In the Fallout universe, alien colonies refer to hidden outposts left by extraterrestrial visitors long before the Great War turned Earth into a wasteland. These spots show up in games and the TV show, blending mystery with survival horror. One key example is the UNC: Colony of the Dead assignment in Mass Effect, which ties into Fallout-style exploration through abandoned structures and strange anomalies—think ruined buildings on a planet like CHASCA, where players hunt rare elements like palladium and burillium while dodging dangers up steep mountains. Check out this walkthrough for the full map locations and sweep: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YJOS0ICauY.
What happened to these colonies? Fallout lore paints a grim picture of fallout from nuclear blasts and alien tech gone wrong. In the TV show’s second season, Area 51 north of New Vegas becomes a hotspot. The Brotherhood of Steel retreats there after a big battle, claiming the old Air Force base rumored to hold alien relics and secret projects. It’s deep in the desert, fueling ideas of crashed ships and otherworldly experiments that survived the bombs. For a map of New Vegas spots including Area 51, Vault 24, and Camp Golf, see this guide: https://thedirect.com/article/fallout-tv-show-map-new-vegas-vault-locations-season-2.
Fallout 4 dives deeper with mods and secrets like the Faultline Bunker, hiding alien sarcophagi near Enclave power armor. Players uncover these in hidden bases, suggesting aliens set up colonies that got wrecked by radiation or raiders. A video build shows it off as a clean player home amid the chaos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlDu-dEByHY. Even base game spots like Arefu, a shaky settlement on a bridge near Vault 106, hint at fallout scattering survivors from bigger disasters—maybe alien-related. Details here: https://fallout-archive.fandom.com/wiki/Arefu.
New mods keep the story alive. Enemies of the Commonwealth adds quests to track alien-like foes for loot, expanding on colony remnants in the Commonwealth. Read about it: https://www.gamingbible.com/news/fallout-4-enemies-of-the-commonwealth-released-133670-20251208. Vault 24 nearby experiments with twisted societies, showing how fallout twisted any alien influence into wasteland nightmares.
These colonies fell to bombs, anomalies, and time, leaving blips on maps for survivors to raid. Escape pods, deposits, and sarcophagi mark their spots, pulling players into the fallout.
Sources
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YJOS0ICauY
https://thedirect.com/article/fallout-tv-show-map-new-vegas-vault-locations-season-2
https://fallout-archive.fandom.com/wiki/Arefu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlDu-dEByHY
https://www.gamingbible.com/news/fallout-4-enemies-of-the-commonwealth-released-133670-20251208
