Fallout: New Vegas

One of the areas in “Vegas” ranks among the greatest bits of environmental storytelling I’ve ever experienced in a video game. Without getting into spoilers, it is a darkly comic exploration of humanity’s tendencies toward pessimism, vulnerability towards propaganda, and capacity for violence, all effortlessly conveyed with e-mails, posters, and strategically placed corpses. It thrilled me, amused me, and shook me to my core, and I’ll never forget it, and less than thirty seconds after leaving the area, I shot a man with an energy rifle so hard, he and the five guys next to him exploded into phosphorescent light.

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