Fallout: New Vegas is a 2010 action role-playing game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Bethesda Softworks. It was announced in April 2009 and released for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360 on October 19, 2010. A spin-off[1][2][3] of the main Fallout series, the game is set in a post-apocalyptic open-world environment that encompasses a region consisting of parts of Arizona, California, and Nevada. It is set in a world that deviated onto an alternate timeline thanks to Atomic Age technology, which eventually led to a global nuclear apocalypse in the year 2077 in an event referred to as "The Great War", caused by a major conflict between the U.S. and China over natural resources. The main story of New Vegas takes place in the year 2281, four years after the events of Fallout 3 and 204 years after the bombs fell. It is not a sequel but does feature the return of several elements found in Fallout 2.
Players take control of a character known as the Courier. While transporting a package across the Mojave Desert to the city of New Vegas (built in the ruins of Las Vegas), the Courier is ambushed, robbed of the package, shot, and buried in a cemetery. Rescued and nursed back to health by the inhabitants of a small frontier town, the Courier then begins a journey to find their would-be killer and recover the package, making friends and enemies among various warring factions, and ultimately becoming caught up in a conflict that will determine who controls New Vegas and the Mojave Wasteland.
It was a commercial success, shipping more than 5 million copies, and is estimated to have sold around 12 million copies worldwide. The game received a Golden Joystick Award for "RPG of the Year" in 2011, nominated for two BAFTA Awards (Best Strategy Game and Best Story), received an Interactive Achievement Award nomination for "Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year",[4] as well as a NAVGTR Award for Supporting Performance in a Drama (Felicia Day). At launch, New Vegas received positive reviews, with critical praise for the game's writing, quests, and improved gameplay, though it was criticized for its glitches and bugs at the time. It has since obtained retrospective acclaim and a cult following, with some critics referring to the game as the best in the Fallout series[5][6] as well as one of the greatest RPGs of all time.[7][8][9][10][11]
New Vegas features a wide variety of weapons that players can use in combat. Here, the player fights an enemy Deathclaw using a varmint rifle.
While gameplay from Fallout 3 was retained for Fallout: New Vegas, Obsidian Entertainment worked on improving existing gameplay elements while introducing some old and new features to the series. Combat was improved upon, with the V.A.T.S. system being updated with several new attacks, and several new kill animations were added for melee weapons. Weapons' response and accuracy were also refined. Players can use the iron sights on firearms, except for certain larger guns and some energy weapons.[12][13][14][15] The third-person perspective in the game was redesigned to be more "over the shoulder" than it had been in Fallout 3. Character creation was refined to take less time than Fallout 3, with players able to skip the tutorials and proceed across the Wasteland once their character is set up. Players may make any last-minute changes to their character when they step beyond the boundaries of the starting location of Goodsprings. More Perks were added to the game to provide greater options for improving the player's character upon leveling up, and Perks that only added to skill values were removed. The player can only take one Perk every two levels instead of every level like in Fallout 3, in an attempt to prevent players from becoming too strong early in the game. More weapons were added to the game, including the 9mm Pistol, the Single Shotgun, Powder Charges, Dynamite, Trail Carbine, and Grenade Launcher, with each weapon added being intended to serve a specific and tactical role within the game.[15] The "Big Guns" and "Small Guns" skills are consolidated into one skill, "Guns", and the skill of Survival was added, adapted from the first and second game's Outdoorsman skills. In New Vegas, this skill affects how much health is restored by food and drink. Skills have a larger effect on conversation choices; whether a dialogue option will succeed or fail is shown upfront, and entirely dependent on Skill level, rather than both skill and chance as was the case in Fallout 3.[14] Players can receive a temporary boost to a skill by reading a skill magazine corresponding to it, which can be found around the Mojave Wasteland or can be crafted after completing a side quest in the Old World Blues DLC, the effects of which can be further enhanced by certain Perks. Players can gamble by visiting casinos across the Wasteland and purchasing chips with one of the three currencies available. Casinos offer blackjack, slots, and roulette, and players' success rate is dependent on their Luck stat. Players can also play a card game called Caravan, which was specifically designed for the game and has its own rules and can be played with certain people outside of the casinos.[16][17]
Crafting and weapon customization
Crafting in New Vegas was expanded to allow the creation of food, drink, drugs, and ammunition along with unique weapons. Crafting can be done at workbenches, reloading benches, hot plates, and campfires, and requires specific components as well as a sufficient skill level; for instance, cooking food at campfires requires the player to have a sufficient Survival skill level to do so, and may require plants that can be harvested across the Wasteland. Some special items cannot be made until their recipes or schematics are found. In addition to crafting, players can modify weapons with special firearm modifications, which may improve their rate of fire and magazine size or add sights to allow for greater range and accuracy. Some modifications must be scavenged in the Wasteland or purchased from vendors.[12]
Reputation
Because of the large number of factions created for the game, developers reintroduced the reputation system that was first used in Fallout 2 and had been absent in Fallout 3. Much like the Karma system, which tracks a player's "good" and "bad" deeds, a player's standing with a faction or settlement can change depending on how they interact with them and what decisions they make. For example, if a player helps a faction or settlement, their reputation improves in all locations controlled by that faction or settlement; opting to kill their members or citizens or work against them will cause a gain of infamy with that faction or settlement. Unlike the Karma system, any reputation fame or infamy gained is permanent and irreversible, besides the NCR and Legion resetting infamy upon reaching a certain point in the game, and fame and infamy are completely separate values. The type of reputation the player has with each faction or settlement affects how non-player characters (NPCs) behave towards them; a good reputation might make completing some quests easier, provide discounts with the faction or settlement's vendors, and cause faction members to offer gifts; a bad reputation may lead to the faction refusing to help the player, attacking them on sight, or sending assassins to gun them down.[18]
Companions
Companions in New Vegas received far more depth than the companions from Fallout 3, through the use of the Companion Wheel and most companions offering a unique questline. Through the Wheel, players can switch a companion's tactics in combat, including their behavior and how they attack, as well as dismiss them, treat them for injuries, access their inventory, and talk with them. Players may have two companions with them at any one time – one humanoid and one non-humanoid. Companions can confer a unique Perk or advantage, which can be improved by completing a special quest related to them.[15] They can also be sent directly to the Lucky 38 Presidential Suite upon being dismissed rather than returning to their original location. Each companion was intended to represent a different style of combat. There are a total of eight permanent companions, with six more companions available only in their respective DLC worlds.
Hardcore mode
New Vegas introduced the additional difficulty of Hardcore mode, which delivers more realism and intensity to the playing environment. While the standard adjustable difficulty level settings only affect combat difficulty, Hardcore mode adds statistics and encourages the player to consider resource management and combat tactics. Game director Josh Sawyer stated that the mode was inspired by several different Fallout 3mods.[19] In this mode, the following occurs:[20][21] All healing items, including food and water, do not heal the player instantly but work over a short period of time. RadAway takes time to gradually decrease radiation poisoning, rather than instantly. Stimpaks can no longer heal crippled limbs, and players must instead use Doctor's Bags, sleep in an owned or rented bed, use the chem Hydra, or visit a doctor to heal limbs. Ammunition has weight, limiting the amount that can be carried. Players must eat, drink, and sleep to avoid starvation, dehydration, and exhaustion, respectively; failure to do so confers a steady decrease in certain skills and eventually leads to death if untreated. Companions can be killed upon being reduced to zero hit points, rather than losing consciousness. Completing the game on this mode from start to finish results in an achievement being awarded.[22][23][24]
Flag of the New California Republic, based on the Bear Flag
Fallout: New Vegas takes place during the year 2281 in the region around the former city of Las Vegas (now the city-state "New Vegas"), around four years after the events of Fallout 3 and 204 years after the Great War of 2077. Three major powers seek control: the New California Republic (NCR), Caesar's Legion, and Robert House (voiced by René Auberjonois). The NCR has become overextended and mismanaged, but their expansion eastwards has gained them control of the majority of the Mojave, with their only threat coming from the slave-driving, Roman army-styled forces of Caesar (voiced by John Doman), who have violently subjugated eighty-six tribes further east and plan to conquer New Vegas. Four years earlier, the NCR won a narrow victory over Caesar's Legion for control of the Hoover Dam and its supply of clean water and power. As both sides prepare for an inevitable second conflict over the dam, mysterious businessman Mr. House presides over New Vegas with an army of "Securitron" security robots. He also seeks control of the dam and to advance his own plans for the region.
Much of the game takes place in the Mojave Wasteland encompassing parts of the former states of California, Nevada, and Arizona. Along with the three main factions, minor ones include the Boomers, a heavily armed xenophobic tribe at Nellis Air Force Base; the Powder Gangers, escaped convicts from a Correctional Facility near Primm; the Great Khans, a tribe of drug dealers descended from the New Khans in Fallout 2; and the Brotherhood of Steel, remnants of the U.S. Army who aim to secure harmful technology. Additional landmarks include vaults, Black Mountain, and the HELIOS One solar energy plant.[21]
Story
The protagonist is a courier working for the Mojave Express postal service. The game begins as The Courier awakens in the town of Goodsprings after being shot and left for dead by mobster and casino owner Benny (voiced by Matthew Perry) and his goons. They have robbed The Courier of the "Platinum Chip" which The Courier was to have delivered to New Vegas. The Courier is dug out of a shallow grave by Securitron Victor (voiced by William Sadler) and nursed back to health by physician Doc Mitchell (voiced by Michael Hogan). The Courier's main quest is to locate Benny and retrieve the Platinum Chip. Along the way The Courier encounters additional quests involving individuals and groups whom The Courier can choose to assist, ignore, or sabotage, gaining or losing karma and affecting the course of the game.
Eventually, The Courier confronts Benny at his casino on the New Vegas Strip and can choose to dispose of Benny and recover the Platinum Chip or allow Benny to escape. The Courier becomes entangled in the conflict between Caesar's Legion, the NCR, and Mr House for control of Hoover Dam and thus control of the region.
It transpires that Mr House is a human from before the Great War who survived in a life-support chamber. He made the Platinum Chip, containing a Securitron upgrade program, to protect Las Vegas during the war. However, the War began before the Chip was delivered. Benny ambushed The Courier in a scheme to usurp Mr House with the help of a reprogrammed Securitron called Yes Man (voiced by Dave Foley). The Courier has the option to co-opt Benny's plan and claim New Vegas.
Caesar's Legion attacks Hoover Dam led by Legate Lanius (voiced by Mitch Lewis) with the NCR defending under General Lee Oliver. The Courier will either conquer the Dam for Caesar's Legion, defend it for the NCR, or connect the Dam to Mr House's network and evict both the Legion and the NCR.
A narrated slideshow shows the results of The Courier's actions, who comes to power over New Vegas and the Mojave Wasteland, and the fates of the other factions and characters.
Endings
The game features four primary endings based on the player's choices in determining the fate of the Mojave Wasteland.
New California Republic – siding with the NCR results in The Courier taking part in the defense of Hoover Dam from the Legion. After repulsing the Legion's attack, The Courier leads a counterattack up to the Legate's camp, where they have the choice to either negotiate with the Legate to withdraw or kill him in battle. The NCR emerges from the battle decisively triumphant and finally annexes New Vegas along with the entire Mojave Wasteland.
Caesar's Legion – siding with the Legion results in The Courier taking part in the attack on Hoover Dam. The Courier battles their way to General Oliver's compound where they have the choice to either convince him to retreat or kill him. The Legion finally seizes Hoover Dam, forcing the NCR to retreat, allowing the Legion to gain control over New Vegas and the rest of the Mojave Wasteland. The ending can change slightly based on whether The Courier successfully treated Caesar's brain tumour earlier in the story, or else let him die, in which case Legate Lanius will take over the Legion.
Mr. House – siding with Mr. House results in The Courier infiltrating a substation near Hoover Dam and installing an override chip to power House's upgraded Securitron Army. The Courier must then either convince General Oliver and the Legate to stand down or kill them. Mr. House and his Securitrons drive both the NCR and the Legion out of Hoover Dam, taking control of it and much of the Mojave, ensuring that New Vegas will continue to be run according to House's vision.
Independent (Yes Man) – The Courier uses Yes Man to take over Mr. House's network and take Hoover Dam for themselves. The Courier must either convince General Oliver and the Legate to withdraw or kill them. The Courier then takes control of Hoover Dam for themselves, ensuring the independence of New Vegas and the Mojave Wasteland from the NCR, Caesar's Legion, and Mr. House.
In 2004, Bethesda Softworks purchased the license to develop and publish Fallout 3, as well as an option to create two sequels, from Interplay Entertainment.[25] Three years later they bought the Falloutintellectual property.[26] Bethesda abandoned the original gameplay style of previous Fallout titles; instead of an isometric game with action point/turn-based combat, Bethesda's Fallout 3 was a fully 3D game with real-time combat as well as the action point-based V.A.T.S. system.[27][28][29]
Fallout 3 was a critical and commercial success upon its release in 2008,[27] and Bethesda commissioned a sequel. With their own developers busy working on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Bethesda reached out to Obsidian Entertainment, a company founded by several former members of Interplay's original Fallout developers Black Isle Studios, to develop the game. Bethesda and Obsidian decided to create a game that would continue the "West Coast" story rather than the plot of Fallout 3.[27][30] Bethesda rejected Obsidian's idea to set the game between the events of Fallout 2 and Fallout 3, but they did approve of setting the game in Las Vegas.[30][31]
Fallout: New Vegas was announced in April 2009.[32] Obsidian's development team included former Interplay/Black Isle employees Josh Sawyer as director, and Chris Avellone as a writer and director of the game's downloadable content.[19][33] The plot of New Vegas takes heavy inspiration from the original Fallout 3 that Black Isle developed, commonly known by its codename "Van Buren",[34] which Sawyer also directed prior to its cancellation.[35] The most notable example is the inclusion of Caesar's Legion, a faction originally created for Van Buren.[34][36] Obsidian included other factions from previous Fallout games and avoided writing any faction as entirely good or evil, but instead as potential rivals depending on what path the player decided to pursue.[34][36]
The game had a somewhat short development cycle of 18 months.[37]New Vegas reuses the Gamebryo engine used in Fallout 3, yet it improved on the previous installment's source code, with some graphics rendering improvements and new art assets, while reworking the engine to accommodate the extra lights and effects of the Las Vegas Strip.[36][38] Obsidian were unfamiliar with the Gamebryo engine and had to request the help of an Oblivionmodder named Jorge Salgado.[39] Obsidian refined the real-time shooting mechanics and added iron-sights aiming to make playing without V.A.T.S. a more viable option than it was in Fallout 3.[35][40] One PC version of the game relies on Steamworks for online functions, such as achievements and cloud save storage, as well as digital rights management (DRM).[41] A version without DRM was made available by GoG.com on June 1, 2017.[42]
Producer Jason Bergman announced the involvement of several actors, including Ron Perlman as the game's narrator and Wayne Newton as radio DJ "Mr. New Vegas". He confirmed that the game would include voice acting from Matthew Perry, Zachary Levi, Kris Kristofferson, Danny Trejo, Michael Dorn and Felicia Day.[43] The team brought on casting director and voice producer Timothy Cubbison to oversee the actor selection and voice production.[citation needed] The game established the new record for the most lines of dialogue in a single-player action role-playing game. New Vegas contains around 65,000 lines of dialogue, beating its predecessor and previous record holder Fallout 3 which contained 40,000 lines of dialogue.[44]
Fallout 3 composer Inon Zur composed the score.[45] It features three major in-game radio stations, spanning several genres of music in the radio waves: country, bluegrass, popular music from the 1940s and 1950s, jazz and classical.[15] Each station has a set track list which repeats randomly.[46] Music from the first two Fallout games, composed by Mark Morgan, is used in the game as well.[47][48]
On February 4, 2010, Obsidian Entertainment released the Fallout: New Vegas teaser trailer. A second trailer was shown on GameTrailers from E3 on June 11, 2010.[49]
Bethesda announced four pre-order bonus packs giving specific in-game items, they include the "Classic", "Tribal", "Caravan" and "Mercenary" packs available when pre-ordering at specific outlets,[50] all of the listed pre-order packs were later made available for purchase on September 27, 2011. The Collector's Edition was revealed on May 11, 2010.[51] It was distributed worldwide and is available for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.[51] Its enclosed contents include seven real clay poker chips from the Fallout: New Vegas casinos, a deck of cards each with a character on them with information on that person, a graphic novel leading up to the events of New Vegas, a Lucky 38 large Platinum Chip replica, and a making-of documentary.[51]
Fallout: New Vegas was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on October 19, 2010, in North America, October 21, 2010, in Australia, and October 22, 2010, in Europe.[52][53] Within hours of the game's release on October 19, 2010, players of Fallout: New Vegas began reporting a variety of technical issues (saved games becoming corrupted, the game freezing, players becoming stuck within the terrain, and random NPCs appearing behind the player, initiating combat out of context).[54][55]Bethesda Game Studios stated that they, in conjunction with Obsidian, were actively working on an update for release "as soon as possible" to address in-game issues. They urged customers to keep their copies of New Vegas rather than return them to stores, stating that providing the best possible experience to their users was a priority.
Within a week of the original release, a patch was available for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 versions of the game, which contained over 200 quest and scripting-related fixes.[56] The update, released on December 14, 2010, has fixed further glitches and save game problems, including companion-related bugs.[57] Subsequent updates were released in February and April that corrected numerous bugs and gameplay issues. A patch released on July 5, 2011, causes the game to automatically create a save before the endgame sequence, allowing single-save players to play through the downloadable content without creating a new game.[58] The user community has created community patches to fix some remaining issues.[59]
The game engine has had major performance issues on the PlayStation 3, leading to unplayable frame rates when the save game file becomes large following extended play, or sometimes when downloadable content is installed. Similar issues plagued The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, but a performance patch to improve New Vegas was not implemented. Sawyer stated that the issue involves the core engine and cannot be patched easily.[60][61]
Downloadable content
On October 18, 2010, Bethesda Softworks announced that downloadable content (DLC) would be available for New Vegas, in keeping with its predecessor Fallout 3. Six add-on packs have been released. The six add-ons are titled Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues, Lonesome Road, Gun Runners' Arsenal, and Courier's Stash. The combined effect of the DLC is to raise the level cap from 30 to 50.
Dead Money
The first add-on pack was released for the Xbox 360 on December 21, 2010,[62][63] and for PlayStation 3 and PC (via Steam) on February 22, 2011.[64][65] In Dead Money, the Courier is captured by an insane former elder of the Brotherhood of Steel known as Father Elijah and is forced to work alongside three[62] other captives to stage a heist on the Sierra Madre Casino and retrieve its fabled treasure which had been long concealed from the rest of the world by a deadly toxic cloud.[62] The pack adds achievements/trophies, weapons, perks, terrain, enemies, crafting recipes and decisions for the player,[62][63] as well as raising the level cap by five.[62] It is the only one of the four story add-ons that cannot be revisited after the completion of its main quest line.[66]
Honest Hearts
The second pack was released on May 17, 2011, on Xbox Live and Steam and June 2, 2011, on the PlayStation Network due to the April–May outage.[67] In Honest Hearts, the Courier takes part in a trading expedition to Utah's Zion National Park by signing on with The Happy Trails Caravan which is very soon attacked and destroyed by tribal raiders.[68] Surviving the attack and stranded in Zion, the Courier becomes involved in a conflict between the local tribes with one side led by "New Canaanite" (post-apocalyptic incarnation of Mormonism) missionaries. One of the missionaries is revealed to be the widely-feared and widely-revered "Burned Man," Caesar's Legate who preceded Lanius, and who had lost the First Battle of Hoover Dam. As punishment, he was covered in pitch, set on fire, and thrown into the Grand Canyon[68] only to survive and hence be known as the Burned Man. The pack adds achievements/trophies, crafting recipes, perks, terrain, items, enemies and decisions for the player, as well as raising the level cap by five.
Old World Blues
In Old World Blues, the Courier is abducted and unwittingly becomes a lab rat in a science experiment gone awry who soon discovers how some of the Mojave's mutated creatures and dangerous technology came to exist. Old World Blues takes place in the Pre-War research centers of Big Mountain, known colloquially as "the Big Empty" or "Big MT." The Courier could choose to either turn on their kidnappers or join with them in their long-standing struggle against a greater threat.[69] This pack adds achievements/trophies, items, perks, a vast area to explore, and raises the level cap by five like the previous two packs. Old World Blues was released on July 19, 2011.[70]
Lonesome Road
In Lonesome Road, the Courier is contacted by Ulysses, a former Legionary and Mojave Express courier who, upon seeing the Courier's name on the list of possible package handlers, refused to deliver the Platinum Chip that ultimately led to the attack on the Courier at the beginning of the base game.[69] The Courier must journey deep into an extremely radioactive and decimated region in the Continental Divide to confront Ulysses. Ulysses was a character whose involvement in the story had been hinted since New Vegas' initial release; Lonesome Road concludes his story as well as that of the Courier.[71] This pack adds achievements/trophies, items, perks, decisions, enemies and crafting recipes. Initially, Lonesome Road was planned to be released in August 2011; however, the add-on was delayed until September 20 for unspecified reasons.[71][72]
Gun Runners' Arsenal and Courier's Stash
On September 27, 2011,[73] Bethesda released two content packs titled Gun Runners' Arsenal and Courier's Stash.[71][73]Gun Runners' Arsenal adds various weapons (like the Katana, Time Bomb, and Chainsaw) and weapon mods (like suppressors, scopes, laser sights, and stacked magazines) along with new ammo types, which can be found throughout the game world.[71][73]Courier's Stash contains all bonus content that was previously only available for pre-ordering the game (the "Caravan Pack", "Classic Pack", "Mercenary Pack" and "Tribal Pack").[71][73]
Ultimate Edition
On November 3, 2011, Bethesda announced Fallout: New Vegas – Ultimate Edition, which includes the game and all of its downloadable content. It was released worldwide in February 2012.[74] It was released on February 7, 2012 in North America and February 10 for Europe.
Mods
Like most Bethesda games, Fallout: New Vegas features a very large modding community with several high-profile mods and well-known modders.
J.E. Sawyer's mod
On December 29, 2011, Fallout: New Vegas director Josh "J.E." Sawyer released an unofficial mod for the PC version. The mod adjusts the maximum level to 35, halves the rate of increase in player experience points, reduces base player health, reduces the base weight a player can carry, defines certain characters as good or evil rather than neutral, and makes various other adjustments. These are changes that Sawyer wanted to be included in the game, but they were not released as an official update. This mod requires all add-on packs to work.[75][76]
Tale of Two Wastelands
Tale of Two Wastelands is a total conversion mod for Fallout: New Vegas that merges the entire content of Fallout 3 and its DLC and New Vegas into one game. The mod implements features introduced in New Vegas into Fallout3, such as the Companion Wheel, crafting recipes, and weapon mods. Players can freely traverse between the two games on a single save file, keeping all of their items and their progression between game worlds.[77][78][79][80][81]
Fallout: New California (originally named Project Brazil) is a total conversion mod for Fallout: New Vegas by Radian-Helix Media, adding an all-new feature-length campaign and world space, complete with voiced characters, quests, companions, factions, and multiple endings, set in the California Wastelands of the San Bernardino Mountains.[82]
The Frontier
Fallout: The Frontier is a new worldspace mod for Fallout: New Vegas set in the ruins of Portland, Oregon, under nuclear winter. It features a game-length campaign with three questlines, with full voice acting. It was released on Nexus Mods on January 15, 2021, with a planned release on Steam being delayed one week. Shortly after launching, the website for Nexus crashed.[83][84][85][86][87]
The mod was briefly pulled after one of its developers was found to have created "animated paedophilic content"[88] and was later re-released with changes to address the criticism (mainly removing all content by the former developer, most of which were icons for in-game perks and items).[89] Other controversies surrounding the mod include scenes implying zoophilia, the ability to enslave an 18-year-old woman, a lack of coherence with the established Fallout universe, and themes that some critics asserted were depictions of the developers' sexual fetishes.[90][91][92][93]
Fallout: New Vegas received "generally favorable reviews" from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Critics praised the gameplay improvements and expanded content over Fallout 3, while criticizing familiarity and technical issues. By November 8, 2010, the game had shipped 5 million copies worldwide,[112] achieving revenue of $300 million (~$409million in 2023).[113] Electronic Entertainment Design and Research, a market research firm, estimates that the game had sold 11.6 million copies worldwide by 2015.[114]
IGN's Keza MacDonald praised the game's script, but criticized the character models and facial animation as "wooden and unbelievable".[105][106]Eurogamer commented that "Obsidian has created a totally compelling world and its frustrations pale into insignificance compared to the immersive, obsessive experience on offer. Just like the scorched scenery that provides its epic backdrop, New Vegas is huge and sprawling, sometimes gaudy, even downright ugly at times – but always effortlessly, shamelessly entertaining."[99] According to GameSpot's Kevin VanOrd, the game's "familiar rhythm will delight fans of the series, and the huge world, expansive quests, and hidden pleasures will have [the players] itching to see what other joys you might uncover. However, as time wears on, the constant glitches invade almost every element of the game and eventually grow wearisome."[103]
Giant Bomb'sJeff Gerstmann reviewed Fallout: New Vegas for the Xbox 360 positively, despite its many crashes, bugs, and glitches. Gerstmann wrote: "When I reflect on the experience, I'll probably think about the times the game locked up on me or broke in a dozen other crazy ways first, before thinking about the great world and the objectives that fill it. If you were able to look past the issues that plagued Fallout 3 and Oblivion before it, New Vegas will eventually show you a real good time."[115]1UP.com's Mike Nelson wrote "On one hand, it feels like I can recommend this to any fan of the Fallout series. I single these fans out because they're willing to forgive silly bugs like meeting characters who walk into walls or occasionally float in mid-air. These fans realize that the game as a whole is greater than the sum of minor graphical anomalies. On the other hand, I simply can't ignore or forgive the game for crashing on me when I walk around the Mojave Wasteland; or for quests that simply can't be completed because of a game glitch; or for making my companions disappear when I need them the most during a battle. These are some of the most frustrating bugs I have ever encountered with any game, especially when attached to a series that I deeply enjoy."[97]
Despite its technical problems at launch, in the years since its release Fallout: New Vegas has been critically acclaimed, with praise given to its story, role-playing elements and improvements on its predecessor.[117][118] In 2020, Eurogamer's Wesley Yin-Poole wrote "While it suffered a raft of technical problems–as most of the games built on Bethesda's RPG engine did at the time–its reputation has only grown more positive over the last decade, and it is now considered one of, if not the best Fallout game."[119] Emma Kent wrote in 2019 that "it felt like even the smallest story was carefully crafted to maintain interest and deliver a rewarding kicker" and that "on the macro scale, New Vegas took a more serious tone by weaving a complex power struggle that mirrors many current real-world conflicts."[120] At the end of 2019, Den of Geek ranked Fallout: New Vegas as the twelfth-best game of the decade, with writer Matthew Byrd describing the game as "the glorious comeback of [...] more complex RPG elements. Developer Obsidian fought against a buggy engine and a tight production schedule to turn in an RPG adventure that is all about navigating the possibilities and burdens of player agency in a world where it often feels like you can't properly predict the consequences of your decisions. It's a true role-playing game that takes place in a world you wouldn't want to live in but can't help but be engrossed by."[121]
Cultural impact
A saloon in the real town of Goodsprings, Nevada hosted gatherings for New Vegas fans in 2022 and 2023.[122]
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inXile Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and a studio of Xbox Game Studios based in Tustin, California. Specializing in role-playing video games, inXile was founded in 2002 by Interplay co-founder Brian Fargo. The studio produced the fantasy games The Bard's Tale and Hunted: The Demon's Forge, along with various games for Flash and iOS such as Fantastic Contraption in its first decade of development. In 2014, inXile released the post-apocalyptic game Wasteland 2, following a successful Kickstarter campaign. Following the game's critical success, the studio went on to raise a then-record US$4 million on Kickstarter to develop Torment: Tides of Numenera, a spiritual successor to Interplay's Planescape: Torment. The studio was purchased by Microsoft and became part of Xbox Game Studios in 2018, just as they were developing Wasteland 3, which they released in 2020. The studio is currently developing Clockwork Revolution for Windows and Xbox Series X/S.
Joshua Eric Sawyer, more commonly known and credited as Josh Sawyer, J.E. Sawyer, or JSawyer, is an American video game designer, known for his work on role-playing video games.
Dogmeat is a character featured in the post-apocalyptic role-playing game series Fallout. An NPC, Dogmeat was introduced as an optional companion to the player character in the original Fallout (1997), and made cameo appearances in the sequel Fallout 2 (1998). Other versions of Dogmeat are featured and serve similar roles in Fallout 3 (2008) and Fallout 4 (2015).
Van Buren was the codename given to what would have been Fallout 3, a role-playing video game that was being developed by Black Isle Studios before the parent company, Interplay Entertainment, went bankrupt. This resulted in the company shutting down Black Isle, which in turn laid off the PC development team on December 8, 2003, effectively cancelling the game.
Fallout 3 is a 2008 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The third major installment in the Fallout series, it is the first game to be developed by Bethesda after acquiring the rights to the franchise from Interplay Entertainment. The game marks a major shift in the series by using 3D graphics and real-time combat, replacing the 2D isometric graphics and turn-based combat of previous installments. It was released worldwide in October 2008 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.
The Brotherhood of Steel is a fictional organization from the post-apocalyptic Fallout video game franchise. The Brotherhood collects and preserves technology, but they are not known for sharing their knowledge, even if doing so would improve the quality of life among the people of the wasteland.
Rage is a first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Bethesda Softworks, released in October 2011 for Microsoft Windows, the PlayStation 3, and the Xbox 360, and in February 2012 for OS X. It was first shown as a tech demo at the 2007 Apple Worldwide Developers Conference and was announced at the QuakeCon. Rage uses id Software's id Tech 5 game engine and is the final game released by the company under the supervision of founder John Carmack.
There are five pieces of downloadable content (DLC) for the Bethesda action role-playing video game Fallout 3. Each package of downloadable content adds new missions, new locales to visit, and new items for the player to use. Of the five, Broken Steel has the largest effect on the game, altering the ending, increasing the level cap to 30, and allowing the player to continue playing past the end of the main quest line. The Game of The Year edition of Fallout 3 includes the full game and all five pieces of downloadable content.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fifth main installment in The Elder Scrolls series, following The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006), and was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on November 11, 2011.
Western role-playing video games are role-playing video games developed in the Western world, including The Americas and Europe. They originated on mainframe university computer systems in the 1970s, were later popularized by titles such as Ultima and Wizardry in the early- to mid-1980s, and continue to be produced for modern home computer and video game console systems. The genre's "Golden Age" occurred in the mid- to late-1980s, and its popularity suffered a downturn in the mid-1990s as developers struggled to keep up with changing fashion, hardware evolution and increasing development costs. A later series of isometric role-playing games, published by Interplay Productions and Blizzard Entertainment, was developed over a longer time period and set new standards of production quality.
Fallout: Nuka Break is a live-action fan-made web series made by Wayside Creations and set in the Fallout video game universe. Its direct setting is derived from both Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. Nuka Break features three main characters, a "Vault dweller, his ghoul companion, and a slave they freed from New Vegas". Along with the sets, puppets are used for some of the scenes, while CGI is used for the gun battles and other scenes. The series features actor Doug Jones as a guest star, playing Mayor Conners, and voice actor Vic Mignogna as the merchant/narrator.
Fallout: New California is a fan-made modification and unofficial prequel to the action role-playing video game Fallout: New Vegas, made by Brandan Lee and Radian-Helix Media. It was released in two installments, with the first installment released on May 31, 2013, and the second installment released as a beta on October 23, 2018. Originally known as Fallout: Project Brazil, the modification was renamed to Fallout: New California on September 1, 2017.
Fallout 4 is a 2015 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is the fourth main game in the Fallout series and was released worldwide on November 10, 2015, for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. The game is set within an open world post-apocalyptic environment that encompasses the city of Boston and the surrounding Massachusetts region known as "The Commonwealth".
Fallout 4: Far Harbor is an expansion pack for the 2015 video game Fallout 4, developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. Far Harbor was released on May 19, 2016 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One as downloadable content (DLC). The game is set in the year 2287, in the aftermath of a nuclear war that destroys most of the United States. In the expansion, the player character is hired as a private investigator to search for a missing girl in the isolated seaside community of Far Harbor.
Fallout 76 is a 2018 action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It is an installment in the Fallout series and a prequel to previous entries. Set in the year 2102, players control a resident of Vault 76 who must venture out into the dilapidated open world known as "Appalachia" in order to re-colonize the region, and uncover a mysterious plague that has killed off its inhabitants. Fallout 76 is Bethesda Game Studios's first multiplayer game; Bethesda developed the game using a modified version of its Creation Engine, which allowed the accommodation of multiplayer gameplay and a more detailed game world than in previous games.
Ghouls are a fictional race of posthuman beings from the post-apocalyptic Fallout video game franchise. Within series lore, ghouls are originally humans, many of them survivors of a global nuclear holocaust, who have been severely mutated by the residual irradiation, which greatly extends their lifespans but deforms their physical appearance into a zombie-like aesthetic. Many ghouls live alongside humans in settlements across the post-apocalyptic wasteland, while others mentally degenerate into a wild and antisocial state.
1 2 Stapleton, Dan (April 2010). Decker, Logan (ed.). "Fallout New Vegas". PC Gamer. No.199 (199ed.). United States of America: Future Publishing. p.52.
↑ "What happens in New Vegas stays in New Vegas". PlayStation 3 Magazine. United Kingdom: Future Publishing: 22–29. 2010.
↑ Bramwell, Tom (June 14, 2010). "Fallout: New Vegas dated". Eurogamer. Eurogamer Network Limited. Archived from the original on October 22, 2018. Retrieved June 14, 2010.
↑ Iftikhar, Zawad (November 2, 2010). "Community Patches Fallout New Vegas With Bug Fixes". segmentnext.com. Archived from the original on October 31, 2016. Retrieved August 9, 2011. Fallout New Vegas was the most bug plagued game of the past month. [...]most of these issues have been fixed with a community bug fix compilation patch. Download and Install this patch to fix any remaining bugs, errors, crashes, or other game-breaking issues that you are facing.
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