Bloody Hell, Fallout S2 Might Just Drop Us Straight Into New Vegas' Infamous Deathclaw Gauntlet
AI Gaming News Author · Polygon ·
Fallout Season 2's trailer hints at a specific, infamous Deathclaw encounter from *Fallout: New Vegas* near Goodsprings, a brutal 'rite of passage' that tricked countless players into a deadly early-game gauntlet, brilliantly pacing the game's open world.
Right then, gather 'round, mates. The dust has barely settled on the first glorious season of Amazon's *Fallout*, and already the season 2 trailer has dropped a bombshell, quite literally. We've seen the glimpses, the tantalising hints, and then, BAM! A Deathclaw. But here’s the thing, that wasn’t just *any* Deathclaw, was it? If my digital tea leaves are reading correctly, and trust me, they've seen some things, this isn't just a generic monster appearance. We might be about to witness one of *Fallout: New Vegas*'s most infamous, soul-crushing, yet ultimately brilliant design decisions make its way to the big screen. And frankly, I'm both terrified and buzzing with anticipation.
Deathclaws, as anyone who’s ever stumbled through the wasteland knows, are *the* signature big bad of the *Fallout* universe. These enormous, ochre-colored lizards have been scaring the living daylights out of players since '97. Back in the day, if you saw one in *Fallout 1*, even kitted out in Power Armor, you were probably toast. They were the ultimate 'nope, turn around' encounter. Now, sure, by *Fallout 4*, Bethesda made them a bit more common – you'd fight your first one within the first hour, for crying out loud. But even then, stumbling upon one still makes your Stimpak reserves clench tighter than a vault door in a sandstorm.
But the Deathclaws in *New Vegas*? Ah, that’s a different beast entirely. Obsidian, bless their wicked hearts, played a truly dirty trick on us. *New Vegas* is, ostensibly, an open-world game. You start in the humble settlement of Goodsprings, and right there, staring you in the face, is the direct, straight-line path north to the glittering casinos of New Vegas. Bright lights, big city, everything you came for, right? It's literally on the map, beckoning like a siren song made of neon.
And mate, nearly everyone falls for it. Fair dinkum, you can’t blame a player for wanting to hit the main attraction. Why trek off to Primm, the 'poor man's Vegas' to the south, when the real deal is *right there*? You ignore the vague warnings from NPCs, scoff at the idea of a 'specific order' in an open-world game, and you stride off, pistol cocked, ready to claim your destiny.
That's when you hit the first speed bump, or rather, a swarm of them. Before you even get to the real nightmare fuel, you’ll likely encounter a handful of Cazadores. These aren't huge, but bloody hell, they’re some of the most annoying, venomous insects in the game. Many a player's journey to Vegas ended right there, leaving them scraped, bruised, and critically low on ammo and chems. A brief moment of relief might wash over you if you scrape through, wondering why on earth the game was so unforgiving this early.
What you don't know, you poor, naive wasteland wanderer, is that you’ve just cleared the amuse-bouche. Climb that hill past the Cazadores, and you’re suddenly face-to-face with an entire *legion* of Deathclaws. And you, still packing your measly pea-shooter from Goodsprings, are about as effective as trying to tickle a super mutant with a feather. It’s a gut punch, a brutal, immediate reality check that Obsidian does *not* want you going that way. This encounter, north of Goodsprings, is practically a 'rite of passage' for *New Vegas* veterans, a shared trauma that unites us all.
I’ve lost count of the times I, or friends, stubborn as a Brahmin on a bad day, have tried to 'Rambo-style' our way through. “What if this time is different?” we’d whisper, reloading a save from 30 seconds prior, convinced our plucky level 1 character could outsmart a pack of mutated apex predators. Spoiler alert: they couldn’t. The sheer, soul-crushing despair of realizing you’re stuck in a save where a Deathclaw is still actively hunting you, or worse, finding out these monstrous lizards can actually *open doors* and follow you into what you thought was safety… that's next-level cruelty. One poor sod even ended up with a Deathclaw in the Goodsprings saloon! Sounds familiar, anyone? It’s the kind of chaotic magic trick that only Obsidian could pull off.
But here’s the clever bit, the observational wizardry that makes this whole ordeal more than just a frustrating death loop: it's brilliant design. While it might feel like the game’s actively trying to annoy you, forcing you to go the 'long way' south through Primm and other early-game towns, it actually paces the game beautifully. It builds anticipation for New Vegas, making the eventual arrival feel earned, like you’ve survived a true odyssey. More importantly, it pushes players to explore the side quests and the myriad interesting characters and stories scattered across the Mojave Wasteland. *Fallout* shines brightest when you're off the main path, helping out random folk, solving quirky dilemmas, and uncovering hidden lore. This Deathclaw 'trap' forces you to do just that, enriching your experience immeasurably.
The show, so far, has proven itself a fantastic love letter to the games, packed with deep-cut references to gameplay mechanics and player experiences. Think about the actual hacking puzzles, or the way NPCs run like possessed chickens when threatened. It’s clear the showrunners get the quirky, often slapstick, humour and brutal violence of the games. So, the idea that they’d adapt *this* specific, iconic player experience from *New Vegas*? That’s not just a nod, that’s a full-blown genuflection to the hardcore fans.
The trailer hints are pretty solid, too. Lucy and Cooper are initially shown looking out towards New Vegas in the distance, likely from somewhere north of Goodsprings. Later, we see them in Novac, an early-game town *south* of Goodsprings that players typically visit *after* learning their lesson about the northern route. And the Deathclaw shot? It's dark, but the building Lucy and Cooper are running *towards* looks uncannily like the Goodsprings saloon. It all lines up, doesn't it?
So, if I'm reading the digital tea leaves correctly, Lucy and Cooper might be getting their own taste of that infamous *New Vegas* 'welcome mat' very early on. Let’s just hope they have better luck – and maybe a few more Stimpaks – than we did on our first suicidal sprints towards the Strip. Fair warning: it's gonna be wild. And possibly quite painful. But isn't that just *Fallout*?
This article was inspired by and repurposes content from an original piece published by Polygon, titled 'Fallout S2's Deathclaws point to an infamous New Vegas game area'.
Tags: Fallout, FalloutNewVegas, TVAdaptation, GamingCulture, GameDesign
Original article: Polygon