Fallout Van Buren (partially found unfinished Fallout game; 2000s)
Fallout Van Buren, which was the code name for the original Fallout 3, was an RPG game that was to be developed by Black Isle Studios, the original creators of the Fallout series. The game's intent was to continue the Fallout franchise, but it was not a sequel to Fallout 2. However, on December 8th 2003, Interplay Entertainment laid off the PC development team, and the game was cancelled.[1]
After this, the series was eventually sold to Bethesda Softworks, creator of the Elder Scrolls games. After the sale, the Black Isle team was disbanded and transferred to work on either Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2, or Fallout: Brotherhood Of Steel 2, another cancelled game. Fallout 3 was released in October 2008, and while it was criticized by the already established Fallout fandom, it was praised by critics and newer fans, splitting Fallout fandom into two era as we know it.
Van Buren's Legacy
Upon acquiring the rights, Bethesda decided to remake the game from scratch, using neither any of the old code nor mimicking its gameplay and converted it into a first/third-person ARPG with a completely different plot. While Van Buren was seemingly completely thrown out, design documents for the game were leaked by Fallout fansite No Mutants Allowed in 2005, containing almost every detail about the design of the game.[2]
Screenshots of a tech demo for the game were released on No Mutants Allowed on April 30th 2007, and on May 2nd, a full tech demo was released.
In 2010, Bethesda Game Studios and Obsidian Entertainment, which was composed of a few old employees from Black Isle Studios, created Fallout: New Vegas, which incorporated a number of elements from Van Buren, such as the NCR and the Hoover Dam.
Availability
Apart from the tech demo and several design documents, little else builds of the original game has been released.
Gallery
See Also
- Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2 (lost build of unfinished PlayStation 2 action role-playing game; 2000s)
- Fallout Extreme (lost build of cancelled multi-platform tactical shooter; early 2000s)
External Links
Reference
- ↑ The Vault Tec Inc.'s post on cancelled Fallout games. Retrieved 19 Dec '21
- ↑ A directory of the leaked Van Buren design documents (indexed on the Fallout Wiki). Retrieved 05 Jun '13