Fallout New California (Video Game 2018)

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■ Fallout
Fallout is a 1997 role-playing video game developed and published by Interplay Productions, set in a mid-22nd century post-apocalyptic and retro-futuristic world, decades after a global nuclear war led by the United States and China. Fallout’s protagonist, the Vault Dweller, inhabits an underground nuclear shelter.

I have been playing the mod Fallout: New California. The game officially launched on October 23, 2018, but you had to register on Nexus and go through a process of installing in the right directory (as the game requires ownership of Fallout: New Vegas). I never tried it back then, but recently, as of July 30, 2026, GOG made it available through their store – completely free. The best part is, since I already own New Vegas on GOG, so it was simple as clicking on a button to own the mod and install it.

This Fallout mod is very solid, complete with a full story and voice acting on all the characters. That’s very impressive for a team of two people and various contributors. At first, I played it all wrong. You see, how I play Fallout is that I just want to be an amazing killing/shooting machine. I basically want to play as John Wick, just butt-kicking through the game. That’s how I have always strategize the game… however, with New California, it doesn’t work that way. I suppose, sure you can play as a shooter, but you’re going to be missing out on everything else!!

To play New California right, you can’t min-max your character. You have to be well-rounded. You start out with 5 on all your SPECIAL stats, with some extra points you can put in. Go ahead and make everything 6 and 7 (for strength). You need to have 7 for strength if you want to play the path of the warrior. You don’t have to of course; that’s the beauty of these Fallout games. You can play however you like.

So, anyway, after my fourth or fifth time re-starting the game, I finally got a point that I was happy with. Most of my stats were 6, all at the expense of Luck, which was taken down to 2 or 3. I also took Intense Training early to boost up the rest of my stats so I can pass various checks in the game. You need to be Strong and smart… and also agile. Basically, the perfect human.

I only got to save four people from Vault 18, but I know you can save more. For example, if I had access to the Robot Dog quest, I could have had a robot dog in my group. Unfortunately, because of choices I made early in the game, I got locked out of that quest. It’s somewhat frustrating, because I did want to have the best play … but sometimes, that’s just life. You just have to accept that you cannot save everybody.

Right now, I’ve taken one path to the NCR. I did accidentally go the slave route – but after an encounter – I quickly re-loaded and went West instead. I wasn’t keen on spending the rest of my game being a slave. I think the NCR route was a better option for me (who likes to shoot/kill things).

Most of the game is actually really fun. It’s focused on the story and will guide and lock you into its story. I don’t really like to play it that way, I prefer to just explore and discover things on my own. I don’t mind a good story-driven game, I just wish I could break out of the rails.

I do have some minor criticism for the developers. I do not like the comic book or manga artwork. I do not like the metal music (radio station) in the game. It just did not fit in the frames of a Fallout universe. The way I see it, the reasons why Fallout is stuck in the 1940s and 50s is because pop culture never evolved once that universe got nuked. Fallout, at least in the first game, was about a Vault dweller who had lived all his or her life in the vault and they went out in the real world about 100 years later after the radiation had done its damage. So, of course, there would be no anime, no super hero comic book (as we know it). The Fallout style should always be that Anne Ryan art deco/50s style.

The other minor complaint is, yes, of course, there are bugs in the game. Things disappear in inventory or lockers. My character sometimes appeared bald, or visual issues. Sometimes games won’t launch or crashes. I think the technical issues have much to do with the Gamebryo engine that powers New Vegas game.

Other than that, for the price of FREE, all the faults are immediately forgiven. I think it’s a fantastic game, and again, I love the voice acting and character development.