout the series, and to the biblical and literature texts used, this version of New Vegas pushes for looking beneath the surface both literally and figuratively. The Pasteboard Mask speech from Moby Dick encourages the reader to look beyond the facade of the physical world in order to find deeper truths. The “Three Versions of Judas” encourage the reader to look beyond preconceived notions and to alter their previous perspectives on what they know in order to see the truth beyond what is held to be true. And finally, the Sophia of the Christ encoded in ROT13 details the search for the Truth, or rather, what the Truth is not. This extends to some of the paintings featured in the series as well, namely “The Son of Man” as it appears in “nowhere.” This painting by Rene Magritte is quoted as representing “everything we see hid[ing] another thing, [and] we always want to see what is hidden by what we see,” continuing this idea of searching for deeper truths and looking beyond the facade of the surface. House & Aerospace Next is this focus on Robert House, oftentimes represented by real life inventor Howard Hughes, and aerospace in general. This focus on aviation begins in “signal” where sporadic radio chatter can be heard over UVB-68, some of which is clearly air traffic related audio. Inside the shack in “looting”, we have the blackbox of a Thunderjet, including the audio recordings pulled from the 1989 Gulf of Sidra incident, images onboard the jet, and developed photographs of the radio building. From there, we have the “remains” at the destroyed building, the final audio messages from the Apollo 1 disaster, the crashed fighter jet in “ground”, the references to space travel and 2001: A Space Odyssey, and photographs of Howard Hughes/Robert House standing in front of airplanes. All of these references have to do with either military conflicts, aerospace disasters, or are references to media critical of the government and of conflict. And a critique of the Government and the Military Industrial Complex is the next major recurring theme. Military and the Destruction of Man Since the beginning, the series has hinted towards the Military-Industrial Complex, the brutal effects of war, and man’s own destruction through armed conflict. In Signal, the audio hidden in the broadcast contains old Military Propaganda videos relating to South America, military radio chatter in both English and Chinese, the UVB-76 buzzer, musical cues, and strangely enough, the “Upsweep” deep sea audio. “Looting” has clear references to the 1989 Gulf of Sidra incident that caused international controversy, references to the Thunderjet model of fighter jets, elements of military reconnaissance, and clear signs of PTSD in this pilot’s house. The second Mojaveraw video contains a terminal entry detailing the maintenance of laser rifles and pistols. “Ground” showcases the nuclear missiles striking Las Vegas without the Lucky 38’s protection, has a crashed fighter jet, and contains audio from the failed Apollo 1 mission. The “Down” video contains references to 2001: A Space Odyssey. The novel, unlike the film counterpart, leans heavily into the perils of nuclear war and technology. In 2001, the Cold War is still in full effect, and the novel ends with the rebirthed Star Child detonating a nuclear bomb aboard a spacecraft above the Earth, both to destroy it and to deter nuclear weapons from entering space. This happens directly after the character Bowman enters a Monolith, preceding by the line “The thing's hollow – it goes on forever – and – oh my God! – it's full of stars!” part of which is heard through morse code in the dark pit. “Exploring” showcases a stockpile of nuclear warheads underground. “Pod” shows man stepping into Virtual Reality to escape the annihilation they created above ground, and shows a cave full of Marked Men as repeats of b0sch’s character. I believe these are less repeats of b0sch themself, but a representation of how disposable soldiers are. The NCR created the Divide through the Courier’s Navarro package, setting off nuclear bombs housed underground. In the process, they sacrificed their own men and the men of the Legion, turning them into undying Ghouls with flayed skin, forced to travel in permanent pain. They are both the representation of the casualties governments and wars cause, and of the cyclical nature of man’s own self-destruction, living and dying over and over again, each government and civilization a copy of another with the same ultimate fate. “Salvaged” showcases such a future. Gunfire in the distance, a destroyed Las Vegas, all punctuated by one final Nuclear Blast that forces the Mojave into silence. Then, nothing but the nihilistic “Last Men” remain who hide in VR and end their own lives in the ruins of their civilization. “Nowhere” continues this concept. Silhouettes of Marked Men, wandering ghosts who follow b0sch, serve as a reminder of the brutality of the Military and of armed conflict. The destroyed Vegas, the radio broadcasts detailing propaganda and political speeches about global peace and security and justifying armed conflicts, and the red skies punctuated one of the primary purposes of this series: to critique military conflict and the usage of nuclear armaments. All along the way, references to military conflicts, to nuclear weapons, to total annihilation, and now, we, along with b0sch, stand in the ruins of a world decimated by nuclear warfare. Hieronymus Bosch’s Descent into the Underworld From the start, references to Bosch have been present in the series. Our protagonist, drb0sch, takes their namesake from the Dutch painter. The painter himself is known for his artwork depicting Hell with fantastical elements, the destruction of society and man, and suffering of man after the collapse. Like a Bosch painting, drb0sch themselves begin descending into the layers of the Underworld. Dimly lit caves to dilapidated buildings to liminal environments. Corpses, body parts, giant heads, and skeletal remains. Drb0sch even encounters the Trimorphic Protennoia, a text detailing Sophia’s descent into the underworld to defeat a demon, not too dissimilar from drb0sch’s own descent into this Infernal landscape. Eventually, by “salvage” and “nowhere”, we are now fully in a hellish landscape pulled straight out of Hieronymus Bosch’s paintings of Hell. Fires, darkened landscapes, destroyed buildings, silhouette figures, and demons prowling the endless plane of suffering. Even the “Hell” portion of “The Garden of Earthly Delights” can be seen in “nowhere”, showcasing the likely inspiration hellish environment drb0sch finds themselves within. In retrospect, Outside the Mojave Outpost is- hold on… A new upload? Alright, let’s do this one more time. Nadir Right as I’m finishing editing this video, drb0sch uploads “Nadir”, so we’ll slide it in here so I don’t have to re-edit twenty minutes of this video. Nadir is a story told out of order and in quick flashes. To start, a consistent thread in Nadir is a long pathway lit up by lanterns. This scene is returned to several times throughout the video, beginning and ending with the passageway. Another repeating scene is of b0sch wandering through an apparent minefield filled with sea mines. Their star-like nature is both unique and bizarre. This segment ends with b0sch entering into a destroyed church with a massive ghoul corpse laying inside. B0sch also encounters a canyon of cameras, seeming to signify that big brother is watching him. B0sch is seen roaming the destroyed ruins of Vegas. Here, we see a partially buried sign for Freeside, and a sign for the Saturnite material produced at Big MT. Later, b0sch enters a building graffitied with Hobo Code and “Courier Six.” Inside is a picture of Robert House standing before a robot. Hobo Code is graffitied into it along with the word PEACE. Later, he encounters some kind of slimy sounding creature inside a convenience store. B0sch then finds himself ascending a staircase and encountering a large guitar and a massive mutilated corpse. Along with this corpse is a vial of Limit 115, a name for the New Plague that was uniquely used in Van Buren. Inside the box with Limit 115 is a miniature ICBM, seeming to imply a greater connection between the proposed bad end of Van Buren wherein ICBM missiles targeting those infected with the New Plague eradicate all life on Earth. There is also a box with a small man inside standing next to a radio tower and a shack, almost akin to b0sch standing next to the old shack back in Signal. Then b0sch finds himself in a glowing version of the Sierra Madre. At one point, b0sch finds himself inside a silo of some kind. In it, he encounters a corpse labeled “username:fetch_0”, either implying the quest has failed to fetch b0sch’s username, that his game is attempting to fetch the username of another player, or that the player’s username is actually fetch_0. As b0sch descends down the walkway, massive statue faces begin to watch him, massive skeletal structures surround the walls, and eventually, the walkway ends in a gory tunnel leading into red mist and arcs of electricity. Most curious of all is one shot towards the very end of the video. B0sch seemingly back inside the Mojave Wasteland… and the Goodsprings water tower standing against the darkened sky. Analysis First and foremost: Nadir is a story told out of order. We see flashes from all across b0sch’s journey in the underworld, making parsing out a distinct timeline a bit difficult. Let’s start with what we do know before diving into theories. Firstly, the name of the entry “Nadir” has two distinct meanings here: One means “the lowest point in the fortunes of a person or organization.” In this case, it means b0sch has sunk to their lowest point in the series so far, descending down to the deepest point of Hell itself. The other interpretation lies in astronomy, meaning “the point on the celestial sphere directly below an observer” - in this case, Hell. While roaming the wastes, b0sch encounters several oddities and additions to this iteration of New Vegas’ lore. For starters, we have the Freeside sign partially buried underneath the Earth. Was this done in order to cement that this is, in fact, New Vegas, or as an indication that this fall happened after the Great War, likely as a consequence between warring factions such as the NCR and the Legion? Next to this sign is one for Saturnite, a material produced by Big MT for a variety of purposes, including usage in artillery shells, in cosmic knives, the D-25A power fist, and in other applications. The production of Saturnite is also likely seen in the “Exploring” industrial area. This, along with the graffitied sign of Robert House stating “PEACE” seems to strengthen the theme of the destruction of man and the military industrial complex discussed earlier. This is further supported by the “Canyon of Cameras” b0sch walked through, implying the presence of Big Brother constantly surveilling him, once again returning to the idea of security over personal freedoms. While on the topic of House, hobo code pops up on the building the photograph is framed in. Outside, the two codes read: “Dangerous Neighborhood” and “There is nothing to be gained here.” On the photo of House are three codes: “Dishonest Man” covers his face, “Worth Robbing” is near his legs, and “This is not a safe place” on the robots’ legs. Additionally, the “Kilroy was Here” artwork seems to imply the graffiti took place during a war time conflict due to its WWII origins. The product of disgruntled citizens or disgruntled soldiers? While b0sch is inside an abandoned convenience store, strange gory sounds play as he goes into caution. This seems to indicate that whatever creature has been chasing him is more akin to a biological terror ripped straight out of a Bosch painting, or even something out of John Carpenter’s The Thing. What exactly has been chasing him is still to be revealed. We also have the strange sounds playing during the sea mine section, and the giant dead Ghoul in the church feels like a reference to a painting or piece of media, but what exactly it is, I do not know. Next, we have two spectrograms in the video that, when combined together, create one larger image. However, I cannot figure out what is being shown distinctly. A silhouetted hand reaching down is apparent but to grab what is unknown. There also appears to be a piece of curved metal, almost seeming to be a piece of Power Armor. I believed them first to be posters or images from in the game itself, but after searching, I cannot find anything close. What exactly is shown is something I cannot decode at the moment. Throughout Nadir, there are several references to The Gardens of Earthly Delights, cementing that this is, in fact, Hell itself. At 3:24, “The Hand of God” appears as well as the cheat die that symbolizes the falsity of a sinner, at 5:00 an oversized guitar with a corpse, and at 5:32 the iconic knife slicing through an ear. All of these reinforce the idea that drb0sch has fallen into Hell itself, dealing with repercussions of man’s collective sin. Next, we have multiple references to the canceled Van Buren title, almost seeming to indicate that what we’re seeing might be the after effects of Van Buren’s bad end. First, b0sch picks up an APOLLO Laser Pistol, a weapon that was planned to be included in Van Buren. Its namesake comes from the Greek God of the same name, often associated with concepts like “Truth” and even “Plague.” On the topic, Limit 115, another name for the New Plague, also appears in vial form. Mad Scientist Presper aimed to spread the virus to populated areas, then would use the orbital bombardment station B.O.M.B.-001 to “cleanse the filth” of the world and Begin Again. This vial of 115, along with the miniature ICBM, is either a simple reference, a hint towards the true nature of this damned dominion, or a hint towards Presper’s failure. The clues early on seemed to suggest that New Vegas was destroyed or heavily damaged due to House being investigated and the Lucky 38 being shut down, leaving Vegas without a proper means of defense against nuclear bombardment. However, these other references, including the presence of Freeside, almost indicate this to be untrue or contradictory. Along with these items, the Gas Mask made an appearance. Another item cut from Fallout 2 and Van Buren, this version of the Gas Mask is the same one the Ghosts wear in the Sierra Madre. While on the topic, b0sch finds himself in a strange glowing version of the Sierra Madre area, acting as an almost transcendent location in stark contrast to the hellish wastelands he’d been previously traversing. Inbetween, we also see the Lantern Pathway he walks through. Is this a representation of the River Styx? The bridge out of the Underworld? On the flipside, we witness his venture down the silo walkway. The corpse where he finds the APOLLO laser rifle is named “username:fetch_0”, once again implying the quest has failed to fetch b0sch’s username, that his game is attempting to fetch the username of another player, or that the player’s username is actually fetch_0. Given what was seen back in “Weird Glow,” we already know that b0sch is not the only player to have encountered the oddities outside the Mojave Outpost, and we’re seeing signs he’s not the first one to have descended into this realm. As an entirely separate note, we see the Moon up in the sky, though it looks far larger and stranger than our own. Three red lights dot the Moon, but beyond that, who knows. And last, and certainly most important of all, we see b0sch back inside the Mojave Wastelands proper, standing not too far from the Goodsprings water tower. The question is: what order of events witnessed led to b0sch’s ascension from perdition? And what monstrosities are we likely to witness next? Outro There are still many unanswered questions in regards to this series: What other differences exist in this alternate version of New Vegas? Why this consistent reference to UVB-76 and radio stations? Purely a stylistic choice? What are the strange lights over Pahrump and why is Sandy Valley next? Why the slow descent into a destroyed Mojave, one that represents b0sch’s own personal Hell? Why did Black Isle include this horrific addition in their game? And most importantly of all, why has b0sch sat on these videos for over a decade? In retrospect, Outside the Mojave Outpost is a meditation on what could have been as well as serving to critique escalating military conflicts and the ever present threat of nuclear annihilation. The nonsensical and fantastical elements of the series serve to represent Hieronymus Bosch’s own surrealist interpretations of Hell, with the series using these depictions in its own destroyed Mojave Wasteland. In this iteration, the protagonist slowly descends into a maze of cave-like, liminal spaces until they ultimately reach the bottom of the Underworld. However, I wonder if the series has other plans in store for us. I suppose only future updates will hold the cards. But somehow, I get the sneaking suspicion that the game was rigged from the start.