The second season of Prime Video’s Fallout is arriving next month, and the games are back on my mind. They always are, so back in March, I undertook a complete replay of the core series, which was a wonderful idea that I will do again one day. And after revisiting them all, my opinion remains steadfast: Fallout: New Vegas is the best entry in the series. It’s a take most Fallout fans have settled on since the game’s release back in 2010 — but you wouldn’t know that based on its launch.
When New Vegas landed in stores, it had many things going against it. Firstly, it wasn’t developed by Bethesda, as that studio was too busy developing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Instead, duties were handed over to Obsidian Entertainment, a studio primarily known for sequels to beloved games Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Neverwinter Nights that, while good, didn’t live up to the original.
Another issue was that it looked almost exactly like Fallout 3, which had been released two years earlier. This led to some labeling it as little more than an expansion pack for the previous game, which was the original plan. Perhaps the biggest problem, though, was how buggy it was at launch.
Image: Obsidian Entertainment/Bethesda Softworks
As someone who fell in love with Fallout 3 and picked up New Vegas on day one, I was immediately hooked in by this new corner of the Fallout universe. It wasn’t an expansion pack but an entirely new story told in a different region of that world. Instead of a vault dweller, you play a courier that’s been attacked. Now with holes in their memory, they search the Mojave Desert wasteland looking for the package they were carrying and whoever attacked them. It was exactly what I wanted: a bigger, busier, and more immersive version of Fallout 3. It was perfect. And then it crashed. Repeatedly.
New Vegas’ bugs were as hostile as a swarm of bloatflies. Game saves were corrupted, crashes would happen mid-mission, and the frame rate would shift dramatically at the drop of a hat. And while most games in that state would likely be written off, New Vegas wasn’t. Despite its technical challenges, fans knew the game was something special, and critics largely agreed. Fallout: New Vegas did well in reviews, with the Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game garnering an 84 on Metacritic, while the PS3 version earned an 82.
New Vegas was celebrated for its writing and the massive scope of the Mojave Desert. Those who played noted how the inclusion of the faction system allowed for much deeper roleplaying, with players being able to gain allies and enemies based on territories and relationships. And while the primary story of the Courier didn’t pack quite as big of an emotional punch as Fallout 3‘s Lone Wanderer, New Vegas made up for that with a seemingly endless supply of fun sidequests, new weapons, and plenty of DLC.
Within a few months of launch, Bethesda and Obsidian developed fixes for the game, taking care of the technical issues. The crashes and bugs that had previously hung like an albatross around its neck were a thing of the past. In the years that followed, we got Fallout 4 and Fallout 76. While both games are worthwhile entries into the franchise, neither has managed to create a world quite as engaging as what we got in New Vegas.
Fallout 4 kept some of the faction system Obsidian implemented in New Vegas, but the factions themselves weren’t all that memorable. And, unsurprisingly, post-apocalyptic Boston is less interesting to the eyes than post-apocalyptic Las Vegas. Fallout 76, on the other hand, is a completely different type of gaming experience as an MMO. However, the map feels far more barren than what we got in New Vegas. It’s much better since Bethesda added NPCs to the game, but 76 never feels alive in the way New Vegas did. With that in mind, it’s not surprising that the popularity of New Vegas continues to endure.
New Vegas looks like a great place to be, no?Image: Obsidian Entertainment/Bethesda Softworks
And that endurance is leading it to be more visible now than it has been since the original release. Not only will the city of New Vegas play a major role in the second season of Prime Video’s Fallout series, but a 15th anniversary edition of the game will arrive in 2026, complete with a statue of Victor the Securitron. Of course, that’s up for pre-order now.Additionally, the December update for Fallout 76 will take players to Ohio, which Bethesda previously teased would be the game’s answer to New Vegas. Even this year’s Fallout fan convention took place in Goodsprings, Nev., a location featured in the game. And yes, of course the cast of the show came to party with the fans.
Now, 15 years later, it’s as beloved as it’s ever been. There’s a reason the calls for a New Vegas 2 are often just as loud as those asking for Fallout 5. Warts and all, Fallout: New Vegas was something special from the beginning. Fans knew it then, embracing it despite its issues. Now, thanks to the ever-expanding Fallout franchise, the rest of the world is about to find out.
