"Finding it, though, that's not the hard part. It's letting go."

So, Fallout New Vegas is one of my favorite games. I have put more than 100 hours into the game over the course of multiple playthroughs. Just recently I realized that I've never played the DLC of New Vegas so it's time to rectify that. More New Vegas goodness! What could possibly go wrong?!

Dead Money is an ambitious chapter in the ethos of New Vegas, containing some of the best writing in the entire game with characters so unbelievably good you'd wish they were part of the base game. Alas it's packaged with gameplay that is so unbelievably frustrating.

"Has your life taken a turn? Do troubles beset you? Has fortune left you behind? If so, the Sierra Madre Casino, in all its glory, is inviting you to begin again."

Dead Money begins by following a radio signal leading you to an abandoned Brotherhood of Steel bunker. From there you fall into a trap and you wake up in the villa of the Sierra Madre, a forsaken city near the Grand Canyon, engulfed in a poisonous cloud. You're "greeted" by Father Elijah, a Brotherhood of Steel scribe with ties to one of your companions. It's not the most friendly greeting, he lets you know he's put a bomb collar around your neck. He also put bomb collars on three other persons, a Super Mutant, a Ghoul and a woman who can't speak. It's your job to find these loveable nuclear wasteland misfits and put together a team for probably the biggest heist since the bombs fell: robbing the vault beneath the casino.
It's a heist! Like Heist! The Italian Job!

I can't tell you enough how much the premise excites me. Recruit other people, learn of their backstory and how they are linked to the gloomy and ominous Sierra Madre. Robbing a casino with your life on the line thanks to some Brotherhood of Steel psychopath. And it's genuinely great, everything is so well written and the characters are great in that typical Fallout-fashion: relatable to a certain degree before their entire personality falls apart. You have the Super Mutant Dog, the docile servant of father Elijah and his alter-ego God, a more violent and ruthless side of the same coin. There's Dean Domino, a Ghoul who's been in the Sierra Madre for hundreds of years and who has intimate knowledge of the Sierra Madre. Lastly there's Christine, a woman who can't speak and uses sign language to communicate with the player.

The environment also has its own story to tell which you can uncover via text logs on the terminal. You can learn of the casino's founding and its eventual demise. Every character that had a hand in the casino's founding, their actions still haunt the place. They have never left.

So there you have it! Great story, terrific characters, it's time for the ride of a lifetime, the heist of the century, let us venture forth into the Sierra Madre!

Okay so it's no secret that the gameplay in Dead Money is tedious as hell and it pains me so much to say this but it kind of ruined the whole experience because of some things that were incredibly frustrating.

So first and foremost, you are stripped of all of your equipment and you're forced to scrounge for weapons, armor and items to use. You can buy them from vending machines using casino chips are forage equipment the old fashioned Fallout way: killing and looting. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, lots of other games employ a similar method of gameplay like that one island in Breath of the Wild no one can shut up about.

Exploration however is hampered by a few things, namely pockets of poisonous clouds that can kill you fast. The place is also littered with traps, especially bear traps and since they blend in really well in the environment these are incredibly hard too see. Then there are the Ghosts, enemies that can't be killed unless you decapitate them or sever some other body part. There are also deadly holograms, you can't hurt these at all and they decimate your ass in an instant. And last but not least we have easily the deadliest item in the Sierra Madre: Radios.

Yes radios kill. Their frequency can set off your bomb collar so don't stand to long in their vicinity. Some radios can be shot or deactivated either by turning it off manually or via a computer terminal. Other radios can't be shut off. You have to be quick and make your way through and try to spot radios whenever your collar emits a beeping sound. Problem is, there are a lot of radios, they are not always easy to find and combining this problem with every other hazard, like the enemies and the poison cloud, you can see why this gets frustrating very fast.

Combining all of these factors gives way too game that's just not fun too play. It becomes tedious and frustrating and I was save scumming my way to victory because everything kills you very fast. Ammo and supplies are also limited so the game becomes a sort of survival horror type game with progression that's slow as molasses.

There are not a lot of things you can use to alleviate these issues, only the small handful of resources that the villa provides. You will die a lot, unless you find the necessary recipes, the vending machines will not be of much use. I also put most of my skill points into energy weapons and only found one dinghy pistol and a whole lot of nothing for ammo.

I died a lot, if it wasn't for the radios I was dying because of the poison cloud or the many hard to see traps. But I pushed on, eager to see where the story would take me.

The story has not disappointed me but the gameplay will prevent me from ever playing it again. I'll just stick to the Fallout Wiki thank you very much.

Story-wise it's absolutely fantastic. Gameplay-wise its not my favourite.

As a setting, the Sierra Madre is an absolute triumph. The blood red skies and haunting sound design accompany a staggeringly dense series of levels. Its a uniquely bleak atmosphere for an already bleak and melancholic game. The lack of Fallout's usual levity is especially evident in the companions. They are all uniquely scarred both physically and mentally. The only one of the three with any sense of humor is Dean Domino, but even he is revealed to be the despicable mastermind of the entire Sierra Madre scheme. The story's overt themes of letting go to begin anew links all three companions, and their stories are all quite compelling.

This bleakness is also weaved into the gameplay, and while it does aid in the oppressiveness of the atmosphere it isn't exactly fun to play. The devs took New Vegas' core gameplay and created a sort of halfway point between the normal and hardcore modes. It's a more survival oriented experience but doesn't fully commit. Combat gets pretty repetitive as well, as there is only 3 new enemy types which all look the same. There is also a much greater focus on melee combat, which is much less dynamic than gunplay.

I also swear that the games already prominent technical issues went into overdrive. My number of crashes was easily in the double digits and I persistent issues with the audio cutting out. Unfortunately no part of this game will let you forget it's rushed development.

Overall this is a very creative DLC. The story is amazingly well written and the setting is a true achievement, but the gameplay gets stale over it's runtime. A solid start to a strong lineup of expansions.

dead money narratively, atmospherically, thematically, and conceptually is the most unique, captivating, and beautiful fallout dlc in any of the games. it is truly something special, a wonderful little story that I will never forget, and will play countless more times. the actual gameplay loop of this dlc sucks hardcore dick however, and it drags a 5/5 environment and story. ghost people are not fun to fight, that is just the bluntly honest truth. they are spongy, they are fucking immune to stealth for seemingly no reason, and there is just not enough ammo to use guns on higher difficulty. I always play on hard with hardcore enabled, and for me, I HAVE to spec into melee every run just for dead money (and for old world blues if I'm not doing an energy weapons run. this isn't about this dlc either way). slashing at the exact same enemy for like an hour is so mind numbing, it really annoys me. i wish i could rate this dlc 5/5 because in every other way it is, but game play is too important to overlook. also, the casino is insane for stimpaks. you can get hundreds of stimpaks for free without console commands, that's the real treasure of the sierra Madre. that and increasing your carry weight so that you can take everything in the bunker. loving this dlc? that's not the hard part. it's killing 200 of the stupid fucking ghosts.

Verdict:
4.5/10
C-

TL;DR:
Of all the story DLCs, this one is the weakest by far. Your playstyle will be forcibly limited, regardless of your character's build. The level design and gameplay were terrible. The characters were quite interesting, at least. After the questline is completed, you will also receive a bonus of basically infinite money. I suppose that's nice.

The Good:
- The characters introduced in Dead Money were intriguing, with my favourite being the dual-personality nightkin, Dog and God, making for a memorable experience. Elijah also deserves mention for his impactful role in the storyline.
- There is many interesting hidden lore about the Sierra Madre during exploration of this DLC.
- As a rewarding conclusion, players have the opportunity to take valuable gold bars at the end of the DLC, selling them providing a huge influx of caps. This infinite money serves as a incentive for those who manage to slog through this DLC.

The Bad:
- You can't return back to Sierra Madre after the quest's completion.

- Performance: This DLC suffered from frequent CTDs (Crash to Desktop) and notable FPS stutters, significantly impacting the overall experience with more crashes than encountered throughout my entire playtime.

- Annoying Traps: The relentless presence of bear traps, radios triggering the explosive collar, and the health-draining red cloud made navigating the DLC a constant annoyance, leading to frequent quicksaving to avoid untimely deaths.

- Restricted Playstyle: The DLC imposed limitations on your playstyle, favouring melee combat while neglecting energy and gun builds. This restricted approach diminished the role-playing aspect of this game.

- Lackluster Level Design: The claustrophobic maze-like structure, coupled with repetitive textures and buildings, resulted in a poorly designed environment. Getting lost and backtracking became commonplace, only slightly improving upon reaching the casino.

- Mission Dialogue Options Oversight: Numerous conversations referenced other DLCs, yet lacked dialogue options to comment or acknowledge them, providing a missed opportunity for immersion and continuity. This is notably the case for conversations with Christine and Elijah.

- Christine's Dialogue: Upon your initial encounter with Christine, her inability to speak requires communication through hand motions, presented via text asterisks. Presumably due to engine constraints and a perceived lack of effort, Christine remains unanimated during these hand motions, opting instead for a silent stare, creating an awkward and off-putting dynamic.

- Enemy Variety: The primary enemies, aside from some radroaches, consist solely of "ghost people," essentially glorified feral ghouls. Engaging with them becomes boring quickly, aggravated by the need to dismember them to prevent their regeneration. These enemies also exhibit sponge-like health pools, making combat repetitive. Adding to the challenge are holograms, acting more as traps than traditional enemies. Sneaking past these invincible holograms becomes imperative, as they possess overpowering lasers that can easily decimate your character. The only recourse is to locate and destroy their hidden emitter.

- "Curtain Call at the Tampico" Quest: In this quest, after obtaining a key, you confront Dean, who stands on a balcony overseeing the room. Dean activates security holograms to kill you. Throughout this, you must navigate through doors, find keys, and ultimately confront Dean. However, a glaring flaw emerges as the balcony, with a staircase leading up to it, is obstructed by mere curtains. This oversight becomes evident, as the simple solution of passing through the curtains is unavailable. This silly oversight could have been easily addressed by using a more substantial barrier to block the staircase.

- Abandoned BoS Bunker: Initiating the quest leads you to this location, where walking to the radio triggers a gas that renders you unconscious. Following the knockout, Dog, acting on Elijah's orders, is tasked with capturing anyone caught in the traps he has set. Oddly, you can bring your companions with you into the bunker, and Dog manages to avoid them while kidnapping you without a fight. Your companions make no attempt to assist, and human companions remain unaffected by the gas. The convenience extends to Dog's trouble-free journey to bring you to the Sierra Madre. Throughout this sequence, you conveniently remain unconscious until the plot demands your awakening. After completing the questline, being freed from your bomb collar, and receiving a map from Elijah, you exit the Sierra Madre through a gate, inexplicably finding yourself back in the bunker at the exact spot where you were initially knocked out. The logistics of this transition remains unexplained.

Specs: Windows 11
165hz 1080p Monitor
GPU: 8GB RTX 3060Ti
CPU: Intel Core i7-12700F
RAM: 16GB DDR4 3200MHz
SSD