The story behind Fallout 3 is a doozy—no, not Bethesda’s iteration, but the canceled one from Black Isle Studios. Game development projects never seeing the light of day is a tale as old as time, but “Van Buren,” the codename for this project, faced a lot of unfortunate turmoil.
The backstory of Van Buren is quite interesting, and had the project gone through, the franchise would be a lot different than what it is today.
Black Isle Studios’ Vision for Van Buren, a.k.a Fallout 3
Van Buren was set in the Western United States, specifically in states like Colorado, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. It took place in 2253, with players taking on the role of an escaped prisoner.
Whether the character was innocent or guilty would have been up to the player to decide during character creation.
The game’s storyline starts in a prison under attack by an unknown force. After an explosion knocked the character unconscious, they’d wake up to find the cell door open and escape into the wasteland.
Once outside, players could shape the wasteland through their actions. Their interactions with groups like the Brotherhood of Steel and the New California Republic would have influenced the region’s fate, as is typical with the Fallout games.
A major aspect of Van Buren’s story was the ongoing conflict between the Brotherhood of Steel and the New California Republic. Players could visit areas controlled by these factions and affect the war’s progress through their actions.
The overarching plot involved a rogue scientist from the New California Republic, Dr. Victor Presper, who planned to seize control of a U.S. orbital nuclear weapons platform to initiate another nuclear holocaust.
The player wouldn’t be able to prevent all the missiles, but their decisions on where the missiles would strike shaped the world’s future.
Van Buren’s Behind-the-Scenes Turmoil
Before the concept of Van Buren took shape, Interplay faced setbacks in its attempts to create a new game for the franchise. Titus Software halted two such efforts to prioritize other titles within Interplay’s portfolio, particularly console games.
When Interplay lost the rights to develop Icewind Dale and Baldur’s Gate games for PC, its ongoing project, Baldur’s Gate III: The Black Hound, was scrapped. Subsequently, the team behind Baldur’s Gate III was reassigned to develop Van Buren.
As Black Isle started working on Van Buren, Interplay’s in-house team was concurrently working on Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. However, key departures gave Black Isle a lot of trouble.
Ultimately, financial issues led to the cancellation of Van Buren on December 8, 2003, resulting in Black Isle’s closure. Interplay sold the rights to make single-player Fallout games to Bethesda, which made Fallout 3.
Many developers from Black Isle came together and formed Obsidian Entertainment. They later released New Vegas in 2010, which was published by Bethesda Softworks. Many of the game’s elements come from Van Buren.
What do you think the franchise would look like right now if Van Buren was never cancelled? Let us know in the comments below!
