The Nightkin are the worst ‘Fallout’ monsters you’ll never see coming

Amazon Prime’s Fallout has blown away both fans and newcomers. Boasting gorgeous practical sets and detailed lore, the video game adaptation delivered just about everything franchise regulars could have asked for – except for some of those creepy monsters that have come to define the series.

With the final episode tying into the Fallout: New Vegas storylines, fans are beginning to wonder which baddies might be in store when season 2 finally comes to streaming in the distant future. While the Deathclaw is top of most gamer’s lists of “oh crap” moments, the Super Mutants are a close second.

I see your Super Mutants and raise you Nightkin, one of the most terrifying iterations of the big green meanies to date.

What is a Super Mutant?

Let’s be honest, Super Mutants are a terrifying sight to behold. It doesn’t matter if you’re a seasoned veteran or new to the series, the massive androgynous creatures send a shiver down the spine in most encounters. Sure, it’s likely the imminent threat of nuclear annihilation heralded by ominous beeping that sends gamers sprinting for cover through the Wastelands like the late Knight Titus, but the point remains; Super Mutants are a menace. They might have been human once but after exposure to the Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV), they are so much more than that.

Created by Vault Tec as one potential solution to a massively irradiated world, the first Vault Dwellers subjected to the virus were supposed to evolve into radiation-tolerant people. Vault Tec was right about the radiation part, but the results of their experiments were far from the next step of human evolution. Those affected by the virus lost their mental acuity and gender-specific traits and morphed into monstrosities ranging from 8 to 20 feet tall.  

Starting at around 800 lbs, Super Mutants love the taste of human flesh, long walks through the Wasteland, taming disgusting minions, and blowing themselves up for their mutant buddies. While most super mutants lack class, brains, and any form of strategy, their much more intelligent brothers, the Nightkin, leave the Wastelands of the Sierra Madre cowering in fear.

What are the Nightkin, the Super Mutants of your nightmares?

Anyone who has played only Fallout 4 might not realize that more than one Super Mutant has the capacity for intelligent thought. While most come across as very angry 3-year-olds, the Nightkin retained every ounce of their human intelligence after their transformation and utilize it to be the most lethal assassins in the Wasteland.

Handpicked by The Master –a truly disgusting amalgamation of human beings, various mutated creatures, and a computer network – until its death, the Nightkin are the best of the best. The elite selection is equipped with the finest weapons and armor and is the only Super Mutants classes with a specific uniform.

The Nightkin are unparalleled in strategy and military might and are particularly violent. If the future of humanity lay within the framework of the FEV, it would surely be the Nightkin. Formidable with only their brute strength, the truly terrifying aspect of the Nightkin comes into play with their plentiful stealth technology. Utilizing Stealth Boys, the Nightkin could turn completely invisible, and despite their massive size, they were nearly undetectable. Their frequent use caused their skin to turn to a pallid purplish blue, making them distinct from their green brethren.

After the fall of The Master, the remaining Nightkin migrated to New California and the Super Mutant colony of Black Mountain. The former elite became addicted to their Stealth Boy technology and their repeated use rotted their minds, driving them to insanity. The symptoms mirrored schizophrenia and turned their skin a sickly shade of blue. The Nightkin became obsessed with finding more Stealth Boys to feed their addiction.

Nothing is more dangerous than a junkie, let alone an 800 lbs one. The Nightkin will murder anyone who dares try to keep them from their precious Stealth Boys – even their fellow Super Mutants.

Even the Nightkin who attempts sobriety is a force to be reckoned with. Those that don’t feed their psychosis develop psychic powers. One group of solitary Nightkin could even predict the future and read minds to a certain extent.

While much of the internet is hotly debating which ending of Fallout: New Vegas the Prime Video series might utilize, most of us are dying to know what the mysterious cure Thaddeus was given by the” chicken-loving” salesman. Should the showrunners touch on the magnificently horrible Super Mutants in season 2, we hope we get a glimpse of the terrifying Nightkin.

But knowing their powerset – we wouldn’t even see it coming.