TL;DR - The only way I can recommend this DLC is if you have not put many hours, or have never played Fallout New Vegas. The story alone is worth the price of admission.

I never gave Fallout NV its due back in the day. Coming off of both Oblivion and Fallout 3 (both being my first experiences in their respective series), I was a little done with the formula for a while. Problem is at the time I did nor realize it at the time so I picked up New Vegas day one. It was a glitchy mess which I did not really have the time for so I pushed through one run about as fast as possible and shelved it until this year. Not going to focus too much on New Vegas but needless to say, I am absolutely loving it this time around and wanted to play the DLCs in the order they dropped, as intended by the developers.

Right so, here we are at Dead Money. F*ck this DLC, it is not Fallout. It is a FPS with platforming elements, that strips you bare naked to kick things off, timed insta-death sequences, timed poisoning sequences, sneaking, an extremely high difficulty spike, a broken map/navigation system, limited resting opportunities, ankle mangling bear traps everywhere, a secondary currency/inventory that you start with exactly none of, using the Gamebryo engine which as far as I know was not really designed for any of that. Even if it was, none of that was meant for Fallout. None of it fits.

Oh and what really sucks is you cannot go back to pick up the treasure. Not that I need another bar of gold but for having gone through that hell I feel like I have earned it. So hopefully I did not leave any good gear behind because it is gone and I am never, ever going to do this DLC again. In ten years when I reinstall New Vegas for one more ride, this DLC will not be coming with it. I am afraid to go to sleep because I am fairly certain I am going to have nightmares about that damn beeping. PTSD type of situation, no joke.

Here is the thing though, I am really glad I did it. The story was incredible, the characters rich and colorful with fantastic voice actors, the sounds and music fit the vibe perfectly, the new enemies while a bit on rough side are creepy as hell, totally dug their design as well, and the environment was eerie. I for sure was getting some Portal flashbacks with some of the locations with the writing scratched in to walls and glowing hand prints marking secret stashes.

All of that was before getting inside the casino proper which brought a whole new set design in to the mix, which only added to the equation. So I cannot complain one bit when it comes to the setting Obsidian wanted to the player to experience. They absolutely nailed the storytelling aspect of the equation which should come as no surprise, it is sort of their thing. Plus how Obsidian set the stage for the next DLCs to play out is like the scene after the credits of the movie.

Some good loot too.

I just died so many ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ times. I play Fallout to explore, scavenge, craft, survive. I do not play Fallout to race from point A to point B before my head explodes or my lungs implode (sometimes dealing with both simultaneously. Also if you lack the skill/stat needed to pass a check, some of the quest items needed are stupidly difficult to locate. If I were to sum up Dead Money in one word, that word would be frustrating. I understand why they went the route they did, it was necessary to tell the story they wanted to tell. I am fine with that, I just with they had opened it up just a little bit more than they did. There is pretty much only one way through if you want to get the full experience, something that flies in the face of 21st century Fallout games. They are meant to be played hundreds of different ways, Dead Money has one.

There are some branching paths for characters that slightly impact the how the narrative unfolds but the actions you take to get from start to finish will not deviate in any meaningful way on any playthrough. You would be better off checking out gameplay videos to see anything you may have missed once you have completed it.

Which brings me to my recommendation. I used the term "completed" for a reason because if you have never ventured to the Sierra Madre, you absolutely need to. It is an amazing part of the Fallout lore that is much better played than explained in order to get the full experience. However heed my words, Courier. It will change you and if you are lucky enough to make it out, you will be scarred. Maybe physically, absolutely mentally, sorrows untold await you at a grand hotel situated near the Grand Canyon. It was to be the greatest casino in the world, now all you gamble with when you set foot inside that decrepit gate is your very life. The greed that got me will get you.

Anyways, off to YT to see what I missed.

TL;DR - The only way I can recommend this DLC is if you have not put many hours, or have never played Fallout New Vegas. The story alone is worth the price of admission. I never gave Fallout NV its due back in the day. Coming off of both Oblivion and Fallout 3 (both being my first experiences in their respective series), I was a little done with the formula for a while. Problem is at the time I did nor realize it at the time so I picked up New Vegas day one. It was a glitchy mess which I did not really have the time for so I pushed through one run about as fast as possible and shelved it until this year. Not going to focus too much on New Vegas but needless to say, I am absolutely loving it this time around and wanted to play the DLCs in the order they dropped, as intended by the developers. Right so, here we are at Dead Money. F*ck this DLC, it is not Fallout. It is a FPS with platforming elements, that strips you bare naked to kick things off, timed insta-death sequences, timed poisoning sequences, sneaking, an extremely high difficulty spike, a broken map/navigation system, limited resting opportunities, ankle mangling bear traps everywhere, a secondary currency/inventory that you start with exactly none of, using the Gamebryo engine which as far as I know was not really designed for any of that. Even if it was, none of that was meant for Fallout. None of it fits. Oh and what really sucks is you cannot go back to pick up the treasure. Not that I need another bar of gold but for having gone through that hell I feel like I have earned it. So hopefully I did not leave any good gear behind because it is gone and I am never, ever going to do this DLC again. In ten years when I reinstall New Vegas for one more ride, this DLC will not be coming with it. I am afraid to go to sleep because I am fairly certain I am going to have nightmares about that damn beeping. PTSD type of situation, no joke. Here is the thing though, I am really glad I did it. The story was incredible, the characters rich and colorful with fantastic voice actors, the sounds and music fit the vibe perfectly, the new enemies while a bit on rough side are creepy as hell, totally dug their design as well, and the environment was eerie. I for sure was getting some Portal flashbacks with some of the locations with the writing scratched in to walls and glowing hand prints marking secret stashes. All of that was before getting inside the casino proper which brought a whole new set design in to the mix, which only added to the equation. So I cannot complain one bit when it comes to the setting Obsidian wanted to the player to experience. They absolutely nailed the storytelling aspect of the equation which should come as no surprise, it is sort of their thing. Plus how Obsidian set the stage for the next DLCs to play out is like the scene after the credits of the movie. Some good loot too. I just died so many god dammed times. I play Fallout to explore, scavenge, craft, survive. I do not play Fallout to race from point A to point B before my head explodes or my lungs implode (sometimes dealing with both simultaneously. Also if you lack the skill/stat needed to pass a check, some of the quest items needed are stupidly difficult to locate. If I were to sum up Dead Money in one word, that word would be frustrating. I understand why they went the route they did, it was necessary to tell the story they wanted to tell. I am fine with that, I just with they had opened it up just a little bit more than they did. There is pretty much only one way through if you want to get the full experience, something that flies in the face of 21st century Fallout games. They are meant to be played hundreds of different ways, Dead Money has one. There are some branching paths for characters that slightly impact the how the narrative unfolds but the actions you take to get from start to finish will not deviate in any meaningful way on any playthrough. You would be better off checking out gameplay videos to see anything you may have missed once you have completed it. Which brings me to my recommendation. I used the term "completed" for a reason because if you have never ventured to the Sierra Madre, you absolutely need to. It is an amazing part of the Fallout lore that is much better played than explained in order to get the full experience. However heed my words, Courier. It will change you and if you are lucky enough to make it out, you will be scarred. Maybe physically, absolutely mentally, sorrows untold await you at a grand hotel situated near the Grand Canyon. It was to be the greatest casino in the world, now all you gamble with when you set foot inside that decrepit gate is your very life. The greed that got me will get you. Anyways, off to YT to see what I missed.