DLC Review/Retrospective - Fallout: New Vegas - "Lonesome Road"

"If they matter... if history matters... we'll see at the end of the road."

The opening moments of Fallout: New Vegas see you shot in the head and left buried in a shallow grave somewhere in the Mojave. Somehow still clinging to life, you're rescued and brought to the town of Goodsprings, where Doc Mitchell cares for you until you've made a full recovery. This is not the beginning of your story, the Courier's story, nor is it the end - but it was meant to be.

Enter Ulysses: the original Courier Six. The man who was supposed to deliver the Platinum Chip in the first place, but backed out of the job when he saw that you were next in line. Aware of what he'd be carrying, and knowing full well that the job was very likely a suicide mission, he stepped aside in the hopes that you would be killed before you even made delivery. Obviously, this didn't happen, much to Ulysses' disappointment.

But who is this other courier? Why does he want you dead?

Throughout Fallout: NV and it's subsequent add-ons, this story arc quietly builds in the background. A throw-away comment here, an oddly-named item there, until eventually it comes to a head. And it all begins with you sitting in a cave somewhere in the Big Empty, hearing Ulysses' voice on a holotape, the contempt he has for you and everything you've supposedly done. And in the closing seconds, he makes a solemn promise:

"At the Divide, he and I... there, we'll have an ending to things."

And he would be right.

Lonesome Road has you tracking down Ulysses through the Divide: a massive fissure that's formed in the middle of a once-thriving city of the Old World. Here, the wind is strong enough to tear the skin from your body, irradiated soldiers from both sides of a dead conflict wander in a haze of insanity, and mutated creatures lie in wait just below the surface. It's very unlikely that you'll find your happy place here. This is a depressing, emotional, and heart-breaking road you must travel, but I couldn't think of a better way for this game to come to an end.

This is your story. Your road. You're here because you want to be, and you can leave at anytime. But if you keep walking... you're gonna see some things.

The Divide ain't what it used to be.

The first thing you're going to notice about the Divide is, well, that it's pretty damn big. You begin on a cliff overlooking the whole of it, and it's just an amazing sight to see. I just sat there staring for a bit, and eventually said to myself, "Shit, I gotta walk through that." The Divide ain't pretty like Zion; it's a very intimidating piece of real estate. This is made even more interesting by how it was designed. Unlike the other three DLC hubs - The Sierra Madre, Zion, and The Big Empty - The Divide is actually one long road, winding through ruined cities, collapsed tunnels, across highways, and down into the giant fissure. You're still free to come and go and explore as you please (and there are still a ton of places to poke around), but since you're always moving forward through the landscape, you're never quite sure where you're going to end up next.

In this sense, Lonesome Road definitely has the most variety out of all the add-ons. Each of the locations in the Divide are unique from each other in some way. They're very competently-designed, and clearly show that Obsidian intended to go out with a bang, throwing as many eggs into that proverbial basket as they could. Buildings collapse into the fissure, earthquakes will knock things off of shelves, and debris constantly blocks your way. But wait! You can remove that debris by seeking out discarded warheads and setting them off with your trusty detonator. Time the explosions right, and you can take out some advancing enemies, too.

There are new armor sets, new items, new achievements, and new weapons, such as the "Red Pulse," which is pretty much an automatic rocket launcher. (It's as awesome as it sounds.) The only real downside is that since the Divide is an undesirable place to be, there isn't a surplus of NPCs to talk to. In fact, besides Ulysses, you'll only have your companion to talk to, but I'm not sure if I should spoil who that companion is. Not a big deal, but it was fun to discover who you'd be traveling with (and also figure out said companion's backstory.)

So what can you expect from the ending? Well, I can say that it was definitely a satisfying one, and will have vastly different outcomes depending on your decisions, a few of which were pretty tough for me to think through - and one of which can draw direct comparisons in terms of severity to the infamous Megaton decision from Fallout 3. So severe, in fact, that the Mojave Wasteland itself will be affected in some way: a first for FO DLCs.

And what of Ulysses? Again, I can't say much about him or his vendetta against the Courier. But rest assured, he has a very good reason to hate you, and it's not a reason that will sound completely out of the realm of possibility either. (Actually, I found myself thinking that I probably would've done the same thing in the Courier's shoes.) As Ulysses once said, "Couriers sometimes don't know the messages they bring."

Lonesome Road marks an end for the story of the Courier, a story that I've been following with much enthusiasm for the better part of a year. In that year, I've seen Obsidian create what I believe to be a masterpiece in the RPG genre: a game that not only aspired to have a great story, but great characters, locations, sidequests, world-building, and a level of immersion second to none. And then they decided to take things a step further, by creating a set of add-ons that could be collectively seen as a sequel in its own right.

Bethesda may have continued and updated the Fallout property, but Obsidian Entertainment refined it to the point of near-perfection, creating a product that trumps its predecessor in nearly every way. The franchise simply could not be in better hands, even if Bethesda decides to make the eventual sequel themselves. Obsidian know the lore, inside and out, they know what works, what doesn't, and how to tell stories within the universe that pack the hardest punch. I don't think I've played a game where a developer has had such a tight grip on such detailed lore and knew exactly how to wield it.

Fallout: New Vegas, along with all of its DLC - Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues, and Lonesome Road - has been one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. It will most definitely go down as one of the best games I've ever played, up there with Knights of the Old Republic and Dragon Age: Origins.

Obsidian (and Chris Avellone, especially) should be proud of themselves, and it's my hope that they're allowed another crack at the property. My dream would involve Obsidian, Fallout, and the Skyrim engine, but only time will tell.

This is an end for the Courier, but I hope it's not the end. Either way, all roads lead home, and for now, the Courier's right where he needs to be.