Fallout 2 Designer Says His Talking Deathclaws Were Killed Off Without His Knowledge

In Fallout 2, the Vault Dweller’s previous home of Vault 13 has become a settlement for intelligent Deathclaws, led by a deeply philosophical Deathclaw named Gruthar.

The Deathclaws have rejected their violent Enclave programming, and wish to live in peace with humanity. Unfortunately, after the player interacts with the pack, an Enclave squadron led by antagonist Frank Horrigan arrives to wipe them out.

The talking Deathclaws were designed by Fallout 2 designer John Deiley, who laments that they were killed off without his knowledge.

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In an interview with TheGamer, Deiley reveals how he found out that his beloved talking Deathclaws were scheduled for execution.

“One day I was walking down the hallway and I saw Feargus [Urquhart] in one of the programmer’s offices,” Deiley begins. “I saw the screen over the programmer’s shoulder and it was [Vault 13]. I went in there and I said ‘What’s going on?’, they said “Oh well, we’ve decided to eliminate this area from the game. But we don’t want to just not include it. So, the Enclave is going to kill them all off. And that was that. They didn’t come to me and let me know. They didn’t ask me about it. They just went behind my back and did it.”

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Fallout has become a parody of itself.

Chris Avellone, a fellow designer on Fallout 2, recently dug into the topic of talking Deathclaws, expressing his dislike of the idea. Avellone argues that Deathclaws are intended to be a super scary monster type that players can pat themselves on the back after defeating, giving them intelligence undermines their place in the Fallout universe.

If you think deathclaws are dangerous today, you should have seen them in the ’90s.

Deiley disagrees, saying “I mean, you’ve got Super Mutants and Ghouls, why not have something that can stand up to the Super Mutants?”

Even though the talking Deathclaws were eventually massacred, Deiley says Urquhart was initially very pleased with the idea, as it was a unique twist on Vault 13.