Fallout: New Vegas was my introduction to the Fallout series, and RPGs in general. I originally played this game on the PS3 in 2010 when it released, and despite being the most problematic version of the game, I still adored it.

After receiving my Steam Deck last year, I decided to play through the game again fully for the first time in years. I also never got a chance to play the last DLC, so I figured it was a good opportunity to give it a try.

New Vegas was made in just 18 months. Developed by Obsidian Entertainment, which was founded by five developers who originally worked at Black Isle Studios, the developers of the original Fallout games, before Bethesda bought the property and revamped the series with Fallout 3.

New Vegas runs on the same engine as Fallout 3, however it has got some improvements. I’d compare the two games to GTA III and Vice City in terms of engine changes between the two, with New Vegas being Vice City.

I played through the game vanilla, on the hardest difficulty, with Hardcore Mode enabled (adds survival elements like hunger, hydration and tiredness) and with no fast travel.

The base game of New Vegas is set in the Mojave Wasteland (post apocalyptic Mojave Desert) on the west coast of America, a stark contrast to the Capital Wasteland on the east coast in Fallout 3.

Others have often claimed the Mojave Wasteland feels empty, especially compared to Fallout 3, but I disagree, I think the Mojave Wasteland is filled almost perfectly with content for you to experience as you explore the wastes.

Yes, some areas feel a little barebones and don’t live up to their full potential, but there’s only a handful of locations where I thought this.

New Vegas (post apocalyptic Las Vegas) itself is severely restricted by the limitations induced by consoles at the time, as well as the engine not being optimised for such dense scenes. The biggest problem being the city is cut up into several sections with load screens in between, it’s not ideal but they did what they could for the time.

The writing of New Vegas is it’s strongest point. The game has a ton of different dialogue options, allowing players to role-play different types of characters well without breaking immersion too much.

They even went to the effort of adding unique choices and dialogue if your character has low intelligence. It’s obviously not for every conversation as it’d take too much time with the short development time New Vegas had, but it’s one of those things they clearly had ideas for and just didn’t have the time to flesh it out fully.

Multiple main faction choices for the player to side with also allow you to take the story in several general directions, while your interactions with smaller factions can alter their course as well as their future with the main factions in control by the end of the game. It’s very well thought out.

The combat is possibly the weakest part of the gameplay. Don’t get me wrong, levelling up further and destroying enemies that were previously a major annoyance is very satisfying. But the weapons in the game can often feel clunky and unsatisfying.

New Vegas added a traditional aiming down sight mechanic, something that was missing in Fallout 3. However it can bug out quite often and it feels like a good few weapons don't actually shoot where you aim.

Shotguns can be very satisfying to use, especially since you can blow the limbs off of your enemies and you don’t really need to aim too much to use them. Melee, while not having much weight and usually just consists of you swinging until the enemies health bar gets to 0, is also very satisfying for the same reason the shotguns are.. little aiming required and plenty of gore.

Enemy variation is very good. But human NPCs are very bland in terms of tactics, especially those with ranged weapons, they never take cover and seem to just strafe back and forth while firing.

Levelling up your character is addictive and the way you build your character will have an impact on the actions you can perform. Want to blow up a cave for a quest? You need to be skilled with explosives. Want to persuade someone to avoid confrontation with you? You need a high speech skill to say just the right thing to them.

Depending on the skills you increase, you can get perks for those skills too. It’s quite layered and will keep you looking forward to your next level up.

New Vegas also adds crafting, something that didn’t really exist in Fallout 3. They did an excellent job with the first iteration of this and I think Bethesda did a great job expanding on it in Fallout 4.

There’s different types of crafting depending on the object you interact with. Campfires, reloading benches, and workbenches.

Campfires allow you to cook foods and allows you to make medicines and herbs.

Reloading benches allow you to craft different variations of your ammunition and also allows you to breakdown your ammunition into raw materials. I absolutely love this addition and it’s something that isn’t even in Fallout 4, it really adds a lot of depth to standard ballistic weapons.

Workbenches allow you to build weapons, repair kits, recycle and overcharge energy weapon ammunition and so on.

Crafting was a great addition to New Vegas and it adds a ton of depth to the game, it also gives junk items some sort of use.

Dead Money was the first DLC for New Vegas. Stripping the players of all their equipment and throwing them into an extremely hostile environment wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but others really loved it.

Initially I was one of those people who didn’t really enjoy Dead Money, but my replay this time made me appreciate it much more.

It’s set in the Sierra Madre villa and casino, an extremely atmospheric location which turns the game into a bit of a horror survival game with ghost people as enemies and invincible holograms that patrol and hunt you down if spotted.

Great cast of characters and the history behind the location is excellent. Definitely a fantastic DLC and I would recommend playing it.

Honest Hearts is the second DLC, set in Zion Canyon, which is pretty. I didn't enjoy this DLC nearly as much this time around and it's not how I remember it.

Nothing but fetch quests and there’s one decent new character that hasn't got enough dialogue and a few uninteresting characters.

There's simply not enough choice in this DLC either and out of the two options you do have, only one of them is kinda logical.

I will say one of the best parts of this DLC is a story told by a survivor of the great war through messages they leave on terminals throughout Zion. It's captivating and tragic, very well written.

Old World Blues is the third DLC and is set in the Big MT Research Facility.

This DLC has some great characters, plenty of new content and some very interesting ideas.

Only complaint with this DLC is how ridiculously strong enemies are, especially at higher levels.

The final DLC for New Vegas was Lonesome Road, set in The Divide.

First time playing this DLC and I loved it. It's a nice change of pace, bringing the player on a linear path, but it works great.

Fantastic antagonist, good location which adds some missing verticality to the gameplay of New Vegas, captivating dialogue and some interesting critical choices that can affect the world outside of the DLC.

Only complaint is how it adds background to your character, potentially limiting your character story if role-playing.

New Vegas is a fantastic game and I’d recommend everyone try it at least once, it's almost guaranteed to rope you in.

Only complaints is the lack of immersive fast travel options in the game world, and the stability. I had a few crashes in the base game anytime I tried to play the game at 4K, mods can fix it, but just something to note.

Overall, great game.