if i could bottle the feeling of walking out of doc mitchell's house for the first time and seeing the sun rise over goodsprings, i'd never feel hollow again. fallout: new vegas isn’t just a game—it’s a world, a philosophy lesson, a grim joke, and a personal pilgrimage all in one. when people ask me what makes a game truly great, i point them straight to the mojave.

let’s start with the world. the mojave wasteland isn’t the biggest open world out there, nor the prettiest in a conventional sense, but it is, without a doubt, one of the most alive. every location tells a story, not through exposition dumps or flashing arrows on a map, but through design, placement, and mood. you can stumble across a burned out caravan with corpses arranged in a desperate circle, or find a skeleton lying in bed next to a bottle of pills. nothing shouts, “look at me!”—it just waits to be discovered.

the storytelling in fallout: new vegas is something else entirely. it respects the player’s intelligence. it gives you choices that matter—not just in how the story ends, but in how you experience it moment to moment. siding with the ncr might bring stability, but at what cost? throwing in with caesar’s legion might mean order, but can you stomach their brutality? or maybe you want to carve your own path, go independent, and become the wildcard. every faction is flawed. every ideology is tested. and you’re never told which is right. that’s the magic.

and then there’s the writing. oh man, the writing. it’s sharp, witty, dark, and human. characters like ulysses, veronica, arcade, and boone feel like real people with convictions and baggage. even the minor npcs have something memorable to say, a little piece of themselves etched into the world. whether you’re chatting with the king about the spirit of elvis or confronting benny in the tops casino, the dialogue always feels grounded and meaningful.

gameplay-wise, yeah, it has its jank. the combat isn’t exactly buttery smooth, and the engine is creaky even by 2010 standards. but once you get past the occasional bug or awkward animation, you start to appreciate how much the mechanics serve the roleplaying. want to be a silver-tongued pacifist who never fires a shot? you can. want to be a ruthless explosives expert who solves every problem with a stick of dynamite? totally viable. the game doesn’t punish you for being weird or niche—it celebrates it.

the dlc content deserves its own love letter. dead money is a haunting, suffocating story of greed and obsession, with a tone so different from the base game that it feels like a playable nightmare. honest hearts explores faith, trauma, and cultural identity in a surprisingly touching way. old world blues is pure sci-fi absurdity, a campy romp full of brilliant writing and self-aware humor. and lonesome road is the game’s introspective finale, a philosophical debate with the ghost of who you could’ve been. each dlc is a unique experience, and together they deepen the game’s themes and scope immeasurably.

the music… my goodness, the music. both the ambient score and the radio tracks are pitch perfect. wandering the desert as johnny guitar plays softly in the background isn’t just atmospheric—it’s emotional. it makes you feel like the last living soul in a forgotten america. mark morgan’s tracks still send chills down my spine, and the radio hosts (especially mister new vegas) bring a comforting, melancholic voice to the chaos.

but maybe the most important thing about fallout: new vegas is how it stays with you. it’s not just about quests or leveling up. it’s about the feeling of making choices and living with them. it’s about the little stories that only you experience because of the way you played. it’s about becoming someone in a world that’s been broken and reforged a hundred times. and in a strange way, it makes you reflect on your own world, your own choices, and what it means to try to do good in a place that often feels like it’s gone too far wrong.

there’s no game like it. no other title has captured the same blend of freedom, depth, wit, and soul. it’s imperfect, sure, but so are the best things in life. and maybe that’s why i love it so much. because beneath the dust and decay of the mojave lies something incredibly rare—a game that trusts you to find your own meaning.

so yes. ten out of ten. always has been. always will be.

look, say what you want about the other factions, but following mr. house in fallout: new vegas is absolutely justified—and honestly, he might be the closest thing the mojave has to a real good guy. yeah, he's a cold, calculating technocrat, but in a world ravaged by nukes, raiders, and two-bit dictators playing war, isn’t that exactly what you want? the man had the foresight to protect vegas from complete destruction during the great war centuries ago, and he’s the only one with a real, long-term vision for rebuilding civilization without descending into fascism or chaos. the ncr is bloated, corrupt, and can’t manage its own supply lines. caesar's legion is a straight-up slaver cult. going independent sounds fun until you realize it just leads to more instability and warlords fighting over scraps. mr. house wants order, progress, and a future run by intellect and efficiency—not superstition or bureaucracy. plus, he doesn’t pretend to be your friend—he’s honest about what he wants, and he rewards competence. in a world full of liars and killers, that kind of clarity is rare. so yeah, i backed house, and i’d do it again. mr. house is just like mr. hicks.

mr. hicks is, without question, the coolest history teacher i’ve ever had—possibly the coolest person to ever set foot in a school, period. this man has over 600 hours logged in fallout 4, and he brings that exact kind of post-apocalyptic passion into the classroom like he’s teaching from a bunker in the glowing sea. he doesn’t just talk about historical wars—he lives it, connecting everything from the roman empire to cold war politics with the factions in the fallout universe. one day, i drew him a picture of an ncr ranger from fallout: new vegas—full gear, the big iron, the cool helmet, the whole thing—and he was so stoked about it, he actually put it up on his classroom wall. for a while, it just hung there like a silent guardian of the wasteland, watching over desks and textbooks. it made me feel like i’d added something real to that room. but then—tragedy. someone took it down. no warning, no explanation, just gone. like it never existed. probably some admin who thought it wasn’t “school appropriate” or whatever, as if a drawing of a ranger is somehow more threatening than literally everything that happens in the school bathrooms. still, mr. hicks was cool about it. he said he’d pay me to make another fallout picture that was school friendly. the man’s a legend. if there’s ever a fallout-themed high school, he better be principal.

Picture this, big wasp comes up to you. It stings you. You die 54 secs later. Beautiful game.

Great game with mods, Obsidian understood Fallout way better than Bethesda.