Fallout's surge in popularity has reminded everyone of New Vegas' most overpowered mechanic – bisexuality
The bisexual buff is a very real thing in New Vegas
The Fallout TV show is doing absolute wonders for the popularity of the post-apocalyptic RPG series, with a significant uptick in the player counts of the games. This has also led to players new and old discovering and reminiscing about one of Fallout: New Vegas' greatest, and most overpowered mechanics, which makes bisexual people canonically stronger than everyone else.
Let's rewind. In case you were unfamiliar, in Fallout: New Vegas, every two levels you'll get the option to unlock a regular perk to bolster your Courier's skillset. Some of these essentially define your character's sexuality, with options to be straight, gay, lesbian, or bi, the latter of which is unlocked by selecting two of the sexuality related perks rather than just one. Wins for inclusion aside, these perks come with another bonus beyond being able to flirt with NPCs – they also include attack boosts.
Specifically, the Black Widow and Lady Killer perks (which are the exact same in practice, but have different names depending on if you choose a male or female Courier) grant exclusive dialogue options with NPCs of the opposite gender of your Courier's, along with a 10% damage boost towards them. On the other hand, Cherchez La Femme and Confirmed Bachelor do the exact same thing, but towards NPCs of the same gender. There are no nonbinary characters in New Vegas, but this means that players who choose both aforementioned perks end up with a 10% attack boost towards all human characters in the game.
You could call it a bisexual buff, and new players finding out about it for the first time are loving it: "BISEXUALS ARE CANONICALLY STRONGER IN NEW VEGAS? BRO? THATS SO FUCKING COOL," one writes.
It's a fact that old fans have been doing their best to share around, with one veteran describing it as "one of the most optimal ways to play." The bonuses for New Vegas' bisexual characters don't end with the attack buffs, either, with another fan on Twitter pointing out: "What's funny about being bisexual too is it gives you dialogue options where you hit on people and they're like 'thank you but I am not interested. Here are various resources for free.'"
No matter what way you want to look at it, bisexual people really do stay winning in New Vegas. So, if you're new to Fallout and want to make the strongest character possible in the fan-favorite 2010 RPG, you know what to do.
If you're looking to dive into the Fallout RPG series, be sure to check out our ranking of the best Fallout games.
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I'm one of GamesRadar+'s news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.
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