It just wouldn't be a Bethesda game if there weren't a ton of cool, dark, or just downright bizarre secrets to find. The developer's first take on the Fallout franchise resulted in a radically different experience, both from a developer and franchise standpoint.
But in successfully recreating the game's bleak atmosphere while adding some classic Bethesda charm, a post-apocalyptic game like no other was created. In the enormous desolate wasteland, players can waste hundreds of hours exploring and finding dozens of secrets most players wouldn't even realize were there. Many of these secrets range from banal to mysterious and even head-scratching.
10 Bannister Crater
There must be an interesting story behind the Bannister Crater in Fallout 3. Located east of Fort Bannister, it's one large crater surrounded by many small craters. The area is infested with radscorpions, with the large crater also being home to a personal footlocker and a safe containing RadAway.
What's interesting about the crater is that an overturned truck lies at the bottom, alongside 96 alien power cells. After finishing the main quest, Enclave soldiers will be investigating this truck.
9 Lucky's
Players looking to craft custom weapons will want to head to Lucky's as soon as possible. It can be found at the bottom of the map, near Tenpenny Tower and Warrington Station. An unremarkable-looking establishment, inside there will be several enemies of various factions, making it possible for NPCs to fight each other. Most items are owned, meaning that the player will lose Karma if they loot anything.
Players should note that Lucky's contains nearly every item to create almost all custom weapons in Fallout 3. The only custom weapons Lucky's doesn't contain the parts for are the deathclaw hand, fission battery, radscorpion poison gland, and steam gauge assembly.
8 Radiation King
Radiation King can be either a nice trading outpost or a new home for the player, depending on how they treat its inhabitant. Players will stumble upon this former store in Georgetown, next to A Cuppa Joe and Cornucopia Fresh Groceries. Inside is a scavenger, who can trade with the player and repair any broken gear.
Alternatively, the player can kill the scavenger, in which Radiation King can then be used as housing for the player. There's also a jukebox and several radios that can be turned on to either Galaxy News Radio or Enclave Radio.
7 The Roach King's Throne
Here's an encounter that's memorable simply due to how bizarre it is. Players traveling northeast of Minefield may discover a throne of sorts made out of a Red Rocket playground. Here, players will find an NPC calling themselves the Roach King, along with 6 radroaches. The Roach King changes appearance and gender with each playthrough, so there's no telling who players will find.
The Roach King is always hostile towards the player, and attacking the Roach King will cause the nearby radroaches to become hostile as well. The throne houses a mini-nuke, and the Roach King drops a minigun and either food, chems, or ammo.
6 Raid Shack
The Raid Shack provides some basic combat for Fallout 3 but also provides a unique weapon for players. East of the Bethesda Ruins, north of the Chryslus Building, and south of the Wheaton armory lies a shack being patrolled by a couple of raiders. In the trailers and area surrounding the shack players can find ammo and Buffout to help them out in combat.
Three or four raiders wait inside, one of them wielding the unique weapon Stabhappy. The raider with Stabhappy always spawns in the kitchen, and the player can actually get multiple copies of Stabhappy if the raiders respawn. As a bonus, northwest of the shack lies a post with "TES-04" engraved on it, a reference to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
5 Mole Rat Race Track
Interestingly enough, the apocalypse won't stop people from holding animal races. On an abandoned highway southwest of Grayditch, players will find various raiders hosting a mole rat race on a makeshift track. A pistol always begins the race, and once the race is finished the mole rats return to their starting positions and the process repeats itself again.
If players want to watch the race, they'll have to sneak and keep their distance. Getting too close to the race will trigger the raiders and mole rats to fight the player, and these enemies don't respawn.
4 Plunger Room of Death
This room is as strange as it sounds. The shelter it's located in is a bit hard to find, even if it is located on the Pip-Boy's local map. South of the Chryslusl Building and east of Farragut West Metro Station, players will need to look for an entrance underneath an intact bridge.
It doesn't take long for this location to become weird. A statue head with an American flag is situated outside the entrance. Inside, a makeshift tower made from many random objects rests. Touching this tower will cause it to topple over. The weirdest is yet to come, however. Following a trail of blood and plungers will lead players to the "plunger room of death" - a room with about 50 plungers.
3 Isabella Proud's Camp
Isabella Proud's camp lies beyond the typical map, so players will likely not stumble onto it unless specifically looking for it. On the eastern border of the map, players should look for the Talon tent in Takoma Industrial. Before getting to the tent, players need to jump over the railing, then onto a smaller ledge before proceeding right and then left in-between buildings.
Finally, players need to take a right at the end of the alley. They'll then come to a pond, and Isabella's camp lies just beyond it. The camp consists of the notes of Isabella Proud, some feral ghouls, and various corpses. Reading Isabella's terminal entries gives some morbid context to the area.
2 Bethesda Underworks
A classic reference to developers Bethesda, the Bethesda Underworks is an underground area that can result in some interesting combat. It lies northeast of the Bethesda east office, through a metro station. The area is overrun by feral ghouls, so players should be careful traversing this area.
Players may be swarmed with up to 6 ghouls at once if they're not. Entering the Underworks for the first time while sneaking or wearing the ghoul mask will cause all the ghouls inside to run out and fight raiders. Because both enemies respawn, this battle will occur again every three in-game days.
1 Alien Crash Site
Arguably the most well-known secret in Fallout 3, this close encounter just adds another level of mystery to the Fallout universe. Players can find a crashed UFO northwest from the clifftop shacks and southeast from the Greener Pastures disposal site.
Near the UFO is the dead body of an alien, which can be looted to obtain an alien blaster. With the Mothership Zeta add-on, an alien homing beacon will replace the UFO, which allows the player to fast travel to the Mothership Zeta UFO hovering above planet Earth.