Time has been kind to Fallout: New Vegas, Obsidian's ambitious spin-off action RPG. These days, players appreciate the nuances and sense of place wandering the desolate Mojave desert, but back in 2010, the game lived in Fallout 3's shadow. Once those comparisons faded, director Josh Sawyer believes the release got a fairer look.
"The reception of New Vegas, when it launched, by professional reviewers was positive, but kind of lukewarm," Sawyer says on The Examined Game podcast (below). "People were not jumping out of their seats like, 'This is amazing.' And some reviews were pretty critical."
He notes there were comments that New Vegas "feels like a mod," or "feels almost identical to Fallout 3," or "it feels like an expansion pack." My personal recollection is frustration over bugs and glitches, but viewing Obsidian's project as glorified DLC sounds about right too.
As Sawyer notes, there's a significant overlap in assets and visuals, and coming two years after Fallout 3, it would've been a difficult descriptor to avoid. He clarifies he's "not saying everyone hated it," just the sci-fi adventure didn't land quite as the team hoped.
"It was only over time that there was this sense that people were appreciative," he recalls. "It's kind of like they forgot about the fact that they were annoyed that we reused so many assets and the gameplay was largely the same."
The modding community helped here as well. You can now find a hearty mix of improvements and tweaks that make New Vegas smoother and more enjoyable to play. In any case, if you haven't already played through it, I recommend you do. Just maybe not right after a run of Fallout 3.
