This is a pretty stellar DLC as far as I'm concerned. It doesn't succeed as survival horror if that was really the intent, and the villa sections are a bit too bland and samey visually, but those are the only little drawbacks.

All of the characters are interesting, and each of the three companions comes complete with their own perks and gameplay quirks.

The two new enemy types (regenerating "ghosts" and invincible holograms) both work well and force you to change up your playstyle from the base game, the former requiring a back-and-forth mix of guns + melee and the latter leading to more interesting stealth sections than can be found in the base game. I see a lot of reviews describing the ghosts as too difficult and/or frustrating, but all you need to do is punch them once with the bear-trap gauntlet after they go down. it's Dead Space rules and it's simple enough, and the game spells it out quite clearly, so I don't get why so many people struggle with that.

The radiation, poisonous clouds, and radios that trigger your bomb collar all shake up the gameplay in challenging and compelling ways and help the DLC quests feel distinct despite, of course, relying on all of the same core mechanics.

It's also a pretty chunky DLC with a lot to experience, all guided by strong writing and quest design. It's a smaller and more linear area to explore than the Honest Hearts DLC but it's much denser, and there's a good amount of freedom/exploration with each of the objectives, you hardly ever have to rely on waypoints or hand-holdy directions to get around and figure things out intuitively. For example, you can find a computer log that describes an elderly woman getting drunk and climbing out onto the rafters before being thrown out, and that's the game's subtle and super cool way of hinting that you should try going up on the rafters, where you can find a hidden control panel to shut off holograms and progress into a new area. Really clever design that makes it rewarding to pay attention to the details of every log you come across.

The theming is spot on too, smartly capitalizing on the Vegas, casino-centric setting. Even the title, Dead Money, is a poker term. I also love the way that the title of the great 1948 John Huston film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is recontextualized in the context of a casino heist, that's such a fun reference

The strategic card-based gameplay is excellent, but absolutely everything else is total garbage, and there's so much of it that constantly gets in the way of the one thing the game does well. Everything in the abbey sucks ass, and you're forced to spend so much time there engaging in cringy nonsense that you can only skip through one line at a time. Some of the worst writing and voice acting I've tried to endure to get to enjoyable gameplay, but I just can't do it. The one good bit isn't worth sloughing through all the other garbage