For those interested the Van Buren tech demo is still available on ModDB
For those interested the Van Buren tech demo is still available on ModDB
The technical demo for Black Isle Studio's Van Buren (cancelled Fallout 3)
Van Buren is the codename Black Isle Studios assigned to their second iteration of Fallout 3. It saw development by Black Isle Studios until its cancelation in December 8, 2003 and would have been published by Interplay Entertainment.
It takes place in the United States of America during the Great War. The player character in the demo is referred to only as Citizen, though they share a model with the Prisoner. The Citizen made their way to the relocation center and was escorted to Vault 1 by Corporal Armstrong of the 4th or 13th Armored Infantry Division. To reach the vault, they must fight communist insurgents. After they enter the vault, they must help turn on the life support system.
The URL I linked with this post is to the ModDB page. It's an interesting novelty.
A lot of elements from Van Buren would go on to appear in Fallout New Vegas.
Multiple mods have attempted to recreate what could have been using the leaked design documents and interviews for inspiration.
Given the size of the fanbase, I've always been shocked nobody has completed (I know there have been at least a few attempts) a riff on Van Buren. The modern Wasteland games are made on Unity, and show a high end of what it could be like.
1Given the size of the fanbase, I’ve always been shocked nobody has completed (I know there have been at least a few attempts) a riff on Van Buren.
I think it might be a similar situation to the mods that attempt recreate the isometric games in 3D; there's a lot of blanks that still need to be filled in. There also seems to be some indecisiveness with how it should be done. I think Fallout Yesterday went from the FOnline engine to the FO2 engine.
The modern Wasteland games are made on Unity, and show a high end of what it could be like.
There's actually a project to recreate Van Buren in Unity as well.
I do wish I could get more into the Wasteland series but I struggle with the squad based mechanics. The lore seems pretty interesting.
3a project to recreate Van Buren in Unity as well
I'm following, just not getting my hopes up until I'm allowed to play it.
I do wish I could get more into the Wasteland series but I struggle with the squad based mechanics
It is an adjustment, which does leave me wanting a Fallout game to wander the wasteland alone. If you could possibly get into it, I think Wasteland 3 is a perfectly acceptable starting point, the combat is the most polished. Wasteland 3 leans heavily into faction dynamics which is reminiscent of Fallout New Vegas type choices.
3
From what I can tell, this is the most finished and still active attempt.
Last update from them was December 18th here: https://www.nma-fallout.com/threads/project-van-buren.216092/
3I'm following it and super hopeful it becomes a full playable proejct to download some day. I'm just not investing my hopes into it too early.
1I think Fallout Yesterday might rival it. They mentioned getting some additional information regarding the plot from Chris Avellone in the NMA forum post and they released an update this month as well.
1