Unanimously, there has been mostly praise for Fallout: New Vegas. After all, Obsidian Entertainment has a pedigree of being the dark horse of the RPG genre. As a testament to New Vegas' popularity, it's still a relevant game right now what with a renewed interest for its multiplayer mod. That, however, doesn't stop a certain percentage of the fanbase from having some opposing thoughts to New Vegas' acclaim.
To them, the game is rife with some hard-to-swallow truths eclipsed by all the hype and the bandwagon associated with the old Fallout game. Whether their unpopular opinions hold some objective merits or are mere emotional anecdotes is up to the beholder. Some of them are positive while others are critical of the award-winning game. You'll just have to see for yourself whether you agree with them or not.
10 It's the worst Fallout game
So far there have been many Fallout games; there are 15 in total to be exact but that didn't prevent some New Vegas players from cherry-picking the game as the worst in the series. That is even in the face of controversial titles such as Fallout 76.
Objectively, the general consensus (based on aggregator sites like Metacritic) is that New Vegas is among highest-rated Fallout games. It would seem that Obsidian's development approach in making the story more engaging than the gameplay might not be for everyone.
9 It's the best RPG of its generation
On a more optimistic note, there are also those who crowned Fallout: New Vegas as the tippity top, the cream of the crop in its generation of RPGs. Now that's a hot take because Mass Effect 2 was released in the same year as Fallout: New Vegas.
Meanwhile, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was released a year later. Still, you can probably understand where that unpopular opinion came from since New Vegas is essentially a return to form in RPGs where no karmic restrictions whether moral or programmed hold back the players.
8 Being able to kill everyone doesn't make it good
In regards to karmic restrictions, what made New Vegas a hardcore and traditional RPG experience that evoke the good old days of CRPGs where you can kill just about anyone. It's that kind of freedom in roleplaying that's considered a development rarity these days.
Too bad some players don't take kindly to that sort of RPG development philosophy. There are those who deem that kind of lore and video game structure too modular or chaotic to be a coherent narrative experience. That kind of RPG conundrum still exists today, or perhaps some RPG players are too accustomed to plot armor and essential NPCs.
7 Vegas is an uninteresting setting
In most Fallout games, the setting is the star character as each post-nuclear war city has its own personality that makes it feel like an irradiated home that you just can't leave. Vegas, however, is not for everyone as some players consider it bland or unchallenging compared to Washington D.C. in Fallout 3 or even Boston in Fallout 4.
The whole place is also a little small for some people's tastes, especially when locales such as Washington D.C. offer labyrinthine dungeons in the guise of ruined buildings. Vegas ultimately ends up feeling flat when compared to Bethesda's more vertically intricate environments.
6 Old World Blues is a boring DLC
For most players of Fallout: New Vegas, Old World Blues is the most engaging DLC due to how its quirks and the generally humorous atmosphere are presented. The characters' personalities in Old World Blues also add much to their dynamics with the players.
That isn't enough to keep the DLC from being a one-shot wonder for some; several opinions point to Old World Blues as annoying or only interesting in the first playthrough. Gameplay-wise, it doesn't hold much meat compared to other DLCs according to certain opinions in Reddit.
5 DLC weapons are borderline cheating
This complaint isn't exactly limited to just Fallout: New Vegas; it also applies to other Fallout games, especially those developed by Bethesda. The guns introduced in most of the DLCs are obvious power creeps for the main game weapons.
They make the game too easy. The Red Glare and the Sonic Emitter appear to be some of the worst offenders in this category. Plenty of the weapons in the GRA also have a tendency to make the game trivial which is saying much because...
4 The game is too easy
For those who have played one of the latest Obsidian Entertainment games, Outer Worlds to be precise, it's pretty clear that they might have a problem building a game around their solid storyline. Outer Worlds was surprisingly too easy and Fallout: New Vegas also gets some similar sentiments from its players.
There are even those who cranked up the game to its highest difficulty level because the fights were too inconsequential. They were disappointed that the game merely turned the enemies into bullet sponges this way.
3 Third-person is better than first-person
Another unpopular opinion that's not too far-fetched and also applies to most Bethesda games is how third-person perspective is superior compared to first-person. It's personal preference mostly but being able to see the character you clothed and molded in the creator is rewarding.
More extreme examples of these sentiments are during combat where some players simply prefer the feeling of a wider field-of-view that third-person brings. For melee combat, it does help a lot being in third-person.
2 The whole game barely feels post-apocalyptic
Another thing that probably sets New Vegas apart from other Fallout games is that its post-apocalyptic Vegas is a bastion of commerce and neon that it barely feels post-apocalyptic. That is when compared to games like Fallout 3 or 4 where you can almost smell the radiation.
Vegas appears to have a working capitalist society that's more functional than Boston in Washington D.C. in other Fallout games. That and the fact that the intro doesn't set players off from a vault likely lent to that unpopular opinion above.
1 The Companions are annoying
While certain companions in Fallout: New Vegas are quirky and have an awesome personality, that didn't appease some of the players. Because as with all Bethesda games, companion A.I. is simply unrefined.
New Vegas is no exception. Companions are mostly there to accompany the players in combat. They have no unique interactions with one another and don't really hold a candle to the more turbulent party dynamics of games like Mass Effect. If anything, some players preferred the cold, lonely desert nights of Mojave over the dead-eyed companions in New Vegas.