Every gamer has their favorite cozy game; a virtual warm hug that helps you wind down from even the most hectic days. Musician Louise Bordeaux used to find peace in farming sims like Stardew Valley, but now finds her happy place in the nuclear wasteland of Fallout: New Vegas.
Fallout: New Vegas
- Released: October 19, 2010
- Platforms: Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3
- Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
- Publisher: Bethesda Softworks LLC
- Designer: Josh Sawyer
- Artist: Joe Sanabria
- Genre: Action role-playing
- Modes: Single-player
Why Louise Bourdeaux loves Fallout: New Vegas
“It’s very retro and I feel like I actually take a lot of inspiration from it, ” Louise tells Playboy. “The imagery is based on a 1950s pin up kind of look. The style, the music, the soundtrack… It’s all very jazz, which I grew up listening to.”
Fallout: New Vegas is a spin-off in a massive video game franchise that started in 1997. The backdrop of the series is set primarily in the western United States, a couple hundred years after a nuclear war ravages the country.
New Vegas takes place in and around the Mojave Desert and Las Vegas. The player controls a courier who must complete various missions and quests, picking sides and creating alliances between the factions at war vying for control of the desert.
In this hellish open world, players can explore various real-life locations, upgrade their weapons, and become a crucial part of the conflict while unraveling some of the best lore a video game has ever offered.
The game’s audio-visual alchemy was recently enjoyed by gamers and non-gamers alike, when Fallout was adapted as a series on Prime Video in April, 2024. The series was a commercial and critical hit, and has been greenlit for a second season.
Like Louise mentioned, the backdrop of the post-apocalypse is a charming art deco retro-aesthetic, that offers a glimpse of the world just before the bombs fell.
“The aesthetics, the music, the gameplay. Everything blends just right.”
Louise Bordeaux is on The Playboy Club. Talk to her now.
