Unbelievable Achievement: Conquering Fallout: New Vegas Hardcore Mode Without a Single Kill
A compassionate Fallout: New Vegas player embraces the challenge of completing the game on hardcore mode without resorting to violence, adopting the noble role of a pacifist doctor in a desolate post-apocalyptic world
In Fallout: New Vegas, a player successfully completed the game on Hardcore mode without a single NPC casualty. Obsidian Entertainment, the game's developer, aimed to ensure that players could finish the main questline without resorting to killing anyone.
Hardcore mode in Fallout: New Vegas differs from a typical difficulty setting. It operates as a distinct mode, not increasing enemy difficulty. Instead, it introduces significant changes to various game mechanics as players explore the vast city of New Vegas. For example, activated Hardcore mode alters the effects of stimpaks and Radaway, causing them to heal and eliminate radiation gradually instead of instantaneously. In addition, players must regularly consume water, food, and prioritize getting sufficient sleep. Sleeping does not aid in recovering health either.
In the game's subreddit, a dedicated Fallout: New Vegas player known as TheMillionthOne accomplished a remarkable feat with their character, Michaela. Michaela, a doctor who strictly follows the Hippocratic Oath, refused to kill any character in the game, including robots. With three rules to abide by - no killing, no killing by companions, and no tricking enemies into dying - Michaela and TheMillionthOne successfully completed 125 quests. Their achievement was unlocking the highly challenging "Hardcore" achievement in Fallout: New Vegas, all without causing a single character's death.
To achieve this feat, TheMillionthOne utilized the Robotics Expert perk, allowing them to deactivate machinery. By doing so, they reasoned that a deactivated killer robot was not technically dead, since it could still be reactivated within the game's logic. They point to the character Doctor Mobius as evidence, who controlled an army of robot scorpions, including a giant robo-scorpion that could be deactivated but would reactivate shortly after.
Completing a no-kill run in Fallout: New Vegas can be made easier by siding with the appropriate factions and making the right choices within faction questlines, as suggested by TheMillionthOne. However, maintaining a no-kill approach becomes more challenging in the game's DLCs, particularly in the Lonesome Road DLC, where players may need to think outside the box. Thankfully, the developers at Obsidian have crafted a game that encourages and rewards player creativity. It's a shame that they haven't had the opportunity to make another Fallout game, as desired by the director of New Vegas. Fallout: New Vegas is currently available for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
