10 Reasons Fallout: New Vegas Still Feels Like the Gold Standard for Choice-Driven RPGs

The sheer depth of choice and consequence of Fallout: New Vegas has still very rarely been matched since its release all the way back in 2010. I recently did a replay, and it was so refreshing seeing the variety in how I could approach choices, and how my every choice was noted and accounted for in unexpected ways.

This is a choice system that holds up even today, and gives so many opportunities for role-playing and character building. Choice-based RPGs vary in quality, but what makes Fallout: New Vegas the gold standard is the variety of problem-solving solutions alongside its memory for your choices. Here is how it does it.

10 Fallout: New Vegas' Approach to Storytelling and Choice

Everything Begins at Goodsprings

Fallout: New Vegas throws you straight into a small town called Goodsprings, a location with some stellar game design. Everything you need to know about Fallout: New Vegas is here. Goodsprings is essentially a tiny version of what you can expect from Fallout: New Vegas' broader world and storyline.

Goodsprings establishes Fallout: New Vegas' faction system, quest design, how choices work, and how characters see you. Your SPECIAL stats and perks immediately come into play as you use them to navigate the arrival of the Powder Gangers and decide how to approach the problem, or even ignore it entirely. This scenario happens in countless different forms until the end of FNV, where you're deciding the fate of the entire region.

9 SPECIAL Informs Your Options

Character Building Informs Choice

Fallout's SPECIAL system is already iconic to the franchise, and Fallout: New Vegas took it a step further by integrating it into its speech choices.

High points in certain stats give special options just like other RPGs, but low ones also have an impact, particularly low Intelligence, which has some amusing dialogue options and even the occasional perk, like being able to immediately recruit Arcade because he feels sorry for you for being so stupid.

8 Faction Reputation is Always in Motion

One Choice Affects Another

You can't be liked by everyone, and Fallout: New Vegas implements this across its faction system. Factions are regularly pitted against each other, and even if you don't pick a side, your apathy will be noted and your reputation with the factions will be adjusted accordingly.

This goes a long way in determining your experience in the Mojave Wasteland; it can be a relatively friendly place, or you'll run into hostile groups over every hill. Having a strong moral compass and sticking to your convictions when making choices with factions is far more beneficial than being apathetic or wishy-washy about what you believe in, as you'll create loyal allies to support you in your fight against those you anger.

7 There Isn't a Correct Faction

Arguments in the Face of Chaos

There are several endings for Fallout: New Vegas, and each one determines a different fate for the Mojave Wasteland. All the factions, aside from the Legion's, have legitimate good points and drawbacks. It's surprising to see what exactly you choose, as you have to work out what your character prioritizes and where their line in the sand lies.

Do they seek freedom and autonomy at all costs? Are they willing to exchange autonomy for some restrictions? There's no clear answer, and making the choice lies in the details and is informed by everything that happened to that point.

6 Mr. House Has Compelling Reasons

Stability and Dictatorship or Freedom and Insecurity?

Mr House is one of the options that would be considered the antagonist in any other game. He's a dictator and a despot, and while he offers "independence" to New Vegas, it's one that comes with very few freedoms. Ultimately, he also represents stagnation, as he's been in charge of New Vegas for as long as anyone can remember.

That said, the other outcomes also have their drawbacks. The Legion is very clearly the evil route and very few characters would support it, but the Yes Man route comes with chaos and a period of instability, while the NCR threatens the autonomy and freedoms of the people of New Vegas, albeit in a different way to Mr House's approach. The Strip is a bit of a mess, and many pick stability and security over freedom in uncertain times.

5 Quests Have Multiple Approaches

Choose How You Approach Problems

Most quests, even small side quests, have several ways to approach them and usually have several outcomes. This can lead to some unexpected consequences, like the Bright cult assisting in defending Novac if you don't sabotage their rockets.

Having multiple approaches to resolving quests opens so many different routes for building your character, and the story meaningfully responds to your chosen route. Implementing choice into gameplay is difficult to do, and few games do this as well as Fallout: New Vegas, just because it anticipates player agency and, ultimately, makes you feel like your choices matter.

4 Fallout: New Vegas Takes Skills Further

Dialogue Options True to Your Character

I remember the moment I realized that charisma-adjacent skills like Speech or Persuasion were some of the most powerful skills you could pour points into, and now my modus operandi is to flood the skill with points when I start out. It always unlocks a massive amount of new dialogue, and gets you out of fights that would otherwise either be hopeless or take forever to beat.

Speech is also incredibly important in Fallout: New Vegas, but this goes a bit further in that it's split across many different traits, with skills like Science and Barter also appearing in conversations. It's still an important trait that often provides a shortcut, but not investing in Speech doesn't quite render all dialogue to be moot, giving more room for builds and more choices in approaching problems.

3 Companions Reflect the World

You Can't Please Everyone

Companions are an essential part of many RPGs, and often become fan favorites. Wandering the Mojave is so much better with a friend by my side, they're often hilarious, and they provide valuable commentary and insight into regional politics and faction perspectives.

They serve another valuable role that goes unsaid, in that they react to your choices and make it feel like the world is responding to your choices. A lot of RPGs include this, but Fallout takes it further by making each companion representative of their faction, and acting against their interests results in them leaving. Doing anything pro-Legion alongside Boone does not end well, something you discover through action.

2 Traits Translate to Gameplay and Choice

Quirks Maketh the Character

Much of your character is informed by Fallout: New Vegas' trait system, and is implemented in gameplay. I put the first pair of glasses on my character who had the Four Eyes trait, which gives a penalty to perception if you don't have glasses. This may seem annoying, but I chose it in favor of other, more useful, traits because it adds so much to storytelling and character. How would someone with bad eyesight navigate the Fallout world?

Traits also add more options to approach problems. It's been joked that Fallout: New Vegas is the bisexual game because the traits that give you increased damage and extra dialogue options against the opposite sex can both be chosen for male and female Couriers, so bisexuals get bonus damage against everyone.

1 You're Not Forced to Do Anything

Walk Away if You Need To

Every action is a choice, even if that choice is to do nothing. Take the Goodsprings example: you don't have to side with the town or the Powder Gangers. You can just walk away and let the conflict play out on its own. The results are usually tragic and lead to negative outcomes in terms of faction reputation, but it is very much a path you can take.

You can also choose to do a complete chaos run, because Yes Man is there as a failsafe, leaving you free to destroy the Mojave and Strip to your heart's content knowing you'll still get an ending of some kind.