While we wait for Fallout 5, New Vegas just got a huge visual upgrade

Fallout New Vegas is the definitive Fallout experience. The Mojave Wasteland's gritty yeehaw vibe is unmatched, while an Obsidian at the height of its powers has yet to be bested in terms of writing wizardry within the series. It's a complete RPG in every facet, and would be my dream pick for a remaster, especially now Obsidian and Bethesda operate under the same umbrella. This, of course, would be years away, but the good news is that you can leverage modern graphics settings in the existing version of New Vegas right now.

Fallout New Vegas stands as one of the best open-world games of all time, and for good reason. The Mojave Wasteland is dynamic and flush with potential shenanigans to revel in, inviting me back again and again over the years. While all the recent chatter has concerned itself with what the Fallout 5 release date will entail, a gussied up New Vegas would be a delectably sweet treat to tide us over.

Now 15 years-old, Obsidian's classic is more than showing its wrinkles, despite the best Fallout New Vegas mods doing some heavy lifting in the visual uplift department. If only it could utilize contemporary tech like ray-tracing to bring it to the next level… Oh, wait, it can. This is all thanks to Fallout New Vegas RTX: an in-progress mod by 'skurtyyskirts' that makes full use of Nvidia's RTX Remix suite to completely transform the game, textures and all, into something that stacks up far better against more recent releases.

According to the creator, Mojave Wasteland RTX features a "fully path-traced Mojave," alongside upgrades to "nearly every asset" with more realistic materials, "hand-crafted wasteland assets," and a slew of tweaks to lighting and other minute details. It's a seriously impressive project, and you can check out more details, as well as download a demo of it, here.

Fallout New Vegas isn't the only classic game that's gotten the RTX treatment. As part of the ongoing RTX Remix mod contest, bangers like Need For Speed Underground 2, Manhunt, and even Max Payne have all been dripped out by creators hoping to take home the lion's share of its $50k prize pool - a pretty big carrot by any measure.

While you're waiting for a completed version of the New Vegas mod, check out more of the best Western games and new PC games you can play right now.

You can follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides. We've also got a vibrant community Discord server, where you can chat about this story with members of the team and fellow readers.