Old World Blues overview
The long-awaited Fallout: New Vegas add-on is coming next week! Aside from the trailer, the official site has also been updated with an Old World Blues fact sheet and we have a handy list of homages to past games, both released and canceled that we already know can be found in the add-on.
After being transported to the Big MT research crater, you find you're the only hope of saving the Think Tank – the strange group of post-human researchers who inhabit the facility. They enlist your aid to save them from their own experiments - experiments that have gone horribly out of control. As you explore the huge stretch of the Big MT crater and its many underground labs, you’ll confront strange mutated animals, battle terrifying new atomic robots, and discover a new home base to call your own. Recover all the weapons, armor, and tech of the pre-War era and use them to help save all of Science!
Key Features:
- New Terrain
Explore the expanse of the ‘Big Empty’ and its huge variety of research centers, arboretums, canyons, and scientific labs. Even better, find and upgrade your own home base, the Sink, within the Big Empty's central dome! - New Enemies
Confront the surgically-altered lobotomites, bizarre robot scorpions, the dead occupants of the Y-17 trauma override harnesses as well as the terrifying disembodied brain, Dr. Mobius. Look out for other strange and terrifying creations of the Think Tank! - New Perks and Weapons
Old World Blues increases the level cap by 5 and introduces a range of new weapons including the sonic emitter, K9000 cyberdog gun, proton axe, and several varieties of Mad scientist scrubs such as the sterilizer gloves and Corrosive Fist.
You’ll also find new armors such as the Sneak Suit and Mad Scientist Scrubs to make your life in the Mojave easier. Look out for implants that can switch your body parts in and out for new effects and defenses to aid you in the Big Empty and the Mojave wasteland!
Sounds exciting? Certainly does to me! Old World Blues not only has an awesome 1950s wacky sci-fi feel, but also includes lots of references to past games, including to content we haven't seen in any finished game yet. Here's a list of some of the ones we've spotted at The Vault:
- The robo-scorpions are a reference to the Scorpitron of Wasteland, the 1987 8-bit predecessor of Fallout. While the design is slightly different, the color scheme is identical.
- The proton axe is another nod to Wasteland, as the weapon appeared in that game as well, under the slightly different spelling proton ax, as the most powerful melee weapon in the game.
- Big Empty itself seems based not only on the Big Empty of the canceled Van Buren, but also on the Boulder Dome and Fallout 2's EPA, which was cut from the final game.
- The talking toaster was initially going to appear in Fallout 2 in the EPA.
- The Vault Girl image seen on a screen in front of cyberdogs in the Old World Blues trailer is the female version of Man's Best Friend skill image from Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel.
- The lobotomites were originally to appear in Fallout 2, but were cut from its final version.
If you've noticed any more such nods to Wasteland or Fallout games that never were (or we wish never were), let us know!
