Fallout: New Vegas for Windows

The 2010 spinoff of the Fallout series

Fallout: New Vegas is a premium role-playing game from Bethesda Softworks. This action experience is a spinoff of the main Fallout series, also set in an apocalyptic wasteland that focuses on the titular location. You play as a courier for the Mojave Express left for dead and now out to fight for his survival.

Despite being originally released in 2010 and excluded from the main series, Fallout: New Vegas remains a must-try for fans of the series. Its events are set four years after Fallout 3, and features key elements introduced in Fallout 2, such as the reputation system.

Explore the massive Mojave Wasteland

Fallout: New Vegas takes place in 2281, four years after the events of Fallout 3. The areas of the Mojave Wasteland — covering what used to be the states of Nevada, Arizona, and California — serve as the setting where three major powers are vying for control. Your former postal service courier character gets caught in the middle, choosing one of the three factions to join and assist, leading to one of four endings.

Its graphics are closer to Fallout 3, with gameplay features from Fallout 2. Since this spinoff has quite the number of factions, it reinstates the Reputation System that tracks your good and bad deeds for each of the factions. This also determines their interactions with the player. The same can be said for the crafting and the companion systems, gaining wider options and depth in connection to the storyline.

Despite its compelling storyline for a spinoff, there are still a couple of issues that haunt this Bethesda title. For one, the character models lack the range and emotion seen in the mainline games. Also, this base game suffered from a lot of performance and optimization issues. From characters passing through walls or floating to the game freezing, it has made the game wonky and funny.

Easily one of the best spin offs ever made

Fallout: New Vegas presents an expansive journey through the Mojave Wasteland, where the player navigates the complexities of factional power struggles. Drawing on elements from its predecessors, the game introduces a robust Reputation System and enriches crafting and companion interactions. However, notable drawbacks include subpar character models and technical glitches. Despite these shortcomings, the game offers a captivating spinoff experience, inviting players into a world teeming with choice and consequence.