Summary

• Fallout: New Vegas by Obsidian Entertainment stands out for its unique factions and complex storyline in the Fallout series.
• Players can choose between siding with NCR, Caesar's Legion, Mr. House, or independence, leading to varying endings with consequences.
• Taking place in 2281, Fallout: New Vegas occupies a significant place in the franchise timeline, setting the stage for future Fallout events.

With the first season of the Fallout TV show wrapped up, it's a good time to brush up on the story of Fallout: New Vegas. Considered by a sizable contingent of fans to be the best of the modern Fallout games, New Vegas has garnered considerable praise for its approach to the factions, history, and gameplay of the series and for, in some opinions, striking a good balance between the classic, isometric Fallout games and their first-person shooter sequels.

Importantly, it should be noted that Fallout: New Vegas's unique approach to its world and gameplay can be attributed in large part to being developed by a different studio than other modern Fallout games — whereas Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76 were all developed by Bethesda, New Vegas was instead developed by Obsidian Entertainment, a studio that's now known for games like The Outer Worlds, Pentiment, and the Avowed. The result is that New Vegas has a significant amount of its own lore and background that's fairly separate from other modern Fallout games.

The Factions And History Of New Vegas

The Various Factions Of The Mojave Play An Important Role In Fallout: New Vegas

Whereas most recent Fallout games have been set on the East Coast, New Vegas instead takes place in the Mojave Desert, in and around the titular New Vegas - the remains of Las Vegas that were preserved significantly better through the nuclear war that defines the Fallout setting than most of its surroundings. The different setting means, in turn, that New Vegas has some factions that are entirely unique to it, not appearing in any other Fallout game, and that the preexisting factions that do appear are significantly different from their depictions elsewhere in the series.

Central to the overarching plot of New Vegas is an ongoing war between the two biggest factions in the area - the New California Republic, or NCR, and Caesar's Legion. The NCR, which originated in the first two Fallout games, has grown into a mostly functioning nation by the time of New Vegas, mostly imitating the structure of the old-world American government and attempting to annex the Mojave. In part by allying with the local Desert Rangers, the NCR maintains a tenuous hold on parts of the Mojave, though the game draws attention to the faction's bureaucracy problems.

The NCR's greatest opposition in the region is the Legion, a faction styling itself after the civilization of ancient Rome, led by a single dictator — Edward Sallow, or "Caesar." The most obviously evil faction in the game, Caesar's Legion is formed largely out of the conquered and assimilated remains of wasteland tribes, the of which are either harshly conditioned into serving the Legion, or else otherwise enslaved, killed, or crucified. Unlike other factions in the game, the Legion also strictly segregates based on gender, with the women of the faction being treated more as objects than citizens.

Complex Faction Relationships

Mr. House & Minor Factions

The last major faction of New Vegas is the city of New Vegas itself, or the "Free Economic Zone of New Vegas," as its leader, Robert House, calls it. House, the pre-war CEO of RobCo Industries, used his resources to protect and preserve both himself and Las Vegas, as well as the surrounding area, from the worst of the nuclear bombs dropped during the war. By the time of New Vegas, House is trying to keep the area as an independent city, run by himself and the Three Families formed from wasteland tribes, with a force of Securitron robots at its disposal.

The remaining factions of New Vegas play relatively minor roles in the main story, and are mostly fleshed out through sidequests or companions - the Brotherhood of Steel, for example, has a presence in the Mojave, but the faction has been severely weakened after battling with the NCR. Likewise, the Enclave is almost entirely nonexistent in New Vegas outside a few remaining ex-, and other minor factions like the Boomers and the Great Khans play a smaller role in the main conflict.

The Story & Endings Of Fallout: New Vegas

New Vegas's Endings Mostly Depend On Siding With Major Factions

The story of New Vegas starts with the player character, a Courier, being shot in the head by a man named Benny for a Platinum Chip that they were tasked with delivering to New Vegas, but miraculously surviving and waking up in the small town of Goodsprings. The early parts of the story involve tracking Benny across the Mojave, eventually leading the Courier to New Vegas, where they meet with House — who, it's revealed, was the intended recipient of the delivery, and who tasks the Courier with retrieving the chip from Benny.

Getting back the chip involves either killing Benny in New Vegas or tracking him to a Legion camp — either way, the Courier meets with Caesar and discovers House's secret weapon, a bunker underneath the Legion's camp that can manufacture and upgrade Securitrons with the Platinum Chip. After either destroying the factory on Caesar's orders or upgrading it with the Chip, the paths toward New Vegas's multiple endings open up, giving the player the ability to side with one of the major factions and win control over the Mojave for them.

All in all, there are four major endings for Fallout: New Vegas - siding with the NCR, the Legion, House, or siding with no external faction and making use of Benny's modified Securitron, "Yes Man," to establish a fully independent New Vegas. Achieving any of these endings involves either destroying or winning the of the various minor factions of the Mojave, including the Brotherhood of Steel, the Boomers, and the Great Khans, and then winning the battle of Hoover Dam for that faction.

For each ending, some factions will have to be handled differently. House himself, for example, must be killed to reach any ending besides his own, and siding with House or Caesar's Legion requires destroying the Brotherhood of Steel.

Fallout New Vegas Endings Explained

NCR, Legion, House, Or Independent

In the NCR or Legion endings, the faction that won the battle establishes control over the Mojave and the New Vegas Strip, essentially ejecting the opposing faction from the region. The NCR, if victorious, is more diplomatic, negotiating with the local communities but annexing them all the same. The Legion, on the other hand, more forcefully occupies the area, enslaving many of its inhabitants and becoming even more violent if Caesar died or was killed during the events of the game.

In the House or Independent endings, both the NCR and the Legion are driven out of the Mojave. In House's case, the army of upgraded Securitrons is mandatory for his ending. House largely maintains the status quo in his ending, asserting control over New Vegas but leaving most of the major remaining factions in the Mojave to their own devices. The Independent ending is the most open-ended, with the fate of the now completely independent New Vegas changing based on the Courier's many actions during the game's story.

[The following contains spoilers for the Fallout TV series.]

Fallout: New Vegas's Place In The Fallout Timeline

New Vegas Is The Third-Latest Entry In The Series

Although which ending to Fallout: New Vegas is technically "canon" in the context of the wider franchise is unknown, the game is known to take place in the year 2281, making it the third-latest entry in the overarching Fallout timeline — so far only preceding Fallout 4 (2287) and the Fallout show on Amazon Prime (2296). Notably, the ending of the first season of the Fallout series has interesting implications for the events that occur after New Vegas, as the NCR has had its first capital, Shady Sands, destroyed, and the season ends on a shot of a seemingly destroyed New Vegas.

With most modern Fallout media being set on the opposite side of the country as New Vegas, the Mojave Desert and the surrounding areas have remained mostly untouched by Bethesda, with very little follow-up to New Vegas or the events leading up to it. With the reveal that the second season of the Fallout series will involve the city of New Vegas, however, and likely follow up on the overall status of the NCR, it might finally be time for the events of Fallout: New Vegas to gain greater relevance to the wider series.