Tutorials. Love ‘em or hate ‘em (mostly hate though), they are often a compulsory and boring aspect of any game. The monotonous routine of making sure your controls are working, building your character, and attempting to speed through to get to the “real” game is usually a staple of games – whether they’re good or not.

The complaining that surfaced over the Pokemon Sun and Moon tutorial years ago, or even the start of Starfield, which has become a critical mess of a game, show how the opening of a game is so crucial to the rest of the game. Not performing well in the initial section of a game will turn off many players from continuing on to the “real” game.

The release of the acclaimed Fallout TV show has made me return to the Mojave in Fallout: New Vegas, perhaps one of the most popular Fallout games released, engendering its own loyal fanbase. I had played the game many moons ago, but was interested to see how an older and wiser me would view the game (post-Fallout TV show and post-several long, long video essays on the series).¹

The graphics do not impress. Neither does the gunplay, nor the animations. But what does impress is how regardless of those facts, the Mojave wasteland in which the game is set immediately comes to life in the opening section of the game. After getting caught during a delivery the main character (hereafter known as “The Courier”), gets shot in the head and wakes up in the town of Goodsprings, tended to by the local doctor, Doc Mitchell. After checking controls and building your character, the Courier is told to check out the local saloon to see where his attackers have gone.

The Courier is introduced to a few characters in the small and independent town of New Vegas:

Doc Mitchell – A former Vault Dweller and doctor.

Chet – General store owner.

Sunny Smiles – Hunter and informal town guard. Shows players the ropes of combat.

Trudy – Prospector Saloon owner.

Easy Pete – Former prospector (those who scavenge for technology) and decided to settle down in Goodsprings. Explosives expert.

Victor – A mysterious robot with ties to the New Vegas strip.

Ringo – Crimson Caravan trader who is hiding in the abandoned gas station from a group of escaped convicts.

Joe Cobb – Escaped New California Republic prisoner, now leads a “Powder Ganger’ group. Attempting to apprehend a Crimson Caravan trader named Ringo.

The opening section and tutorial does the necessities of teaching you how to shoot a gun or where to buy supplies, but the real strength of Fallout: New Vegas’ opening is its worldbuilding and slow unveiling of the political landscape of the wasteland.

Take a conversation with Sunny Smiles when asked what the New California Republic (NCR) is:

“The New California Republic. Bunch of settlers and soldiers coming in from the West, fixing on making Nevada their own. They can be right pushy, but the roads are safer ’cause of them, so I tend to let it go. Not that I got a choice.”

Pete where he says this when asked about Caesar’s Legion:

“They’re slavers, led by a guy named Caesar. Or Caesar. Not sure how you’re supposed to say it. A couple of years ago they tried to take over Hoover Dam, but the NCR beat them back. The NCR didn’t – or couldn’t – finish the job, though. The Legion’s got its strength back and is getting ready for another round at the Dam. My money’s still on the NCR winning, but you never know. We’ve been hearing stories about Legionaries on the Nevada side of the river, so keep a gun handy. You don’t want to get caught by them.”

Chet when asked about Courier’s attackers:

Chet: “The leader was a New Vegas-type, typical city boy. He had a bunch of Great Khans with him, probably hired guns. The Great Khans normally stay in their own territory way up northwest, on account of them being enemies with the NCR.”

If a player takes the time to explore the dialogue options with the NPCs in town, they immediately gain a great idea of the landscape of the game and what they’ll come face to face with later. In addition to the political background, they provide background on the Fallout setting itself – warring factions, dangerous wildlife, tech scavengers, raiders, you name it. The below map (spoilers) showing some of the complexity of the factions in the game.

The game then introduces you to the faction and infamy system through Joe Cobb. After a brief tutorial with Sunny Smiles, you overhear an argument between the escaped convict Joe Cobb and Trudy, the owner of the Saloon. The town is currently harboring a Crimson Caravan trader (more worldbuilding!) and the convicts want him. The Courier can decide to not get involved or to side one way or the other.

My choice – to protect Ringo the trader – involved getting help from different members of the town through various skill checks (25 required). The base skills a character often has (if they don’t put initial points into these skills) are 15. Trudy sells skill magazines which raise the skill by 10 temporarily, allowing you to pass these checks, whether that be lockpicking or persuasion. This is never explictly pointed out to the player, but is immensely helpful.

After passing these checks (or not), you have a final shoot out with Joe Cobb, defeating him and gaining a “Vilified” status with the Powder Gangers. The Courier then sets out towards New Vegas to find his attackers…a whole new world to explore.

Games are so much more than their mechanics. A strong opening that shows what the game is really about – more so than shooting and looting – like New Vegas does is a hallmark for game design. This is why, almost a decade and a half after its release, New Vegas is a hit. The gunplay doesn’t hold up and it probably didn’t even at release, but the worldbuilding and world (don’t even get me started on the amazing in-game radio) has kept the game relevant for 14 years, and I hope many, many more to come.

1. Please watch Noah Caldwell-Gervais’s A Thorough Look at Fallout, one of the creative inspirations for this blog quite frankly ↩︎