Summary
TheFalloutuniverse never seems to run out of weird or wacky ideas. From weapons, quests, and even creatures, it truly is a wild wasteland you explore in this series. There never seems to be a dull moment when playing these games.
It’s true that throughout these adventures, you’ll run across many an odd enemy. Some are just humans who call the post-apocalyptic U.S. their home. Others, though, are far more gruesome and far more peculiar to come across. Let’s look at the strangest creatures that call the various wastelands of Fallout home.
Updated July 14, 2025, by Zackary Wiggs: No matter if it’s the Capital Wasteland, Appalachia, The Mojave, or anything in between, surviving the post-apocalyptic America that the Fallout games throw you in, is no easy matter. Sure, the various human factions are trouble enough, but the radiation (and various genetic experiments) haven’t been kind either. Some are deadly; others are just plain peculiar to run across. Regardless, there are few game series out there that have this range in enemy designs. So, grab your Pip-Boy, turn on your favorite radio station, and don’t forget to bring a few Stimpaks, because these wasteland critters are some of the weirdest you’ll ever see.
16Cazador
Bane Of The Mojave
Found in Fallout: New Vegas' Mojave Wasteland, the Cazador at first may seem like your everyday wasp, but anyone who has faced one will say otherwise. No one really expects a wasp the size of a motorcycle to come flying over the desert dunes.
Sadly, that’s very much a possibility. The result of wild DNA experimentation, these creatures are not only weird but highly aggressive and very deadly. Running into one, especially at low level, will be an interaction you won’t soon forget.
15Gulper
Experiment Or Evolution?
A first for Fallout 4’sFar Harbor add-on, the Gulper also got some well-deserved attention during the Fallout TV series. Mutated and sometimes gene-modified salamanders, these creatures live an amphibious existence, usually in or near irradiated water sources.
Gulpers in Fallout 4 were more of a hindrance than anything. But, the addition of them in the series not only showed some variation with their horribly finger-lined mouths for swallowing prey whole but also there is the possibility that they may be a new species that inhabits the post-apocalyptic U.S. from coast to coast.
14Floater
One Of Every Flavor
The FEV has had many varied effects on anything that comes in contact with it. Rarely are those effects good. Case in point, the Floater. The original Fallout’s The Master was all too keen on using the FEV to create an army of creatures to do his bidding. The Floater is one of the weirdest of those creations.
There are many types of Floater, but they’re all the same basic worm-like creature that hovers in the air while spitting some sort of deadly substance at you. That’s weird enough, but just wait until you see one of the freezer variants.
13Nightkin
The Master’s Elite
A subclass of the monstrous Super Mutants that can be found in any Fallout game, the Nightkin are the remnants of a special unit of The Master’s army from the original Fallout. Now scattered and somewhat aimless, they eke out whatever existence they can in and around New California.
Meeting them in New Vegas is quite a surprise, as they are not only mysterious but also quite a tough fight for the level most players meet them. Their reliance on StealthBoys has altered not only their color but also their psyche, causing them to often become irritable, prone to anxious fits, and other more profound psychoses.
12Wendigo
Evil Inside And Out
A myth from days far gone, Wendigos are all too real in Fallout 76’s irradiated Appalachia. Much like ghouls, Wendigos are irradiated people who have lost their humanity, and gained a penchant for human flesh.
Coming across something that wants to eat you is sadly all too real of an experience for people in the Fallout universe. But there’s the extra strangeness factor when the thing that wants to eat you was once a human just like you. It only gets weirder when you run into a Wendigo Colossus.
11Fog Crawler
Not Your Everyday Mantis
Crabs, crawfish, and other crustaceans seem to often be changed due to generations of living with nuclear radiation. And the changes are often extreme. One such case is that of the Fog Crawler, which can be found in Appalachia and some eastern coastlines of the U.S..
These giant crustaceans are incredibly deadly and don’t much care for sharing space with settlers. Just seeing one in the distance is enough to make you wonder how such a creature comes into being.
10Mothman
So Wise And Perceptive
Fallout 76 brought a lot of firsts to the Fallout games. Not the least of which was the addition of the cryptid subclass of enemies. While the cryptids of post-apocalyptic America are all plenty odd, one of the ones that caught players' eyes the most was that of The Mothman.
Based on the 1960s cryptid sightings in West Virginia, The Mothman of Fallout 76 is just as mysterious and vague, with no real answer for why it still exists. Has it always been there? Is it irradiated? How many are there?
None of these questions really get answered, even with a cult that venerates it slowly growing in popularity. Its large, multi-faceted eyes just stare at you, and its large wings threaten to envelop anything that raises a finger towards them.
9Scorchbeast
Appalachian minerals, nuclear radiation, some genetic experiments, and a normal bat. It’s an odd list of ingredients, but how else would you expect a Scorchbeast to be made? The cause of Appalachia’s Scorched problem.
Scorchbeasts are giant irradiated bats that attack anything that gets in their way with their irradiated breath. As if that wasn’t bad enough, said breath turns anything it touches, humans especially, into ghoul-like creatures. It’s a strange creature, but one that fits right in the Fallout universe.
8Deathclaw
A Fallout Classic
A classic Fallout creature, one of the deadliest, and arguably one of the strangest as well. Deathclaws are what happens when a scientist decides to make a normal chameleon intoa bioengineered weapon.
The bane of so many settlers from California all the way to D.C., Deathclaws are not to be taken lightly, and you can tell by just looking at them. Long razor-sharp talons, flesh-tearing fangs, and more than a fair amount of resilience; they’re the perfect mix of strange and horriflying.
7Glowing One
Time For Some Radaway
One of the few humanoid enemies on this list, Glowing Ones are much like the Feral Ghouls that wander the wastelands of Fallout, but with a few key differences. While all ghouls are immune to radiation, Glowing Ones have become an embodiment of it, even to the point of healing other ghouls by sending out irradiated auras.
Thankfully, they are easy to spot due to their namesake green radiance. Some revere them as the next step in evolution; others treat them with distaste, even the incredibly rare ones that seem to have kept their faculties. Either way, Glowing Ones are something that you don’t want to run into in any game.
