Fallout New Vegas DLC Order: The Complete Guide

Fallout: New Vegas is the best Fallout game ever and arguably the best role-playing game of all time. Obsidian and Bethesda created an unbelievable story, world, and characters that stayed with us for years, and provided an inspiration to the story-driven games of the future. We are playing as a Courier, who was meant to deliver a package to New Vegas but they were intercepted by the Great Khans led by Benny, near the area Goodsprings.
The Courier gets shot in the head, and is left for dead in the shallow grave. The robot named Victor saves The Courier and takes him to Goodsprings, where they wake up at Doc Mitchell’s house. The game’s adventure begins with the quest called Ain’t That a Kick in the Head, and after you finish it, The Courier is ready to find out what happened to him, and who is behind the valuable package that got stolen from them.
Since Fallout: New Vegas is a story-driven game, and is focused on the character’s path you choose to get a definitive ending, Obsidian decided to add a few more storylines that enrich The Courier’s journey through the Wasteland. In this article, we will bring you the complete guide to Fallout: New Vegas DLC order, and provide you with a few tips on when to “tackle” those stories in your playthrough.
Fallout New Vegas DLC Order (At Glance)
Fallout games were always hyperfocused on their story, but what made them different from other games is the way the developers incorporated the gameplay and the in-game choices into the game’s story. What made, and still makes, New Vegas different from the rest of the games in the franchise, is the way it lets the players create their own stories.
We don’t know anything about The Courier’s background but what we know is established through our path and choices in the game. This next list will provide you with all the DLCs that were released for Fallout: New Vegas at glance:
- Honest Hearts
- Dead Money
- Old World Blues
- Lonesome Road
There are four DLCs and each storyline has at least twenty quests you need to complete to finish the DLCs stories. Of course, some add-ons have an impact on your main story and some don’t. We will list the DLCs in difficulty level since some of them require The Courier to be above a certain level.
We won’t list the item add-ons that were released shortly after the story DLCs, but we will mention them briefly when discussing the potential gear for each DLC and more. If you are interested in this topic, stay with us until the end of the article.
Fallout New Vegas DLC Order (Complete Guide)
1. Honest Hearts
We start this list with the DLC called Honest Hearts, a second DLC released for Fallout: New Vegas. You will probably start with this DLC since it is the easiest and has the least requirements – I started it while I was level 15. Now, in most games where your characters progress and level up, the weapons and materials are really important. Fallout values so-called skills with which you are specializing in certain moves Perks – for example, the Barter skill means The Courier will have more approachable prices of the items when dealing with scavengers and merchants.
Now, to activate the quest, one needs to discover a cave on the northern side of the Mojave Wasteland, an area called the Northern Passage. You will be able to activate it when The Courier catches a transmitted message on their radio, from a mystery man, who is trying to find people to accompany him on the journey. When you enter the cave, you will meet a few people – Stella, Jed Masterson, and Ricky.
Each character has their own mini-story. Jed is the leader of the Happy Trails caravan that needs to go to the Zion Canyon and trade their goods in the town called New Canaan. However, Jed has few demands – The Courier cannot bring any companions and needs to carry less than 60 pounds of gear. Of course, the game offers you few choices besides throwing away your hard-earned gear:
- If you have over 50 points in Survival skill, you can convince Jed that you can survive with that much gear on a journey to Utah,
- If you have a skill Strong Back, you can convince Jed you can carry a lot of weight,
- If you have a Pack Rat skill, you will be able to store more items for half of the weight.
However, not all players take these skills and Perks and they need to go for alternative methods:
- After Jed rejects your request to go because of weight, go and talk to Ricky, a man in the Vault-like suit.
- He will tell outrageous stories about his adventures which are obviously fake, and The Courier, with the Survival, Barter, and Gun skills, will be able to blackmail Ricky into carrying their weight.
After you blackmailed Ricky or used your skills to either carry or cut down the required weight, you will activate the quest, and start the journey of Honest Hearts. I won’t spoil anything else but will say that your Energy Weapon and Science skills will be really helpful since Zion has the most and best recipes for crafting poison-resistant gear.
When I played the Honest Hearts DLC, what impressed me the most was the character of the many Utah-based tribes, especially Joshua Graham. He is one of the wisest and coolest Mormons you will meet in Zion, and you will find out a lot about the origins of Caesar’s Legion. The environment is beautiful and vastly different from the Mojave desert and Nevada, and beautiful music enriches the atmosphere of Zion Canyon even more. Such a great DLC.
2. Dead Money
Dead Money DLC was the first add-on for the Fallout: New Vegas game. This DLC is the best played after Honest Hearts since you will be leveled up, have cool poison-resistant gear, and be more experienced. To activate the DLC and the first quest, one needs to find the mysterious Sierra Madre, an extravagant resort that was never opened and was supposed to be the best in the Mojave Desert.
The place is more secure than Pentagon and is full of holograms, locks, and systems that prevent anyone who enters, leave. The quest Sierra Madre Grand Opening will be displayed in your Quest Tab – to find an abandoned bunker, click on the quest and you will get a checkpoint on the map. The bunker will be located beneath Bulder City in the Southeast of the Mojave Desert.
When you get there, you will spot a hole in the ground, which you will be able to enter. After entering, you will activate the security system of the bunker, and you will wake up to a hologram explaining the quest you need to do.
Now, this is a challenging DLC since it strips you of your good gear, and gives you its own weapons that are just not that good. Dead Money is dark, and story-driven DLC, which will get you frustrated a lot.
The fact that the quest and DLCs story does not have any connection to the main story is a bit disappointing but you can enjoy it for what it is, and gain some good money. The recommended level for playing Dead Money is 20 or more, and once you enter the resort, you won’t be able to leave until you complete the DLC.
This particular add-on is focused on skills like Science, Barter, Explosives, and Speech, which are valuable to your companions in the story.
These next perks and skills are recommended to have in Dead Money DLC:
- Light Step – this perk gives The Courier the ability to sidestep and not set off the traps and hidden explosives that will destroy you in this DLC.
- Unarmed/Melee – this skill gives The Courier the ability to smash their opponents in the Dead Money DLC.
3. Old World Blues
Officially, the third DLC on the list, Old World Blues is quite a ride. This DLC is played after Dead Money, since the previous entry taught us a lot, and provided us with a great experience. The quest shows up between levels 1-4, and 45-50, but most of the players, and the game, recommend completing this quest much later.
We recommend listening to the players since some enemies give trouble to level 30+ level Couriers, which tells a lot. To start this DLC, and its first quest, The Courier needs to locate Mojave drive-in, located in the south of Mojave Desert. You will see a crashed satellite that is still transmitting its message. When you decide to examine the satellite further, the screen will blackout and The Courier will wake up in the strange facility, full of fresh scars around their head, chest, and back.
The quest “Welcome to the Big Empty” will start there, and your Courier will have to investigate what happened to them. Unlike previous entries on this list, Old World Blues DLC is fairly a balanced storyline that you can through easily, if you play your cards right.
The perks and skills are important once again, and these are our recommended stats:
- At least 50 point Science, Robotic Expert perk – the setting of the Old World Blues DLC is in the Big MT crater, more specifically, The Think Tank, which is also a place Father Elijah from the Dead Money DLC kept most of his equipment. The facility is full of robots, which will deal you insane damage but with the Robotic Expert perk, you will be able to dish out 25% more damage to the aggressive machines.
- Energy Weapon skill, Pulse Gun – of course, a science facility requires great skill with Energy weapons, and particularly Pulse Gun will be your friend in this DLC. Robo Scorpions are a menace.
- High Sneak Skill – now, this is optional since you can’t level up every single thing. However, sneaking is valuable if you don’t want to waste your resources and time.
- Tons of Stimpaks – this medical aid is really important in Fallout games, and New Vegas is not an exception. The Courier will get beaten down a lot in this DLC, so bring as much medical aid as you can.
4. Lonesome Road
The final, and last DLC on this list is Lonesome Road. This DLC is the icing on the cake for Courier’s and Fallout: New Vegas story. Because it is available in the last stages of the Fallout: New Vegas game, one needs to level up as much as one can. The weapons, skills, and absolutely everything needs to be on the highest level for the Lonesome Road storyline – even the game recommends it as well.
To activate the DLC, and its first quest, the Courier needs to go to the Divide, a place located Southwest of Primm, more specifically, California Sunset drive-in. The hints of this DLC could be heard in the previous DLC, where a man and a woman are talking about another The Courier that is strolling around Wasteland. The story is captivating and incredibly well written and truly shows the ways Fallout: New Vegas caught us in “their net” and never let go.
To activate the DLC and its first mission called The Reunion, the Courier will get a transmitted message from Ulysses telling them he wants to finally explain what is going on. The Lonesome Road DLC will be extremely hard, and your progress throughout the game will be tested, so you need to be prepared for the quests properly.
These are our recommendations:
- Guns, and lots of ammo – now, this seems vague but it means literally just that. You will scavenge a lot during the quests, and fight a lot of enemies that will sometimes be annoying and hard to beat. Some players suggest Snipers for eliminating Deathclaws and other creatures in The Divide, but energy weapons and explosives will be sufficient.
- Avoid wearing Power Armor if you can – as most Fallout fans know, Power Armor is the best piece of clothing The Courier can wear in the game. The Courier has insane defensive and offensive stats that are boosted by this piece of gear, but the enemies in the Lonesome Road, or the ones that are carrying Arc welders, will be able to pierce your Power Armor like a cheese. We recommend wearing the best suitable armor that is not a Power Armor, to avoid critical strikes from the enemies and their Arc welders.
- Don’t carry that much, you can leave the Lonesome Road area, and continue later – Lonesome Road is the only DLC on this list, that lets the players travel to other locations and pick up new gear.
The item packs are not necessarily important for the New Vegas storyline but it does bring you more options of gear and weapons for your journey across the Wasteland:
- Courier’s Stash
- Gun Runner’s Arsenal
Each of these item packs will add more weapons, recipes, mods, ammo, and more to the Wasteland, waiting for Courier to uncover it.
The Lonesome Road is essentially the end of the Fallout: New Vegas storyline, which prompts us to end the article here. But, before we go, if you are interested in this absolutely amazing game, check out Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition on GOG.com which has all DLCs and add-ons included, for only $6.66. This is a great opportunity to enter the Mojave Wasteland and create your own story as a Courier.