Fallout: New Vegas — Achievement Walkthrough

Story-unmissable. You get it just for finishing character creation and the Doc Mitchell intro in Goodsprings.

Cumulative across the playthrough. If you're a gun build it unlocks naturally; otherwise keep a cheap rifle for trash mobs. All the 10,000-damage achievements (Guns, Energy, Melee, Unarmed, Explosives) stack over time, so a varied combat style knocks several out together.

Just explore — 50 map markers come quickly in the first several hours of wandering. Head out from Goodsprings in any direction and the count climbs on its own.

Every successful (or attempted) Speech check in dialogue counts. Build Speech and take the checks whenever they appear — a talky, high-Speech character hits 50 well before endgame.

Start Honest Hearts by joining the Happy Trails Caravan at the Northern Passage (northwest Mojave) and travelling to Zion Valley. The achievement pops on arrival after the ambush.

Only damage from UNIQUE named weapons counts (That Gun, Maria, This Machine, Lucky, etc.). Pick up a couple of uniques early — Maria from Benny and That Gun from the Silver Rush/Novac — and use them as your mains. It ticks up over the game.

Full-map exploration. Sweep every region including the DLC areas and the corners of the Mojave. Following roads and clearing each named area gets you to 125 by the time you've seen most of the game.

Only the weapons/ammo added by the Gun Runners' Arsenal pack count. Buy a GRA-tagged weapon from the Gun Runners' vendor (the kiosk or the vending machine) and use it as a main. Cumulative — it ticks up as you fight.

The completion award for Old World Blues. Work through the Big MT: recover your brain (and hear it argue with you), heart, and spine, upgrade the Sink, and resolve the Mobius/Think Tank confrontation. The Sonic Emitter and X-2 antenna gear you find are strong rewards.

Inside Dead Money's Sierra Madre casino, chips come from vending-machine-tradeable finds, dispensers, and the casino floor. 500 is easy — just loot every chip stack and dispenser as you move through the Villa and casino. They're also the currency for the vending machines, so gather generously.

One of Honest Hearts' endings — side with Joshua Graham's war path and wipe out the White Legs tribe rather than pursuing the peaceful Sorrows-evacuation route. Follow Graham's questline to the assault on the White Legs.

Accumulates over the whole game — just carry a strong melee weapon (Chance's Knife, a Super Sledge, or the DLC's Blood-Nap) and use it on weak enemies. Grinding on radscorpions or Cazadores you'd fight anyway gets there without effort.

A story beat in Dead Money — assemble your three companions (Dean Domino, Christine, Dog/God) and trigger the Gala at the casino to open the vault. Follow the heist questline; the Gala unlocks once you've completed each companion's task to disable the security and signal.

The four endings are mutually exclusive per save: NCR (For the Republic), Mr. House (The House Always Wins), Caesar's Legion (Render Unto Caesar), or independent via Yes Man (Wild Card → No Gods, No Masters). 'Wild Card' is the independent route — side with Yes Man, secure the Securitron army, and drive both the NCR and Legion off Hoover Dam. To collect all four ending achievements, keep a save from just before the final battle and replay the finale down each path.

Answer Ulysses' call and travel to the Divide via the Canyon Wreckage (far southwest). Fight through the deathclaws, tunnelers, and marked men to reach Ulysses at the launch facility, then resolve the confrontation (and the nuclear-launch choice). Finishing that ends Lonesome Road. It's the toughest DLC combat — come well-equipped and high level.

Dead Money's climax. After the Gala, descend to the vault, take (or leave) the gold, and confront Elijah. 'Cash Out' is one of the two ending paths — reach and survive the vault confrontation. (Trapping him instead gives Safety Deposit Box.)

Recruit all eight: ED-E (Primm), Rex and Raul (Freeside/Black Mountain), Boone (Novac), Veronica (188 Trading Post), Arcade Gannon (Old Mormon Fort), Lily (Jacobstown), and Cass (Mojave Outpost). You don't need them at once — recruiting each at least once counts. Some have short prerequisite steps (Boone needs the beret/photo puzzle; Cass needs her caravan questline), so pick them up as you pass through.

The 'good' Dead Money ending — instead of just leaving, use the terminal/dialogue to lock Elijah inside the vault as you escape. You can grab this on a separate reload from Cash Out to get both.

Each Strip casino (Gomorrah, The Tops, Ultra-Luxe, and the Vikki & Vance in Primm, Atomic Wrangler in Freeside) bans you after you win a set amount of caps at their tables. Play blackjack or slots and keep winning; once you hit each casino's win cap they cut you off and hand a comp. Save-scum slots or use a high Luck build to speed it up.

A Dead Money side objective. Track down the set of special Sierra Madre 'Star' bottle caps using the radio clues and locations around the Villa, then complete the associated quest. It's missable once you leave the Sierra Madre, so finish it before the vault escape.

Caravan is NV's card game. Build a small deck (30+ cards) of low numbers (1–6) plus face cards: Jacks remove a card, Kings double a card's value, Queens flip a pile's direction/suit. Play cards onto three piles to get each pile's total between 26 and 38 — closest legal totals on more piles wins the hand. Start against the easy players in Goodsprings/Primm. Once you grasp using Kings to jump a pile over 26 and Jacks to drop an opponent's high card, three wins come fast.

Toggle Hardcore Mode when prompted at the very start (or from the difficulty menu before you finish) and leave it on until the credits. Hardcore adds ammo weight, dehydration/hunger/sleep needs, crippled limbs that only heal with a doctor or Doctor's Bag, and stimpaks that heal over time instead of instantly. It is NOT the same as difficulty — you can run Hardcore on Very Easy. Keep purified water, food, and a few Doctor's Bags on hand, and the whole run is very manageable. The prompt to confirm Hardcore appears near the end, so just don't switch it off.

There are collectible snow globes scattered across the Mojave, most sold to Mr. House or Yes Man for 2,000 caps each. Key spots: the Mormon Fort (Old Mormon Fort), the Vault 21 gift shop, Jacobstown lodge, the Goodsprings cemetery, the Test Site (Lucky 38), Nellis (boomers), Nipton Hall, and Camp McCarran. Use a wiki map if you're a completionist — several are easy to miss and a few sit inside faction areas you might blow up. Grab them before you lock yourself out of any location.

During Lonesome Road, ED-E gets upgrade holotapes hidden across the Divide zones. Explore each area and collect them all — they buff your companion and are largely off the critical path, so search thoroughly.

Scattered through the Divide are inert warheads you can shoot/detonate. Sweep each area of Lonesome Road (use a wiki checklist — several are off the main path) and blow up every one. Do it as you progress since backtracking the Divide is a slog.

The Gun Runners' Arsenal adds combat Challenges (visible in your Pip-Boy's Challenges tab). One-star ones are simple ('kill X enemies with weapon type Y'). Knock out three of the easy ones during normal play.

Harder GRA Challenges — specific weapon kills or conditions. Pick three achievable ones and target them deliberately (e.g., a certain number of kills with a named weapon).

Same skills as Know When to Fold Them, just repeated. Find a dealer who lets you replay quickly (the Crimson Caravan or a fixed NPC), keep a tuned deck, and grind out 30 wins. Kings-over-26 to open a pile and Jacks to sabotage the opponent make matches quick.

The toughest GRA Challenges — demanding conditions like large kill counts or difficult weapons. Choose three you can realistically grind and work them alongside normal combat.