Fallout: New Vegas - Courier's Stash Review (TheFancyRoman)
If you preordered Fallout: New Vegas fifteen years ago you could get access to the preoder bonus packs as seen above. Almost year into the game’s release they released all of the preoder bonuses as one DLC.
The preorder bonuses were just small enough to not break the game but also big enough to serve their purpose as a ”Thank you” to the people who put their faith in Obsidian. What I like about the things the preorder packs provide is that they are all negligible after thirty to sixty minutes of gameplay. They don’t make you overpowered nor do they make this DLC into a meta ”must have” DLC but they do get the engine running a little bit faster.
While it is great news for a longtime fan or on repeat playthroughs, I’d argue that for a new player it makes the initial contact with the game, the first hour or so, too easy and it can alter the experience in a negative way. Picture for example the powder gangers’ raid on Goodsprings. It is substantially easier with the weapons provided with this DLC. It’s the first moral choice of the game and as such it should have weight for the player. Being able to overpower your enemies easier – regardless of which side you choose – makes it have less weight. You don’t need to think of the optional objectives of the quest when you can just shoot everyone with your DLC weapon.
Then you have the water-filled meme machine that is your trusty Vault 13 Canteen. Though it is funny outside of the game, a constant popup telling me that I have gained HP is annoying. One thing it does is lower dehydration which is a gameplay mechanic in Hardcore mode. I haven’t played Hardcore mode but a DLC item nullifying one of the key elements of a gamemode doesn’t sound too good on paper. If this point is invalid then forget what I said after ”is annoying”.
Last but not least is the price of the DLC. Being one tenth of the price of the base game, it’s substantially overpriced. This DLC is the black sheep of New Vegas DLCs and I would argue that it is, in a way, a scam. Would you buy my save game where I’ve grinded the Mohave for twenty minutes for the price of this DLC? I don’t think so.