The whole main story of Fallout 3 is described in our walkthrough. There is a separate paragraph for the last quest including short descriptions of endings. But here we want to provide a more detailed guide to all available finals. Note that they depend not only on your actions during the story but also on installed add-ons. Particularly, Broken Steel DLC allows continuing playing, so endings will be different from the main game.
Anyway, the final screen has a strict structure. It includes 26 or 29 video fragments voiced by Ron Perlman. Extra fragments are provided by Broken Steel DLC. The final consists of 5 parts:
- Part 1. The 1st fragment will be always shown.
- Part 2. Fragments 8, 17 and 18 illustrate different karma levels and one of them will be always shown. Fragments from 2 to 7 relate to specific side missions and only one of them will be shown.
- Part 3. Fragments from 9 to 11 feature your decision at the end of the game. Fragments from 27 to 29 also feature this action but they are available only with Broken Steel DLC installed.
- Part 4. Fragments from 12 to 14 relate to FEV and your decision on it. One of these fragments also will appear if the reactor wasn’t destroyed.
- Part 5. Fragments 15 and 16 as well as 19 to 26 feature similar scenes that differ only in race and gender of the protagonist.
Firstly, let’s reveal original finals and their features.
Endings of the main game
With only Fallout 3 installed you have only 3 options for final decision:
- Enter the reactor room on your own.
It’s the canonical way that instantly increases your karma by 1000. The protagonist sacrifices himself to activate the water purifier and save the Capital Wasteland. Here you have to enter the correct code which is 216.
- Send Sarah Lyons to the reactor room.
Alternatively, daughter of Owyn Lyons can activate the reactor. Your karma will not be affected despite the fact that Sarah dies. The protagonist will survive which affects the final screen and leads to another end.
- Do nothing.
You can ignore the purifier and let it explode without repairing or putting FEV inside it. Most probably, this will lead to deaths of all main heroes located in or near the building. This action will not affect your karma, although.
There is also another action you can perform in the reactor room. We talk about polluting the purifier with FEV received from President Eden. This virus will affect water in the Capital Wasteland, so only healthy people from vaults and Enclave can drink it. Modified water will kill almost everybody outside vaults, so it’s obvious that your karma will lower by 1000.
Endings with Broken Steel installed
With this add-on installed you can continue playing after the final decision. All endings described above adapt to the DLC story. Additionally, it brings another solution which features one of your companions who are immune to radiation. If you entered the reactor room on your own, you will wake up several weeks later at the Brotherhood base. Owyn Lyons will greet you and state that Sarah is still in a coma. However, if you decided to send the woman to the reactor room, she will be dead at the start of Broken Steel story.
It’s more interesting that you can ask your companions for activating the purifier. Only 3 followers accept this request as other NPCs are vulnerable to radiation:
- The ghoul will agree to enter the key room with reluctance.
- The super mutant will accept your plea without a doubt.
- Sergeant RL-3. The robot will obediently agree due to its AI principles.
The final screen will feature your companion who activated the reactor anyway. Don’t forget that even radiation-resistant followers will not agree to activate the purifier without Broken Steel DLC installed.
Also, FEV has its own consequences in the add-on. If you activated the virus, all Aqua Pura produced by the purifier will be dangerous for regular humans and other life forms. 4 and more bottles consumed for a short time will kill the protagonist.
Overall, the game ends after the final decision in the reactor room in these cases:
- You reach any final and the Broken Steel DLC isn’t installed.
- You destroyed the purifier by doing nothing.
- You entered the room together with any companion due to a bug.
Remember that two last options will lead to the final screen even if you have the add-on installed. So, be careful when choosing your ending!