Unsurprisingly, Fallout, in it’s now varied forms, has taken up a good chunk of my attention lately. Not only am I’m continuing a new journey through the Commonwealth in Fallout 4, but I’m nearing the end of the TV show, and I’ve been watching playthroughs of first two Fallout games. They aren’t my cup of tea as far as gameplay goes, but their stories are riveting.  All these apocalyptic travels recently had me thinking about why this particular series is so appealing. My number one reason is the stories, collectively. Number two, the visuals. Combining these elements brought me to one of my favorite moments in all of the Fallout games: the player’s preliminary and precarious predicament in Fallout: New Vegas.

I don’t think it falls into spoiler territory at this point to say that you, the player, “dies” at the very start of Fallout: New Vegas. Like war, that never changes, and it’s what comes after that matters. And that’s the thing of it – there is life, an incredible life, after death in the game.

What’s fascinating, and what makes New Vegas’s opening so memorable is that the player’s situation comes straight out of left field. It’s a jolt that still sends shivers up my spine every time I see it. As intense as the scene is, there’s no flash, flair, or drama.  The player’s fate comes about rather matter-of-factly, which make it even more disturbing. The opening cut scene is about five minutes long; the player’s fate is hinted at about a third of the way through, through it’s easy to miss if you’re not paying attention. By the time it wraps up, the player is brought to an early grave smooth-talker in a checked suit jacket. “The game was rigged from the start,” says the guy in the fancy duds while flanked by two thugs he identifies as “Khans.” Then, it’s light out for the player. Game over…or just beginning, really.

While it’s not uncommon to have protagonists die in games, or set them off in a way that implies they may be, um…not really alive, I can’t think of many where the protagonist faces death at the start. The one example that comes to my mind, one that’s unforgettable in its own right, is Mass Effect 2. That game as one of the most harrowing beginnings of any game I’ve ever played. There’s really no comparing the chilling sequence of events that happens to Commander Shepard at the start of Mass Effect 2 to the player’s unfortunate situation at the start of New Vegas, but the gist of both remains the same. You, the player, must start over anew in a world that’s only vaguely familiar. Mass Effect 2’s blank slate isn’t so blank; in New Vegas, the slate barely exists.

In the mainline Fallout games, start players off as vault dwellers, whether seasoned or brand-new. The concept works extremely well in making players feel like there’s worth in building something from nothing. Dwellers have had soft, undemanding lives and now must work hard to survive. But, in New Vegas, the protagonist is a survivor, maybe not a seasoned veteran of the wastes, but someone who’s lived long enough to at least become a somewhat successful courier. They know the Mojave Wasteland even if they’ve never been to the New Vegas strip or come into much contact with members of the New California Republic or Caesar’s Legion.  In stripping all that away at the start of the game, the courier becomes akin to a dweller and must survive at all costs. The foundation there is the same, but the courier’s rising-from-the-dead start in Fallout: New Vegas is simply unforgettable.

Lede image © Obsidian Entertainment.