Fallout: New Vegas begins with Benny shooting the Courier in the head outside Goodsprings. From there, Obsidian Entertainment’s open-world RPG, released in October 2010 and still playable on Steam and Xbox, gives you enormous freedom over your character, allegiance and approach to the Mojave.
That freedom makes self-imposed rules especially effective. You can restrict your equipment, embrace a faction, avoid violence, rush the story or turn the entire wasteland against you. These nine challenge runs alter dialogue, skill checks, faction relationships and even the way you travel.
9. Activate Hardcore mode
House rules: Carry the weight of every round, manage food, water and sleep, and accept slower healing.
Hardcore mode can be selected after character creation and makes survival considerably more demanding. Ammunition has weight, the Courier needs food, water and sleep, and dehydration, starvation or exhaustion can become fatal. Stimpaks and RadAway work over time rather than instantly, fast travel has consequences, and companions can die permanently.
You can switch Hardcore mode on or off through the settings menu, so a complete commitment is optional. Finishing the entire game with it active awards a unique achievement. There is some debate over how difficult this mode really is, but it remains a useful way to make routine trips and resource choices matter.
8. Serve one faction without compromise
House rules: Choose one major faction, wear its colours and accept hostility from its rivals.
The major powers include Mr House’s Free Economic Zone of New Vegas, Yes Man’s Independent route, Caesar’s Legion and the New California Republic. Smaller groups can also become part of a loyalty challenge.
Faction armour may disguise you in some situations, although certain characters can see through it. Wearing Legion armour near NCR soldiers, for example, can provoke an attack. A single-faction run may cost you quests, friendly companions, useful prices and protection, while rival groups can send hit squads after you.
7. Build a cowboy or a night-stalking cannibal
House rules: For a cowboy, use revolvers, carbines, knives and a hat. For the alternative, travel at night and feed only when unseen.
The Courier begins in Goodsprings wearing a borrowed Vault 21 jumpsuit, but a cowboy run calls for a hat and the red-scarf Ranger outfit rather than conventional armour. The Cowboy perk requires level 8, Guns 45 and Melee 45, then increases damage by 25% with revolvers, lever-action firearms, dynamite, knives and hatchets. Expect scarce ammunition and frequent repairs.
A darker variation uses the Cannibal perk. Sleep during the day, move through the Mojave after dark and feed on human corpses while sneaking. Being caught eating is a risk you must accept.
6. Make low Intelligence your greatest asset
House rules: Set Intelligence to 1, then invest the saved points in Strength and Luck.
Character creation gives you 40 points to distribute across your statistics. A minimum-Intelligence build unlocks unusual, unintelligent dialogue that can produce memorable solutions. At REPCONN headquarters, the password-guarding robot accepts the seemingly random answer “ICE CREAM!”. At the New Vegas Medical Clinic, asking, “You sell plants, too?” during a discussion about implants can lead to advice about an implant that makes you smarter.
The drawback is significant: you receive only 10 or 11 skill points per level and begin weaker in Medicine, Repair and Survival. The reward is a collection of rare conversations and absurd solutions, including a password that really is “ice cream”.
5. Finish the game without killing
House rules: Record no kills, injure nobody and take no companions.
A strict pacifist run turns the usual hunt for Benny into a long exercise in stealth, speech checks, evasion and running away. Companions are excluded because they could kill on your behalf. Invest in Sneak and Speech, then consider Silent Running to reduce the danger of moving through hostile areas.
This is less a comfortable play style than a demanding personal challenge. The zero on your kill counter is the trophy.
4. Become an enemy of everyone
House rules: Serve no faction and use only equipment you steal.
An outlaw run rejects the alliances that normally provide quests, discounts, equipment and safe routes. Treat the NCR, Legion, Westside, Freeside, Boomers, Powder Gangers and Great Khans as enemies, then rely on theft for supplies.
With so few social options, this challenge can easily become a kill-everyone campaign. Decide before starting whether you are prepared for that escalation.
3. Reach the Strip immediately
House rules: Leave Doc Mitchell’s house and take the shortest possible route to New Vegas.
The conventional journey passes through Primm, Nipton, Novac and Boulder City, with Powder Gangers, Legion scouts and ghoul scientists along the way. This challenge skips the scenic route and sends you towards the Strip at once, even though the path includes cazadores and super mutants.
Careful stealth and long-range attacks can get you there as early as level 2. Speedrunners have finished the main quest in about a half hour, although a first attempt is likely to take considerably longer.
2. Solve combat with stealth and explosives
House rules: Prioritise Sneak and Explosives, and do not raise other skills until those reach 100.
This build changes every confrontation. You can reverse-pickpocket explosives into a humanoid enemy’s inventory, retreat and let the blast do the work. Another approach combines Charisma and Speech with traps, allowing you to talk your way past encounters while mines deal with enemies behind the scenes.
Whichever route you choose, stay clear of the blast radius. Explosive solutions are powerful, but rarely tidy.
1. Fund the entire run through gambling
House rules: Earn caps only through casino games and Caravan.
Without selling loot, money for ammunition, stimpaks, repairs and stat-boosting implants becomes much harder to find. Your income must come from casino games on the Strip and Caravan, a card game played with a deck of at least 30 cards.
In Caravan, build three hands with values between 21 and 26. You win by beating two of the three opposing caravans, but a poor run can leave you broke. Blackjack, roulette and slots offer other routes, and 7 Luck at character creation improves your casino prospects. Players looking for a way to cheese Caravan can stack 10s, 7s, 9s and face cards.
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