Key Takeaways
- Going into the release of Fallout: New Vegas, Obsidian was aware of the potential for complaints over bugs and reused assets.
- Still, that didn’t stop the studio from prioritizing quest design and player agency, believing those elements would win fans over.
- In the end, their gamble paid off as New Vegas is remembered as one of the best Fallout games ever.
If you ask any Fallout fan what their favorite entry in the franchise is, it’s likely a large portion will say Fallout: New Vegas. Obsidian’s take on the post-apocalyptic wasteland stands as one of the best entries in the series, due in large part to its expert quest design and player agency.
That said, as beloved as Fallout: New Vegas is, that wasn’t always the case. In fact, Obsidian was aware going into New Vegas that the game would be the subject of complaints due to bugs and comparisons to Fallout 3. Still, that didn’t deter the studio from putting its best foot forward, even knowing the potential for backlash was high.
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New Vegas Is A True Gem
Speaking to Edge Magazine, New Vegas’s director, Josh Sawyer, relayed some of the fears that Obsidian had ahead of the game’s official launch. Because the team was given such a tight deadline of 18 months, assets from Fallout 3 were inevitably going to be reused, and the game wasn’t going to feel nearly as complete on Day One.
“I knew that people would say ‘Hey, this basically looks like Fallout 3.’ And there were a lot of complaints about bugs. It was very frustrating because we weren’t unaware, but you always have to prioritize things,” Sawyer said.
What Obsidian elected to prioritize was player agency and quest design, aspects of the game that would largely stand the test of time. That big bet paid off as New Vegas is well-regarded in that department, even years after its release.
“All of our work had gone into the intricate and the freedom of the quests and the critical path, and the faction alliances,” Sawyer explained. “Those are things that, if you just do one playthrough, you are going to be like ‘Yeah, whatever, who cares?’ So it did take time for people go ‘Oh, wow, actually you can beeline straight to the strip.’”
Over time, New Vegas has risen to be one of the most celebrated Fallout experiences. And depending on who you ask, it is remembered more fondly than Fallout 3. In other words, Obsidian’s big gambles when it came to quests versus assets paid off. “We really heavily focused on freedom to play the game the way you wanted, and I think that’s what stood out over time,” Sawyer concluded.
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