Fallout: New Vegas reached its ten year anniversary last October and, like many of the RPGs biggest fans, I had the urge to revisit it. For a long time, New Vegas has not only been my favourite instalments in the Fallout series, but one of my favourite games of all time. Every so often, it flirts with Mass Effect 2, desperately vying for the number one spot on that list. This back and forth continues until I settle on one of these two titles as my ‘favourite game of all time’ before the conflict resumes and, suffice it to say, that top spot on the list never remains filled by just one game for very long. But regardless of this ageless indecisiveness that I’m sure many others like myself are plagued with, my return to the Mojave Wasteland was filled with nostalgia and I found myself reminiscing about what truly made this game so special for me. I trudged on through the opening hours of the game on the hunt for the man who shot me in the head and left me for dead, hell-bent on getting answers or revenge or whichever one presented itself to me first. However, as interesting and engaging as the main story is, I couldn’t help but push myself through it so that I could get to the most interesting part of this experience; the DLC.
And here was the meat of my real fascination with the world of New Vegas. Obsidian Entertainment have more than proven their talent when it comes to storytelling, with The Outer Worlds giving New Vegas obsessives like me the chance to dive back into their unique blend of action, comedy, and truly heartfelt emotion. When it comes to the DLC for New Vegas, they did something remarkable and brought the player on a journey of self-reflection and accountability. There is an interwoven narrative there, a series of characters whose stories all intertwine beautifully if one is attentive enough to put the pieces together, and it’s one that deserves some appreciation.
The Game Was Rigged From The Start
The story begins with the player character, the Courier, bound and on their knees in a graveyard. After being shot and left for dead in a shallow grave by a man in a flashy suit, the local doctor does what he can and sends you on your way to do as you please. The gunshot wound has left the Courier a tad amnesiac and, as a result, the first couple of quests revolve around filling in the Courier’s blanks in memory. From the outset, the four main story-oriented DLCs are available, though they all come with a recommended level so the player doesn’t rush in and find themselves in over their head. Ideally, the player will complete the bulk of the main story before heading off for lands unknown. Under this pretence, the Courier makes their way to the nearby town of Primm for information on what exactly is going on. What little information the player is given explains that they had taken a job delivering a mystery package only to find themselves intercepted by the suited man, who commandeered the package after shooting the Courier.
Though Primm is in the midst of a sort of siege, the townspeople are all holed up at the casino. It’s there the Courier meets Johnson Nash, who runs the Mojave Express and would have overseen the details of the arrangement to have the package delivered. This is where the player will hear the first inkling that there is something else going on other than the main story. Nash will give you the details of the delivery and how your character was one of six couriers hired for the job. While the other five were carrying decoy packages, you had the real prize, a platinum poker chip, and it is this that the suited man was after. It is safe to assume the other couriers did not survive, judging by the dead man outside the Mojave Express carrying only an invoice for the same job you were hired for.
The most interesting thing that Nash tells the Courier, though, is that there was another who was prepared to take the job, a courier like you who would have ferried the platinum chip across the desert and likely met his end at the hands of the suited man. Only, he never took the job. In fact, most curiously, he declined to put himself forward when he saw your name next down on the list of potential hires. According to Nash, the stranger’s words were, “No, let Courier Six carry the package”, with a tone that suggested the player character would be chewed up and spit back out by the wasteland. After that, he left, and Nash didn’t see him again. An unsettling tale, and one that the Courier would not quite understand for some time. But it is the first important piece of information given about the larger interconnected story that the player will soon find themselves a part of.
Begin Again
After tracking down Benny, the man in the suit, the Courier retrieves the platinum chip and throws their lot in with whichever of the factions most takes their fancy, or none if they prefer the idealistic notion of an independent Vegas, free from the unwelcome rule of either the militaristic New California Republic-who have a tendency to annex territories without considering if they want to be a part of the NCR-or Caesar’s Legion, the sprawling horde of violent brutes who crucify those they consider to be ‘degenerates’, mistreat women, and forcefully absorb primitive tribes into their ranks by luring them in with promises of cooperation. But before the inevitable final battle, there is still some unfinished business to attend to.
The Courier recalls a signal they picked up on their pip-boy, one of four that have yet to be investigated. Dead Money is the first DLC, luring the Courier to an underground bunker where they are gassed and kidnapped, taken to an unfamiliar location while unconscious. They find themselves in the villa outside the Sierra Madre casino, a place known only in legends passed around the wasteland. At first glance, it’s a horrible place, and this feeling will only be reaffirmed the longer the player spends here. The entire area is surrounded by a toxic red fog called the Cloud that kills anyone exposed to it for too long. If that wasn’t terrifying enough, it seems that several hazmat suit-wearing people from before the war have reanimated and now stalk the streets as the hauntingly macabre ‘Ghost People.’ Killing them is only temporary, as they will return to life-or whatever you want to call it-moments later. Dismemberment is the only way to assure they will stay down. Yikes.
But before the Courier can discover any of these horrors, they awaken in front of a fountain and a holographic projection of a mystery woman. They quickly receive a transmission from a grizzled old man, introduced as Father Elijah, a name that should sound familiar to those who befriended Veronica Santangelo back in the Mojave. As she explains, he was something of a mentor to her and she looked up to him immensely. But their relationship became strained when he separated her from her lover and his mental state began to deteriorate. He became aggressive and erratic with the direction he believed the Brotherhood of Steel should take and, like many of their members, found himself feeding an unhealthy obsession with technology. It seems Veronica’s concerns were well founded, as it is he who is responsible for having the Courier taken to this awful place. With an explosive collar fastened to the Courier’s neck, he can kill them at the push of a button, and so forces them to obey his will. He wants to use them, along with three other unfortunate victims of his games, to break into the Sierra Madre so he can uncover its secrets and, of course, its treasure. While each of the other characters have their own personalities and motivations, it is Christine Royce who is the most relevant. She is found trapped inside an auto-doc with a shaven head and several noticeable scars across her scalp and mouth. Additionally, she cannot speak, a fact she is as surprised about as the player. This naturally makes It more difficult to communicate with her, with high Medicine and Perception required to understand her a lot of the time.
Obsidian are obviously very deliberately trying to emphasise her importance, with a scene here and there where she will seek comfort from the Courier during times of stress or fear, and it is easy to form a bond with the mute woman. While conversing with her as best you can, she explains her connection to Elijah. Provided the Courier meets the skill requirements, they infer that she is hunting him for something. On a more personal note, he allegedly cut her off from someone that she was in love with. Sound familiar? Towards the end of the DLC, Christine regains the ability to speak, but she mentions that the voice is no longer her own. She sounds exactly like Vera Keyes, a performer who stayed at the casino and had the affection of the casino’s founder, Frederick Sinclair. It would appear he built this place for her and her voice is the key to unlocking the vault. Her body in the next room shows that she never got the chance to see the vault’s interior herself. Thus, Elijah’s plan becomes clear. He had Christine’s voice removed so he could then give her Vera’s voice and gain access to the casino’s treasure.
Now that Christine can speak again, she also offers some more insight into her story, how she worked for an internal group akin to military police of the Brotherhood known as the Circle of Steel and she was charged with hunting him down for his questionable behaviour and subsequent desertion back in the Mojave. It seems obvious that Christine and Veronica were the two lovers separated by Elijah. During the player’s conversation with Christine, she details how her hunt for Elijah lead her to several locations, one of which she calls the Big Empty, where she was experimented on in a medical facility. She was rescued by a stranger who knew about Elijah, a courier who had an old American flag on his back and nursed her back to health. The player must make their way to the vault, which is full of gold bars, and decide how to deal with Elijah. Either way, they return to the villa to find themselves alone and Christine nowhere to be found. It is time to return to the Mojave. The Cloud makes the route back unreliable, and it is clear the Courier will never be able to return here. As they breach the unknown and head for that familiar desert, Elijah’s words about the Madre during the introductory slideshow ring true; “But getting to it, that’s not the hard part…it’s letting go.”
We Can’t Expect God To Do All The Work
Honest Hearts is the second DLC the player tackles, provided they play them in chronological order, and it is by far the weakest of the four. However, it does still tie into the overarching narrative these DLCs are trying to tell and offers further explanation for a question raised during the vanilla game, as well; Who is the ‘Burned Man?’ Whether the Courier sides with Caesar and his Legion or not, the player will still end up spending some time at their base of operations during the main plot. Every so often, one of the legionnaires will come out with, “Some of the slaves have been spreading stories about the Burned Man again”, as if we are supposed to know who that is. As it happens, this Burned Man is something of an urban legend amongst members of the Legion. But as we know, legends have a way of finding the Courier.
Honest Hearts begins with a simple caravan escort job, but things quickly turn sour as they so often do when the gang reach lawless Utah and the local tribals kill everyone but the Courier. Alone once more and in new territory, the player must brave the wilderness of Zion Canyon. Another tribal approaches and, instead of attacking, warns the Courier about the dangers of this place. Introducing himself as Follows-Chalk, he mentions that his tribe’s war chief will want to meet the Courier. He is talkative during the walk to his camp, offering some insight into the situation in Zion. He belongs to a tribe known as the Dead Horses, a mostly amicable bunch unless provoked, but they are currently at war with the strangers that killed the Courier’s companions; the White Legs.
Upon reaching the camp, the war chief of the Dead Horses introduces himself as Joshua Graham and it seems fairly obvious that he is the Burned Man. Covered from head to toe in bandages, he reiterates what the introductory slideshow told us, how he was a Legate in Caesar’s Legion and was punished for his failure on the battlefield by being set on fire and thrown into the Grand Canyon, a fate he ultimately survived. It is noteworthy that Graham is described as having been completely ruthless, a killing machine who did not flinch at the terrible things he did and had no qualms about killing whoever he had to, but he is a pleasant man during Honest Hearts who has a habit of quoting scripture. It seems he has reformed, finding new purpose in the defence of the Dead Horses against their aggressors. During the first meeting with him, he will make note of the fact that you are a courier, but not the one he expected. A different courier that he thought would come after him when he came here, peculiar indeed.
Much of the rest of Honest Hearts is self-contained, with Graham offering some information about how he knew the man who calls himself Caesar when he still went by Edward, but there are no more concrete links to the narrative unfolding in the background. The Courier helps the Dead Horses and moves on, the third new location on the horizon.
The Gods In This Place
Old World Blues is unlike any other Fallout experience, a strange mishmash of absurdity and bleakness that keeps the player guessing exactly what new strain of wackiness they will encounter next. It’s like the satirical lovechild of every unconventional form of science fiction media. Unlike the previous DLC locations, the Big Empty has no other human characters to speak to, consisting of only bloodthirsty lobotomised victims, robots, and mutated creatures. The NPCs are the former scientists of what was once known as Big Mountain (Big MT) with their preserved brains piloting rather unorthodox robot bodies with comically large screens for their eyes and mouths, giving them the appearance of giant floating heads. They don’t have much to say about the narrative being subtly presented by the other DLCs save for some vague hints here and there, but the Big Empty is full of information if you know where to look.
During the Courier’s exploration of the Big Empty’s many research facilities, it becomes clear that much of the technology previously seen was developed here. The hazmat suits worn by the Ghost People in the Sierra Madre villa, the holographic security guards protecting the casino and vault, even the explosive collars used to keep Elijah’s victims in check. Speaking of which, if the player explores as many nooks and crannies of the Big Empty as they can, they will find a location named Elijah’s Watch where the Brotherhood of Steel deserter made camp while he was skulking around the facilities. The most intriguing part of the Big Empty, though, is a cave called Ulysses’s Point. Inside, there are bedrolls, storage lockers, shelves of food and miscellaneous items…it looks like the perfect hideout. And in here, we find two holotapes that shed the most light so far on this interconnected narrative I’ve been rambling about this whole time.
A third holotape can be recovered from the medical facility in the Big Empty, which helps to put the others in perspective. This holotape plays, and a woman introduces herself as Christine Royce. Her voice is different, her real voice before Elijah made her sound like Vera Keyes. She details how she came here to find Elijah and instead found the aftermath of his experiments, mindless lunatics with explosive collars fitted to them who attack on sight. Christine got caught in an explosion and woke up inside the medical facility, trapped and with fresh scars on her head. It seems the medical robots attempted to lobotomise her like the other aggressive humans encountered in the Big Empty. The log ends with an impact and a distressed Christine realising someone else is there.
The next holotape, one of the two found in Ulysses’s Point, hears Christine insist that technology is dangerous and a second voice responds in agreement, a man’s voice. It’s deep and calm, but there is passion in his words as he argues with her about the ideology of the Brotherhood of Steel. While Christine believes in the threat Elijah poses and is adamant she must follow through with the Circle of Steel’s wish to have him executed, the stranger retorts that Elijah and the Circle are more similar than she realises. He believes both are obsessed and misguided, like the NCR and Caesar’s Legion, as none of these factions vying for power can provide a sustainable future for post-apocalyptic civilisation. It’s very interesting to hear him speak about looking for the right future for the world and its survivors. It’s not a common theme of these games, and a refreshing new standpoint for an as-of-yet unseen character. And then Christine shoves his hypocrisy in his face by mentioning the old world flag on his back, implying he, too, is clinging to a dead idea, misguided in his wish to see America reborn. His response is intriguing. “America sleeps. And until it’s dead, I carry it…just like I carried you.”
There’s a lot to unpack there, given the previous tidbits of information the game passes the player’s way. The old world flag on the stranger’s back should sound familiar right from the get go. Back in the Sierra Madre, Christine mentions another courier she met who knew about Elijah and nursed her back to health after being experimented on. This is the man speaking to her on the holotape, the man who refused to deliver the platinum chip when he saw the Courier’s name on the list, further reinforced by his words earlier in the holotape; “People are like couriers…you and him…sometimes don’t even know the message they bring.”
The last holotape is similar, Christine and the stranger conversing again, with the other courier having spoken to the scientists that once ran the pre-war compound. He tells Christine where Elijah has gone, to the Sierra Madre, and this sends Christine on her quest. The other courier mentions how he won’t talk her out of it as he knows what it means to track someone you share history with. Obsidian know the player has spent most of their time with this game piecing things together, and the man on the holotape is explicit with his words, mentioning how he will lure the Courier to a place called the Divide so they can have a confrontation. From the sounds of it, the Courier was responsible for something in the past that this stranger holds them accountable for. And they intend to see the Courier pay.
An Ending To Things
The other courier is revealed to be named Ulysses and he has a bone to pick with the protagonist. Lonesome Road is a long DLC as most of it follows the Courier through the aforementioned Divide, a disastrous hellscape riddled with radiation storms and full of zombified soldiers. Initially, it is unclear what Ulysses wants, exactly. Logic would assume he was out for revenge, though what exactly he wanted revenge for hadn’t been explained yet. But he seems disinterested in killing the Courier and more interested in showing them something. He very intentionally makes them walk through the bulk of the Divide so they can see how much destruction was wrought here. Eventually, he explains the history he supposedly shares with the Courier.
The reason he wanted the Courier to travel through the Divide and see what it was like is because it was not always so. Once, it was a prosperous town that also acted as a trade route for the NCR, a place where the horrors of the post-apocalyptic wasteland of America were forgotten and people could eke out a life for themselves. But the NCR weren’t content with a simple trade route, and they soon moved into the settlement. Hired by the NCR to deliver a package to the Divide, the Courier braved the harsh weather as they had done multiple times in order to keep the town sustained. The NCR, it seemed, were unaware that the package was actually a detonator. Once opened, several nuclear warheards lying dormant beneath the surface of the Divide exploded and the entire community was destroyed. Ulysses is someone who values history but who also believes it is important not to repeat history’s mistakes. He told Christine that the NCR and Caesar’s Legion could have been the future of humanity, but they failed and were misguided. He claimed the Brotherhood was much the same. Having found the Divide and seeing the thriving community there, it represented a future for him that he had been longing for, a future the most powerful factions in post-apocalyptic America were failing to provide. And it was all snatched away in an instant.
It is this message that the narrative of the DLCs has for the player, how one person can have such an impact on so many lives and how people must accept the consequences of their actions. The Courier’s amnesia is a handy plot device for the player to refuse to take accountability as they do not experience the destruction first-hand, but Lonesome Road reminds us that this does not undo what has been done. Ulysses, like many others acting as one of the Frumentarii of Caesar’s Legion, would often pose as a courier and take delivery jobs to maintain his cover. After the events at the Divide, though, Ulysses seemingly became disillusioned with the Legion and went his own way in life. Upon seeing the Courier’s name when signing up for a job, it was clear they had survived the explosions. The time had come to take matters into his own hands and forge the future that had been taken away from him so quickly.
He walked across the wastes day after day, coming upon the Big Empty and finding Christine Royce trapped in the medical facility, deciding to rescue her and tell her his story. Even his old acquaintance, Joshua Graham, heard he had been travelling the Mojave and wondered if Caesar would send him to assassinate him, but Ulysses never came, sending his message instead through the White Legs that he had trained to fight when the Legion offered them a place amongst their ranks. And finally, he and the Courier would have an ending to things at the Divide, where it all began.
The ending slideshows of the previous three DLCs all mention a great battle in the Divide, the two couriers warring beneath an old world flag. The exact circumstances of this are up to the player. Ulysses believes the only way to have the future he sought is to wipe the slate clean and begin again, with several nuclear missiles armed and ready to wipe out the civilisations that failed to live up to his standards. The Courier can convince him to bomb the NCR, the Legion, both, or neither, providing their Speech is high enough and they choose their words carefully enough to not anger him. In the end, there is a battle in the Divide, the two couriers either fighting one another or side by side against the zombified Marked Men that flood into the facility. Regardless, when the Courier returns to the Mojave, Ulysses has left them one final message in the form of a holotape, giving his thoughts and offering advice for the upcoming battle.
If War Doesn’t Change, Men Must Change
Fallout: New Vegas does a great job of allowing the player to mould what kind of person they are going to be, but the DLC makes its point unapologetically that, despite the player’s choices, the Courier has made a few choices of their own in the past. Each of the characters they meet has a different piece of the puzzle to offer, eventually leading to the conclusion with Ulysses and the cold hard fact that no matter how hard you might try to do what you think is right, somebody is still going to get hurt. Actions have consequences, however small, and it is up to us to take responsibility. This extends to Caesar’s Legion, the NCR, the Brotherhood of Steel, and every up-and-coming faction with an ideology they hope to spread throughout the wasteland. Elijah’s behaviour cost him the trust of his closest allies and he ended up being hunted down by someone he deeply hurt. Ulysses trained the White Legs how to fight and, in doing so, gave them an edge over the Dead Horses and their leader, Joshua Graham, forcing them to flee and abandon their home. He rescued Christine from her fate in the Big Empty, allowing her to continue on her quest and eventually meet the Courier. And the Courier themselves unwittingly caused the destruction of something held quite dearly by the one who would call them back there and show them what they had done.
It’s a heavy message and a hard pill to swallow after everything the Courier goes through to get to that point, but Fallout: New Vegas offers closure by tying it all back up neatly and reminding you that everyone’s story is connected. The ending slideshows of the DLCs tell you that these significant individuals you make connections with don’t just turn their backs on you and move on, they hear about the battle in the Divide and they continue to remember the Courier who had such an impact on their lives and their situations. One lesson Ulysses never really learns is that the hope and community he is looking for don’t have to be represented in a place or a faction, they can be found in the people you meet along the way. The bonds we make with other survivors are what keeps us going through it all and it’s the very reason the Courier fights to the bitter end for the cause they believe in. But in the end, Ulysses is right. If war doesn’t change, then men must change, and so must their symbols. “Might be a lesson, there…”
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