Fallout: New Vegas History, Lore, Endings & Timeline Explained

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With the first season of the TV show wrapped up, it's a good time to brush up on the story of . Considered by a sizable contingent of fans to be the best of the modern games, has garnered considerable praise for its approach to the factions, history, and gameplay of the series and for, in some opinions, striking a good balance between the classic, isometric games and their first-person shooter sequels.

Importantly, it should be noted that 's unique approach to its world and gameplay can be attributed in large part to being developed by a different studio than other modern games — whereas,, and were all developed by Bethesda, was instead developed by Obsidian Entertainment, a studio that's now known for games like,, and the upcoming. The result is that has a significant amount of its own lore and background that's fairly separate from other modern games.

Whereas most recent games have been set on the East Coast, instead takes place in the Mojave Desert, in and around the titular New Vegas — the remains of Las Vegas that were preserved significantly better through the nuclear war that defines the setting than most of its surroundings. The different setting means, in turn, that has some factions that are entirely unique to it, not appearing in any other game, and that the preexisting factions that do appear are significantly different from their depictions elsewhere in the series.

Central to the overarching plot of is an ongoing war between the two biggest factions in the area — the New California Republic, or NCR, and Caesar's Legion. The NCR, which originated in the first two games, has grown into a mostly functioning nation by the time of, mostly imitating the structure of the old-world American government and attempting to annex the Mojave. In part by allying with the local Desert Rangers, the NCR maintains a tenuous hold on parts of the Mojave, though the game draws attention to the faction's bureaucracy problems.

The NCR's greatest opposition in the region is