GB Feature: Fallout: New Vegas – Honest Hearts DLC Review

Obsidian’s second add-on for Fallout: New Vegas is finally upon us, so GameBanshee contributor Eric “sear” Schwarz has taken it upon himself to provide a thorough two-page review. A bit of what to expect:

Upon arriving at Zion, the expedition quickly comes under attack by some tribal warriors in possession of powerful automatic weapons. Predictably, the entire caravan is slaughtered, save for the Courier, who soon meets up with a scout from the friendlier Dead Horses tribe, Follows-Chalk, who serves as the Courier’s companion through the first half of the story (who bears a superficial resemblance to Sulik from Fallout 2). Led by Follows-Chalk’s instructions, the Courier soon finds him or herself in the presence of Joshua Graham, otherwise known as the Burned Man, a New Canaanite missionary, and former second to Caesar (of Caesar’s Legion, of course). Graham informs the Courier that New Canaan has been destroyed by the White Legs tribe, who were offered the chance to join Caesar’s Legion if they were successful in wiping the Canaanites out, along with their other rival tribes. The Canaanites fled to Zion, and in doing so brought the White Legs’ wrath upon several other tribes, including the Dead Horses and the Sorrows, who are now the only ones that remain. While Graham and his more reserved missionary partner, Daniel, both want to help the tribes they have unintentionally drawn into their conflict, Daniel wishes to do so peacefully, by evacuating the area, while Graham wishes to exact his own brand of (divine justice) on the White Legs.

From here, it’s fairly standard New Vegas gameplay: the player is left to explore Zion National Park at his or her leisure, Follows-Chalk (and later a female tribal, Waking Cloud) in tow, and is given a series of fetch and collection quests to perform in order to advance the story, with a smattering of side-quests as well; these feel neither forced nor irrelevant, and tie in well with the existing characters and companions. While the individual quests themselves aren’t particularly interesting (a vision quest to kill a giant ghost bear being one of the standouts), they do a good job at giving the Courier to explore just about every inch of Zion, and are logical and appropriate given the story.