With the smash-hit Fallout TV show revitalizing the franchise’s popularity, I’ve had Fallout on the brain lately like everyone else. So I figured it was as good a time as any to start my annual Fallout New Vegas playthrough.
New Vegas isn’t the “best” Fallout game, nor is it the most “fun.” But its sun-baked desert wasteland is the most memorable and immersive. There are people, places, and conflicts in this game that are still burned into my brain nearly fourteen years after release. The icing on the immersion cake, though, is New Vegas’ “hardcore” gamemode that emphasizes survival gameplay elements and makes navigating the wastes far more punishing — as it should be.
Unfortunately, though, even with the hardcore difficulty, New Vegas is still a bit too easy — especially as a repeat player. Even though I return to the game frequently, I almost never finish my playthroughs. But I noticed a pattern lately that has changed how I play the game for the better.
Here’s the general playbook for my New Vegas replays: I excitedly plan out my character’s build; Enjoy navigating the game’s quaint starting town, Goodsprings; Hit up some landmark locations in the surrounding area to collect some starter loot; And then make a beeline for New Vegas (the game’s developers didn’t intend for players to access the titular gambler’s paradise at low levels, but it’s achievable if you know what you’re doing). Once I arrive at New Vegas I progress thru some of the main quests for those sweet, sweet experience points. And sadly, that’s where my playthroughs seem to stall out.
Why? It’s not because the New Vegas content is bad; In fact, the area features some of the franchise’s strongest and most memorable quests. The problem is that, as Vegas should be, the game’s titular city is splendorous. There are caps, food, drink, and weapons aplenty, and they’re yours for the taking. And while such luxury is appreciated, the abundance kills the wasteland survival vibe I love about Fallout. Hell, within minutes of arriving at the Strip, its proprietor Mr House comp’s you an executive hotel suite and practically gives you the keys to his kingdom (the game’s “Lucky 38” casino is off-limits for anyone else in the game but you).
So to keep this latest playthru interesting, I sought to lean further into New Vegas’s survival gameplay. My new character was a low-intelligence but agile tribal survivalist. The idea was to conquer the wasteland using nothing but my fists, leveraging the survival, unarmed, and sneak skills to balance out my character’s lack of intelligence and charisma.
And to New Vegas‘s credit, the game deftly embraced my caveman-esque character theme: Slaying torublesome geckos with my fists was exhilarating, and outside of combat, my character couldn’t charm a fly. But once I got her to New Vegas, I felt my player investment sputtering out once more. After all, waltzing thru a respeldent pre-war casino and hotel loaded with food and drink and staffed by imposing robot bodyguards is hardly “living off the land.”
I’m not faulting New Vegas here; It doesn’t pretend to be a rugged wasteland survival simulator (if anything, it’s an alternate-history sci-fi dystopia). So I knew I’d have to change the way I played the game to capture the immersion I was looking for, but wasn’t getting.
Here are the gameplay rules I instated for my survival tribalist playthrough:
- Self-found: I can only use items I find in the world or create
- No buying and selling items with NPCs
- Except for NPC repair services
- (If I didn’t allow repair, there might be chunks of gameplay where I’m without usable armor/weapons – not fun)
- Except for NPC repair services
- No “chem” use — stimpacks, psycho, jet, etc.
- Except for handmade items — fiery purgative, rushing water, etc. Don’t worry, healing poultices and healing powders are viable stimpak alternatives
- (The rationale is that my character doesn’t understand conventional drugs and can’t use them — needle goes where??)
- Except for handmade items — fiery purgative, rushing water, etc. Don’t worry, healing poultices and healing powders are viable stimpak alternatives
- No guns or power armor
- My character fights with unarmed/melee or ranged non-ballistic weapons only
- My character equips non-powered armor only
As you might suspect, this transforms New Vegas entirely. The splendorous casinos and eccentric powerful sci-fi weaponry remain, but my character can’t use or benefit from them. The caps I find and am rewarded from quests don’t mean shit since I can’t trade. And every combat “edge,” whether drug or otherwise, has to be found or created from the land. Thankfully, New Vegas features a robust survival-themed crafting skill (Survival), so eschewing stimpaks and bartering is perfectly viable.
So I’m happy to report that I’ve found yet another novel way to enjoy New Vegas. It’s a testament to the game’s role-playing strengths.