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Important notes before I start the review: This DLC, along with Honest Hearts and Old World Blues, can be played in any order, but not after Lonesome Road, which, ideally, should come last as it concludes the overarching story set up by the other DLCs. Also, I would highly recommend playing this expansion with HDR on, since it genuinely makes the visuals better. That’s enough notes, let’s begin!
Fallout New Vegas: Dead Money is a DLC expansion that takes you to the Sierra Madre, a large opulent pre-War casino still standing, engulfed by a suffocating red cloud, and said to be home to valuable treasures that many have tried to steal. Below the casino is the Villa, a labyrinth of crumbling old buildings meant as lavish accommodations for the casino’s visitors, but now a dangerous maze filled with deadly traps, as well as ghastly creatures in hazmat suits known only as the ghost people. You wake up in this horrid place with a bomb collar around your neck, being given orders by the elusive Father Elijah, who wishes to take advantage of you and the others trapped here to obtain the treasures of the Sierra Madre for himself.
A lot of people seem to dislike this DLC, and I can kind of understand why. This expansion is quite unorthodox when it comes to Fallout, ditching vast open world environments in exchange for smaller, more confined spaces. Not to mention the aforementioned red cloud, which is highly toxic and covers many explorable areas. Traps are something you’ll encounter quite a lot, and your bomb collar can be activated by radios and speakers, adding even more restrictions to your exploration. However, I actually don’t mind this too much, as it offers an interesting challenge to the world of Fallout, not to mention that it adds something new and unique to the franchise instead of just constant vast open world exploration and looter-shooter-ing. Less freedom AND much more need for caution? No wonder it's not everyone's cup of tea.
You play this DLC without any of your gear: none of your weapons, armour, chems, etc. The only weapon you’re given is a holorifle (a decently powerful gun with a very limited range), so you’ll need to get busy if you want more than that. You could kill a ghost person and take its knife spear or bear trap fist, or you could craft these out of things you scavenge. You can find and use firearms like a police pistol and machine gun, but the pistol is weak, and the machine gun is inaccurate and eats away at your limited ammo supply quickly. You get consumables by either scavenging for them or buying them from vending machines. These vending machines are incredibly useful, as they’ll provide you with all sorts of things that you need, such as chems, ammo, food, etc. However, you need Sierra Madre chips to purchase things from these machines. You can also find holotapes that allow the machines to make new types of things for you. So, aside from putting restrictions on your exploration, this DLC also takes away the power fantasy that a lot of Fallout fans love and gives you that beginner experience all over again, in a setting far more haunting than most wastelands. Isn’t that great?
Part of what makes Dead Money brilliant and punishing are the enemies. The ghost people are agile, formidable, and ruthless. They will dodge, pounce, throw knife spears and gas bombs, and even get back up after being knocked down. In fact, the only way to properly kill them is by finishing them off when they’ve fallen, severing their heads or limbs will ensure they don’t get back up to keep tormenting you. The other enemies in this DLC are the security holograms, invincible and extremely powerful, with lasers capable of punching through thick security armour. The only way to defeat them is to turn off their projectors, which are often well hidden. These enemies were not only a great challenge to deal with, but also really unique and creative additions to the Fallout universe. A nice change from typical raiders, robots, mutants, etc. for sure.
The atmosphere of this DLC is absolutely incredible: Seeing the Sierra Madre atop a large hill, like an ancient castle, surrounded by that dreary blood-red cloud, hearing storms in the distance, strong winds and the echoes of distorted pre-War songs and sirens…. This, on top of seeing holograms throughout the place, like phantoms from the pre-War era still living within the ruins, was nothing short of absolute perfection. The hologram aspect gets even more creepy and quite depressing with a particular encounter you have when high up in the casino, involving the hologram recordings of a woman named Vera.
Earlier, I mentioned there being others that Father Elijah wanted to take advantage of, well, I’d like to dedicate these next few paragraphs to them, since they really are worth talking about. This DLC offers three companions: Dog and God, Dean Domino, and Christine. Each of these companions have their own personalities, backgrounds, and reasons for being in the Madre.
Dog and God are the two personalities of a tormented nightkin supermutant, with one being a dumb, obedient animal who obeys Elijah with extreme loyalty; the other being a more independent and sophisticated character who wants to break free from Elijah’s grasp. These two personalities are named Dog and God respectively, and they are constantly at odds with each other. You’re given the choice of which personality you want helping you out with the heist, with each of them granting you different perks when accompanying you.
Dean Domino is, or was, rather, a famous singer from before the War. Dean is now a ghoul, missing his nose and looking more shrivelled than a raisin. He has stayed in the Villa near the Sierra Madre ever since the bombs fell, evading the ghost people and surviving off of supplies from the vending machines. Dean eventually met his match and has also become an unwitting pawn in Elijah’s scheme. Despite his centuries of being a ghoul, Dean hasn’t lost his posh mannerisms or uptight character. He also has a history deeply linked to the Sierra Madre, its creator, Frederick Sinclair, and his lover, Vera Keyes, making him an extremely important character in this DLC.
Christine is a member of the Brotherhood of Steel, more specifically the Circle of Steel, a branch that deals with internal conflicts. Christine was sent to find and kill Elijah after he went rogue and left the Brotherhood. Christine got a lot more than she bargained for, being trapped inside an Auto-Doc and losing her voice as a result of the surgical procedures she forcefully went through.
Interacting with all of these characters and learning more about them was delightful, to say the least.
Here is where I’d like to talk about the negative aspects of this DLC. Firstly, I noticed that some of the walls in the Villa area weren’t connected properly, revealing the outside of the game map, which was a little distracting. Another complaint I have is how this DLC is very much melee-focused, giving you very few decent ranged weapon options and many of the ghost people being as nimble and vicious as they are means you’ll very much be doing melee combat in this expansion. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, but New Vegas is one of those games that has very janky and oftentimes awkward melee fighting. One more complaint I have is how insanely annoying it was to avoid activating the bomb collar near speakers and radios. Sometimes they were really hard to find and/or reach in time before your collar blew up, making the experience more frustrating than fun at times. Other than that, I don’t have much else to complain about.
To conclude, Dead Money is a brilliant expansion that, although rather unusual for Fallout, still manages to fit into its universe well and provide something different and interesting for fans of the series.
Final verdict: 8/10 "Finding it, though, that's not the hard part. It's letting go."