Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout: New Vegas opens with the player getting shot in the head and buried in a grave in the desert near the small town of Goodsprings. The courier who survives sets out to track down a stolen package and along the way gets caught up in a power struggle over the Hoover Dam — that is, over the source of energy and water for the entire region. Facing off against each other are the New California Republic, the slave-holding Caesar's Legion, and the mysterious owner of the New Vegas casinos, and the player may join any side or carve out their own path to power.

The game uses the previous entry's foundation but rebuilds it in favor of roleplaying. Skill checks returned to dialogues, so a player gifted in speech or technically skilled can resolve entire blocks of content without firing a single shot. The key new feature is reputation with individual factions, tracked separately and determining who welcomes the player and who opens fire on sight. Also added were weapon modifications, custom ammunition crafting, a harder mode with hunger, thirst, and sleep, and companions with their own quests, whose resolution ranks among the best content in the game. There are also noticeably more weapons, each with its own personality.

The release was plagued by serious technical issues and crashes, a reputation the game carried for a long time, but community fixes and unofficial patches now ensure stable performance even on modern computers. Visually it's weaker than the top titles of its time, but it has a strong identity built on the contrast between the scorched Mojave desert and the neon lights of the New Vegas Strip. The music again works with period radio songs, this time with a greater emphasis on country and western tones. Reception at launch was more divided, but with the passage of time the game is considered the peak of the series thanks to its writing and the sheer number of ways to solve the same problem. Today it still remains among the most common recommendations for anyone looking for an RPG with genuine freedom.