Fallout: New Vegas has been on my thoughts once more just lately, with the upcoming Season 2 of the Amazon Prime present taking Lucy and the Ghoul into the center of the Mojave Wasteland. In reminiscing about my experiences with Fallout: New Vegas, I am reminded of how usually the sport is praised for its improbable DLC. Whereas I am keen on Lonesome Highway as my general favourite within the bunch, Lifeless Cash continues to stay with me to today because of the terror it instilled in me on my first playthrough.
The premise of Dead Money alone is a conflict between opulence and its corruption attributable to the nuclear apocalypse that the Fallout sequence is iconic for. Visiting the Sierra Madre, what ought to have been the height of luxurious within the Mojave, and discovering the enigmatic ghost people who inhabit its stays, set the stage for a chilling story capped off by a really twisted villain in Father Elijah. I proceed to be haunted by this DLC and think about it to be considered one of, if not the scariest, items of Fallout content material ever made.
Lifeless Cash DLC Makes a Sturdy Case for Fallout: New Vegas Being a Horror Sport
In my quest to seek out the right video games to replay on Halloween this yr, I thought-about how the Fallout series has all the pieces to qualify as a horror game—horrifying enemies like ghouls, deathclaws, and tremendous mutants, in addition to the darkish themes related to nuclear conflict. As an avid horror sport fan, it is arduous to rattle me relating to ugly enemies or chilling tales. Nonetheless, Fallout: New Vegas has a singular mixture of disturbing components inside its writing and world design that scares me in a means no different video games have, and the Sierra Madre is the epicenter of that worry.
Fallout: New Vegas Was the First Sport within the Collection to Legitimately Scare Me
Not each Fallout sport is as darkly written and offered as Fallout: New Vegas, and I believe that is a part of the rationale Dead Money is the scariest DLC in the Fallout series. Only a few of the weather that contribute to my terror when taking part in Lifeless Cash embody:
- The ghost folks, who’re primarily feral ghouls trapped in hazmat fits
- Father Elijah’s nightmarish, explosive collars that he makes use of to maintain kidnapped victims within the Sierra Madre
- The poisonous Cloud that persists all through Sierra Madre, giving it a cloak of eerie pink fog
Humanoid beings in hazmat fits already creep me out, and the background behind the creation of the ghost folks as former Massive MT researchers trapped in ill-fitting ones solely heightens their creep issue. The maze-like format of Sierra Madre makes me really feel claustrophobic, which is barely made worse by the wandering teams of ghost folks and poisonous pink mist from the Cloud. The dungeons the place Father Elijah retains the corpses of kidnapped wastelanders who tried to flee are additionally like one thing straight out of Noticed.
Whereas Lifeless Cash is usually thought-about the worst New Vegas DLC because of the large problem bounce and gradual story tempo, it helps the DLC really feel nearly like a survival horror sport with RPG components, extra so than a full-fledged RPG like the remainder of the sport. Couple the depth of fight with an oppressive ambiance, a heartbreaking story of letting go of the previous, and one of the crucial unhinged villains within the Fallout sequence, and Lifeless Cash makes for a sinister expertise that haunts me years after I first performed it.
One other terrifying DLC on the identical stage as Lifeless Cash is Fallout 3‘s Level Lookout, however I nonetheless assume Lifeless Cash is scarier.
Lifeless Cash is Price a Halloween Replay Even in 2025
For Fallout followers seeking to get into the spooky temper this Halloween season and need to revisit New Vegas forward of the premiere of Fallout Season 2, Lifeless Cash is a must-play enlargement. Whereas different horror video games could also be heavy on scares and haunting aesthetics, Lifeless Cash presents these on prime of a compelling story and engaging characters, even when the gameplay is a departure from the remainder of New Vegas. This DLC has been residing in my head rent-free for lengthy sufficient that I believe it is time I confronted my fears as soon as once more this Halloween with a contemporary playthrough.
- Launched
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October 19, 2010
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Content material, Sturdy Language, Use of Medication
- Engine
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Gamebryo
