The original cancelled Fallout 3 gets a teaser and new name as a mod for New Vegas

A mod recreating the lost RPG from Black Isle Studios, known by the codename Van Buren, received its first trailer and changed its name to The New West. This ambitious project attempts to bring back the cancelled version of Fallout 3 that never saw the light of day in the early 2000s.

Van Buren became something of a mythical game for series fans – a project that could have been the sequel to Fallout 2, but was shut down in 2003. After that, Bethesda acquired the franchise rights and created a completely different game called Fallout 3. For many classic RPG fans, Van Buren remains "the perfect game that never was" – a project that theoretically would have kept everything great from the first two games while avoiding the controversial decisions Bethesda made in their version.

That hasn't stopped modders from trying to bring Van Buren to life on their own. There's a mod called Fallout Yesterday recreating the project in Fallout 2's engine, along with other attempts at a full remake. But there's a solid reason to make Van Buren specifically as a mod for Fallout: New Vegas – many ideas from the cancelled project were eventually reworked and used in Obsidian's creation. Caesar's Legion, the Big MT science facility, and Joshua Graham were originally conceived for Van Buren, so New Vegas already has the necessary assets and concepts.

The project was previously known as Revelation Blues and even released a demo last year. Now the mod has been renamed The New West, with the trailer dropping at a perfect moment – right after the Fallout Season 2 finale, when interest in New Vegas has peaked over recent years. Too bad Bethesda remains silent about a possible remaster.

The trailer captures the atmosphere of classic Fallout and presents Van Buren's story. The protagonist starts the game in a prison controlled by an AI named Odysseus, from which an escape must be made. Beyond the prison walls, the wasteland is gripped by the New Plague – an epidemic threatening survivors.

You can follow the development progress of Fallout: The New West on the official website, and the demo from the Revelation Blues era is still available on Nexus Mods.