The opening of the vault door is the most iconic image in Fallout – a Biblical rolling back of the stone that signifies rebirth into the changed world outside. Typically, though, the door stays on its hinges. It isn't usually blasted across 100 miles of West Virginian sky at high velocity, like the cap from a shaken-up bottle of Nuka-Cola.
When the flying door finally comes in to land, it's far from home. Like a steel meteor, it has plowed into the Interstate 59 near Flatwoods, searing a deep gouge into the road from south to north. Approaching on foot, we see two yellow digits – a six and a three – still emblazoned in nuke-proof paint on its front. Since the popping of a new vault is always a cause for celebration, whatever the circumstances, we trace the door back to its origin point, deep into the southernmost part of the map. There, we begin to discover the fate of Vault 63's dwellers, and explore the surrounding Skyline Valley.
