Preview : The Escapist : First Look at Fallout: New Vegas

Hardcore Mode

One of the new features in New Vegas about which Obsidian is most proud (and by which hardcore fans are most intrigued) is Hardcore Mode. Hardcore Mode does a number of things, not the least of which is that in it, ammunition has weight, forcing you to carefully consider how much ammo you carry and of what types.

"Hardcore Mode is something you can enable at the beginning of the game," says Sawyer. "It's mostly for players that are more hardcore that have played through all of Fallout 3 and want something that's a little more challenging. Most noticeably, it changes how healing works. Healing happens over time. You cannot just rest to heal your broken limbs. You have to have a doctor's bag or go see a doctor."
Interviul : The Escapist : Feargus Urquhart Comes Home

TE: For people who know only Fallout 3, what would be the key difference that they would experience playing Fallout New Vegas?

FU: It's just the vibe. Every studio has a different approach to things, a different vibe. When it comes to us, Fallout is always a little campy. We probably play that up a bit more - like with Dinky. Like you were saying, it's the Vegas thing. People are going to take that away. They're just going to have a different vibe playing it.

If you take someone who played New Vegas, and didn't play Fallout 3, and someone who played Fallout 3 and didn't play New Vegas, and they talked about the general feeling of playing it, they would say very different [things]. "Oh, it's kind of a wasteland - it was very desaturated," and then the New Vegas player would say "oh, no it was blue skies, and there's a dinosaur," and things like that.