Few RPGs can match the sheer variety of quests that the Fallout franchise is known for. Each major entry in the franchise has dozens of unique quests for players to uncover. Fallout 3's unique quest premises and New Vegas's excellent writing have made some of the most memorable quests in gaming, but few mention how good some of Fallout 4's quests are.
Many of the game's locations offer a degree of environmental storytelling that few can match. A great example of this is the Cambridge Polymer Labs, a defense research facility that has a terrifying history that is told almost entirely through its environment. Ranging from quests secrets to lore, here are 10 hidden things players likely missed in the Cambridge Polymer Labs in Fallout 4.
10 Massachusetts Surgical Journal Issue #6
Once players can leave the labs proper, they might have to enter the director's office based on decisions made during the quest. Inside a master safe near the director's desk is the sixth issue of the Massachusetts Surgical Journal. Collecting this magazine increases the damage a player does towards limbs by 2%.
9 Scientists Helped Create Liberty Prime
When players first enter the Cambridge Polymer Labs, they will be told by Molly that the scientists that work here are partially responsible for the creation of Liberty Prime. The Brotherhood of Steel's greatest weapon exists because of the scientists who died here.
Strangely, it seems that Bethesda has inadvertently retconned Fallout 3's lore. Molly also mentioned that Liberty Prime was responsible for taking back Anchorage, even though terminals in the third game explicitly state that it was never ready during this time.
8 Power Armor Project
Entering the labs of the facility will lock the players inside until the scientific project inside is complete, something that seems random when the player enters here. What players learn during the "Cambridge Polymer Labs" quest is that this project has been going on since before the bombs fell.
Scientists inside of the labs were tasked with producing a new piece of power armor for the United States military during the war. However, they never figured out how to complete the armor hence why the player must experiment with isotopes to craft the armor.
Unfortunately, the scientists were stuck inside after the bombs fell due to the government forcing them to complete the project. The director of the facility, Jon Elwood, was told that they could not leave until the project was complete. Jon never told the scientists, which ended up making matters worse. The team would attempt to escape the facility throughout the coming weeks as they suffered from radiation poisoning.
7 Ghouls Are The Remaining Scientists
All of the panicked scientists tried to escape through multiple methods, mainly by attempting to drill out of the labs or trying to unlock the facility by triggering the security systems. Regardless, all of them died. Most of them were killed by the security measures inside the facility, but there were a few that lived through it.
Those scientists are the enemy Ghouls that players fight during their time at the lab. The Glowing One that resided next to the final isotope is none other than Mary Goodman, a scientist that tried to grab U-238 but was locked by her coworker Wilfred Bergman. This would trigger the security alarm that would kill nearly everyone inside the laboratory.
6 Tom Franklin's Suicide Note
Working conditions inside of the labs became so bad that some scientists decided to take their own lives. One of these scientists was Tom Franklin. The radiation from outside of the labs became so bad that Tom began to go blind and lose his hair. He ended up poisoning himself, as is detailed in his suicide note near his skeleton.
5 Job Title Items
During the start of the "Cambridge Polymer Labs" quest, players are interviewed to see which role they could fulfill. What players likely missed is how they answer the interview directly correlates to what Molly gives the player.
Succeeding in a speech check with her will make players a salesman, complete with a dirty tan suit and a pen. Failing that same speech check will make the player a lab assistant, granting them a lab coat and a battered clipboard. Players will also receive a mop and jumpsuit if they are deemed a janitor, while security personnel are given dirty armory fatigues, sunglasses, and a baton.
4 Removing The Samples After The Quest
Completing the "Cambridge Polymer Labs" questline will still mark the canisters as essential, meaning players can't drop them under any circumstances.
Those who want to get rid of these items can do so by telling their companions to inspect the reagent near a terminal. Tell them to inspect the chemical reagent again, place another isotope inside the machine, and repeat this process until every quest item is removed.
3 Dr. Bergman's Terminal Password
One of "Cambridge Polymer Lab's" stranger quest requirements is for the player to find Dr. Bergman's password. It seems incongruent with the rest of the quest, but this objective actually comes up during another quest, specifically the "Underground Undercover" quest for the Railroad.
Bergman's password is key to uncovering information relating to the Institute.
2 Multiple Mollys
Some players have experienced a strange bug during the "Cambridge Polymer Labs" quest that causes Molly to become hostile. It seems that Bethesda knew this was an issue because multiple Mollys exist throughout the zone.
Should Molly be killed during the opening portion of the quest, a second Molly will appear from an inaccessible room to continue the quest. This second Molly is sometimes considered essential and cannot be killed. Whether this is a bug or intentional is unknown.
1 "Cambridge Polymer Labs" Quest Skip
Speaking of killing Molly, players have the ability to skip most of the area's quest entirely by killing Molly towards the start of the quest. When she dies, players can loot the corpse to obtain the director's quarters key.
Open the room, defeat the enemy inside, then loot the room to complete the quest. This bypasses nearly the entire quest chain, although players can still return to the labs at any time to complete the research project and obtain the unique Piezonucleic power armor.