These different genres have different needs for map layout.

People who want to fight and grow levels don’t want to be set back by the need to survive, and people who want to focus on survival elements don’t want to be set upon my beastly strong enemies and engaged in long combat. One truth of survival games is that they are antithetical to RPG and FPS genres. If Bethesda had decided to introduce acid rain or other difficult weather conditions, that would also have increased the survival challenge, but they couldn’t do that, because it would have affected the game experience for people who don’t want a survival challenge or else, created more work for them, turning on and off considerable elements of gameplay between the two modes. This would add another dimension to the survival element. Temperature could also be effected by the types of armour the character is wearing, from Heavy to Light and other details, such as leather versus metal, which are different in breathability. I would also have taken sun exposure / temperature as a valid survival consideration, since the Mojave is located in the open, heat-scorched desert of Nevada. It would be nice if there were other effects, such as hallucinations and an increased drive towards / ability for / positive effect of cannibalism and vampirism – but judging by the predictability and similarity of other in-game effects, this is highly unlikely. I predict reductions in Endurance and Strength, possibly Perception and Intelligence for sleep deprivation. I wish I could state the effects of severe dehydration, starvation and sleep deprivation but unfortunately, for reasons outlined below, it’s amazingly difficult to find out. Much like with RAD (radiation level), once the slider reaches 1000, the player dies, with mild, moderate and critical stages in between.

The Hardcore Mode introduced the need to eat, drink and sleep, depicted by the sliders FOD, H20 and SLP on the Condition section of the Pip Boy. One difference was that New Vegas improved on Fallout 3’s total absence of survival elements by introducing a Hardcore Mode. However, the Fallout series in later generations had no real survival challenge LINK. It has had teenagers listening to old swing jazz on public transport. The lack of change between New Vegas and Fallout 3 demonstrates a sensible “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” attitude by the developers, Bethesda. The same is true for Fallout New Vegas and Fallout 4, its sequels, which are basically the same game with different plots and characters. It is an RPG / FPS with optional stealth elements and exploration. Fallout 3 is the most famous example of a survival game – probably because Fallout 3 is not a survival game. Survival games are games in which a player fights to stay alive using limited resources.

New vegas hardcore mode