TL;DR – Following the success of the base game, there were 4 pieces of Fallout: New Vegas DLC alongside a few lousy pre-order weapons packs. Of the first two, both Dead Money (DM) and Honest Hearts (HH) are short but enjoyable expansions even if they are almost opposites in terms of how they expand on the existing base game. Dead Money is a challenging, narrative-focused addition that orients everything towards serving it’s self-contained story while Honest Hearts is more akin to an extra dollop of content. Of the two DM is indisputably more interesting, but I think more casual players (or returning players who’ve already seen the stories play out) will get better value from HH. Either way I would strongly recommend playing through both of these expansions, even if only once, as they are a welcome addition of late-game content and both fit well within the broader narrative of F:NV.
Quick Note: I played through both of these pieces of Fallout: New Vegas DLC in “Hardcore” mode, which normally doesn’t change much in F:NV aside from making healing and limb restoration more difficult. In Dead Money however it makes a huge difference as you will be poisoned by the polluted city itself, making health management much more of a challenge. I’d strongly recommend playing DM in hardcore mode for the best experience, but beware of this mechanic ahead of time!
Hopefully you guys enjoyed my F:NV review last week because I’m following it up with two back-to-back “double-bills” where I’m going to examine the (major) Fallout: New Vegas DLC packs in more detail! This week I’m going to take a look at the first two of the bigger Fallout: New Vegas DLC releases – namely Dead Money and Honest Hearts which in spite of their superficial similarities were actually very different from each other. Dead Money is a narrative focused experience containing a new zone that can only be played through once per character, with little in the way of side content and a heavy focus on the characters and setting contained within it. Honest Hearts on the other hand wouldn’t seem out of place in a Bethesda game, as it contains an area that you’re free to re-enter at will and which contains more in the way of side-quests and hidden loot. Either way they’re both enjoyable experiences and I’d recommend them to anyone who enjoyed the base game – especially as they come bundled with the Ultimate edition that’s frequently $5 during the various Steam/GoG/Epic sales.
Dead Money was the first major DLC to release after F:NV’s launch, so it’s the obvious one to start with. In DM, your character is abducted from the Mojave after entering an abandoned Brotherhood of Steel bunker while hunting for the source of a radio message promising them the ability to begin again at the Sierra Madre casino resort. This narrative device is used to explain why you can’t bring any companions with you and also explains why you can’t bring any of your items with you – not even your bottle caps! This means that DM truly forces you to begin again as you have no weapons, healing supplies, ammo or cold hard caps with which to assist you in exploring this hostile new settlement. Things get even more bleak as when your character awakens at the entrance of the Sierra Madre resort, they are contacted by the antagonist Elijah who reveals that he has orchestrated your abduction and placed a bomb-collar on your neck! The reason for your quasi-enslavement is simple, he needs you to help him break into the Sierra Madre casino so that he can pilfer it’s contents. Fortunately(?) he also reveals that you aren’t the only one he has ensnared in his scheme, as there are also 3 other people trapped in various parts of the Sierra Madre resort who will help you in “your” mission. Unfortunately for you, they’re all equally as annoyed at Elijah as you are and are therefore not the most trusting or reliable of partners. Without their help however you’ll all be stuck in the toxic smog that has engulfed the Sierra Madre for centuries, meaning that you’ll need to work together to pull off Elijah’s insane heist.
Now this toxic smog isn’t just for show, as in Hardcore mode it actively damages you (albeit slowly) over time when you’re outdoors. Of course if you had your healing supplies this wouldn’t be much of an issue, but as mentioned above… you don’t. In fact the start of DM is arguably the most intense part of F:NV, as you’ll be scrambling to find healing supplies with which to offset the perpetual damage that your character is taking. Plus you’ll need to find weapons and armour which suit your character’s build with which to deal with the enemies that have infested the Sierra Madre. These new enemies only come in a few forms of which there are two main types, but there are two important factors which make them stand out from the myriad of foes which roam the wastes of the Mojave. The first is that they’re tough, and trust me when I say this as my character was geared towards Unarmed and Melee attacks but still found it tough going at the start. The various “Ghost Walkers” have large amounts of health, deal solid amounts of damage and often travel in packs which mean they can be overwhelming to deal with – especially when you remember that you’re always taking damage from being outside! To make matters even worse, they’ll revive themselves soon after dying unless you’re able to destroy their bodes via explosives, energy weapon disintegration or flailing wildly at their corpses until they’re just a collection of chunks. As such you need to whittle them down one-by-one and make sure they don’t get back up otherwise fights will drag on and your limited healing supplies & ammo will be exhausted. The other major enemy type in DM takes the form of hologram security guards, who aren’t much of an issue as they have limited patrol routes and don’t open fire right away. There’s just one modest caveat which is that they are immune to your fists, melee weapons, guns and explosives… so you either need to make good use of the hologram rifle you get near the start of this DLC or sneak past them. Fortunately they’re always near an interactive transmitter that can be disabled to turn them off, so long as your repair skill is high enough (the required amount ranges from 25 to 100).
At this stage you’re probably thinking that the enemies sound challenging, but that you can run past the “Ghosts” and sneak past the holograms, so you shouldn’t have too much to worry about. Unfortunately for you and your character, the Sierra Madre is positively littered with traps that have been laid out by previous scavengers and plunderers that came before you. This means that you’ll need to proceed cautiously, lest you get caught by one of the 100+ bear traps, tripwires and pressure plates that are spread out across the entire resort. Some of these traps are particularly fiendish as it feels like the developers knew exactly what they were doing when placing them, with pressure plates appearing right below naturally occurring drops and tripwires being hidden at the top of stairwells so that you can barely see them. To make matters worse, areas of the Sierra Madre are also covered in poisonous fog which deals high amounts of damage and restricts visibility. Often these traps are placed in areas of fog too, as are the enemies you’ll be facing. This means that you’ll need to be simultaneously quick and cautious, lest you get bogged down by enemies or have your legs crippled by deviously placed traps. Oh and before you get too comfortable, there’s one other important set of hazards that can easily claim your characters life. Remember how you’re wearing a bomb collar? Well it’s been fitted with haste and as a consequence is susceptible to early detention from errant radio waves, which means that various radios and speakers will begin initiating a detention sequence that will activate if you remain too close for too long. Some of these radios and speakers can be deactivated, either by interacting with them, powering them down or shooting them – but you had best make your mind up as to how you’ll deal with them quickly, as they don’t give you long to retreat or nullify them before the remains of your head are decorating the Sierra Madre.
With all these challenges laid before you, it would be fair to ask “why bother?” The reasons for both your character and you, the player are simple. The Sierra Madre contains large quantities of valuable loot and recipes, plus plenty of XP from the main quests that should tempt even the most resolute of couriers. As for the player, they’ll get to enjoy a unique gameplay challenge and one of the strongest narratives contained within F:NV. I won’t bore you with the details of the former, but you’ll gain multiple levels while playing through DM in a fairly short space of time and it’s sufficient to say that you’ll be able to loot the mythologised Sierra Madre’s vault should you so choose. As for the narrative, there are two main pieces that make it tick. The first is that the characters you’re trapped in the Sierra Madre with are well-written and interesting, with a split-personality Super Mutant, a mute wastelander who’s been trying to track down Elijah for some time and Dean Domino himself – a pre-war singer (who’s poster is featured in some of the loading screens for the base game) and who has been trapped in the Sierra Madre for centuries. Without wishing to spoil anything, I’ll just say that you’re able to resolve their major issues (well… 2 out of 3) or can sacrifice them after a certain point to make your own life easier. The second part of the narrative that works so well is the back-story of the Sierra Madre, which you’ll need to piece together through fully talking with your companions and reading through the terminals scattered around the resort. It’s a very well done story about one man’s hubris and his desire to protect the one person he loves, even as the world seems to be ending. There are some nice twists (particularly involving Dean) and ultimately the question of who was the largest fool hangs over the entire area like the blade of a guillotine. Ultimately everything hinges on the simple fact that the hardest part of the Sierra Madre is letting go, a central theme that has it’s tendrils in the actions of every single character both living and dead within this area. Even the final choice of this DLC hinges on this simple premise and the ways in which you can decide the fate of every other living character is well integrated with both the gameplay and the narrative. DM is inarguable a great example of intertwining all aspects of a game together so that they reinforce each other, from the gameplay challenges which represent the corrosive nature of the Sierra Madre (both literally and in how it has impacted every other person who has set foot there) to the narrative which frequently reinforces and is reinforced by the gameplay. It’s a great expansion pack and well worth savouring, especially as once you’ve let go you’ll never be able to begin again.
On the other side of the DLC spectrum from DM is Honest Hearts, which is a much more “normal” expansion in the vein of the Shivering Isles from Oblivion or Point Outlook from Fallout 3. While it’s not as expansive as either of those previous DLCs, it does have it’s own unique area and geometry that can be revisited at will and which contains a variety of unique enemies, wildlife and plants. Much like DM, HH doesn’t let you bring a companion although you are allowed to bring up to 75lbs (or more if you have a high Survival skill which… I don’t think anyone ever does) of equipment with you. The DLC starts off with you accompanying a caravan through to New Canaan, a settlement far from the Mojave that supposedly has an interest in trading. Unfortunately for you and the small team you’re with, the caravan is ambushed moments after you reach Zion and your character is the sole survivor. Your ambushers are tribals belonging to the White Legs tribe, who are trying to join the legion and have been told they’ll only be admitted if every other tribe in the area has been exterminated. This might seem like a tall order, but the White Legs are packing some serious firepower and many of them are wielding high end weaponry, including 12.7mm machine guns, anti-material rifles, shishkebabs and mantis gauntlets. Alongside these ferocious human enemies, you’ll also need to contend with a myriad range of hostile wild life including Giant Cazadors and Yao Guais, alongside more “normal” geckos, radscorpions and bullhorns.
Fortunately much like in DM you won’t need to face these new threats alone, as you quickly encounter two peaceful tribes who are willing to help you escape Zion… on the condition that you either eradicate the White Legs or help them escape too. These tribes each provide a native companion, with Follows-Chalk representing the Dead Horses tribe and Waking Cloud representing the Sorrows tribe. The tribes themselves are fairly similar, with both having their own base, one outside leader (that allows for limited trade in caps) and a shared language that has some elements of English but is largely comprised of foreign words and expressions. The main thematic difference between the two is that the Sorrows are an “innocent” tribe of hunters led by Daniel, a Mormon missionary who is the voice for peace in the region while the Dead Horses are a warrior tribe led by Joshua Graham (yes, that Joshua Graham) that is seeking to bring peace via the extermination of the White Legs. In gameplay terms there isn’t much to separate the two tribes, and neither Follows Chalk nor Waking Cloud offer particularly impressive companion perks (either a +3 perception buff when on high ground or a bonus to sneaking against human enemies respectively) but they’re decently useful as the enemies in this DLC are generally tough. In either case the main quest chain of this DLC focuses on your character gathering multiple items that will help both tribes escape the White Legs, which involves exploring the modest new area and looting certain quest items before you bring them back to either Daniel or Joshua.
After a couple different fetch quests you’re then given the option of either helping Daniel ensure the Sorrows escape, or you can work with Joshua and lead an attack on the White Legs which will free Zion of their presence once and for all. Ultimately this decision doesn’t change too much within the DLC, as without wishing to spoil anything I’ll just say that no matter what ending you get the major players don’t have anything else for you to do once the main plot line is over. You can’t take Joshua back to the Mojave and you can’t help Daniel with any other tasks, so really the main factor in choosing which to assist with their view of how to deal with the White Legs is your own gut feeling on the matter. As someone who played it twice and got both the “best” outcome and the most “vengeful” outcome, I’ll just say that you should let your heart be the guide (and that you should be careful what you say to Follows Chalk, because he’s a good kid). Either way once you’ve decided who to help, you’re tasked with shooting a bunch of White Legs to either clear the way for the Sorrows to escape or to just… clear the way for the Sorrows to remain in Zion. If you choose the evacuate route you get a couple of optional bonus objectives that are worth doing, whereas if you choose the exterminate route you get to decide what happens to the chief of the White Legs. Regardless of your choices once everything’s wrapped up you get access to a footlocker containing some rare items that were owned by both Daniel and Joshua, which are pretty neat.
BUT as you can see in the screenshot above, the final mission of the main quest chain will lock you out of the side quests. Now I know that while talking about DM earlier in this double-bill I mentioned that HH has more side quests, which is true, but that doesn’t mean there are that many of them. You’ve got a spirit quest from the Sorrows where you hunt down a Yao Gaui for a unique unarmed gauntlet weapon, one cute quest where you need to lead a lost Bighorner calf back to it’s momma and two quests where you talk to your companions about something that’s bothering them. Technically the side objectives in the Escape Zion final mission are counted as quests, but they don’t really count. As such there are only a handful of side quests and half of them are just talking to your companions, so there are basically two side quests with some meat on them. The vision quest er… quest is pretty enjoyable as it essentially involves tracking down and killing a tough Yao Guai while visual effects mess with you, and of all the quests it’s the only one that offers any real reward. The other main one involves finding a little calf, feeding it some fruit so that it’ll follow you for a bit and then giving it more when it gets scared of you again. The only real nuance to it is that you’re trying not to make the other bighorners hostile, so you need to be somewhat careful with your movements and avoid staying near one for too long. Regardless the side quests in HH aren’t extensive and the main star of the show is the Survivalist’s story, which isn’t a quest but is a series of 6 hidden caches that are scattered across Zion. Five of them are contained within caves which often feature multiple traps but are worth the risk as they have plenty of valuable rewards, while the final cache is with the survivalist himself and contains a unique rifle that is simultaneously cool and powerful. The survivalist’s story is also the narrative highlight of this DLC, as it contains a simple yet earnestly told account of a former US soldier who survives in Zion in the immediate aftermath of the war and becomes entwined with the fates of various groups who come to settle it, both those with good intentions and bad. I’d highly recommend seeking these journal entries out as they round out the DLC nicely and with the exception of the 6th are pretty easy to find. (Light spoiler: You need to find an elevated and unmarked spot near the red rapids docks).
To summarise both DLCs, I’d say that DM is a great narrative-led experience that provides a challenge for players and which deftly combines a bleak and oppressive atmosphere with a bleak and oppressive narrative while still providing players with plenty of choice. HH on the other hand is much more traditional and doesn’t stray exceedingly far from a simple premise, but does still reward players who are willing to invest some time into it’s best features are the beauty of Zion itself and the survivalist’s journal which is sprinkled across it. For the first time playthrough I think that DM is the clear standout, but for players seeking a more simple DLC with clearer rewards HH is there to provide a clear cut narrative and plenty of strong weapons. In spite of their differences, the one thing I can easily say about both is that they’re worth playing through at least once.
