Van Buren was the codename for a Fallout 2 sequel that was in the works at Black Isle Studios until it was canceled in 2003. In the years afterward, information about this missing Fallout 3 that may have been having surfaced online, lending it a fabled character among Fallout aficionados. Since InXile owns the Van Buren moniker, a group of modders is now working on recreating Van Buren into a New Vegas mod dubbed Revelation Blues.
“We will maintain as true to the original Van Buren tale as possible,” according to the project’s NexusMods website, “and in the future, we aim to put in a significant amount of unique features.” The project is still in the works as of today.” You may download and play a demo of Revelation Blues right now from that website.
The original Van Buren would have taken place in the year 2253, with players taking on the role of an escaped prisoner exploring the American southwest while being hunted by robotic prison guards. Denver and the Grand Canyon would have appeared in post-apocalyptic forms.
Parts of Van Buren were reused in Fallout New: Vegas; in the original game, Joshua Graham from Honest Hearts would have been one of your friends, and you would have met Caesar’s Legion as well as visited Hoover Dam. The modders working on Revelation Blues want to disregard the New Vegas versions and “won’t treat FNV as canon [sic] in any manner.”
There’s also a Fallout 2 mod called Fallout: Yesterday that recreates Van Buren, as well as an effort to transform it into a separate Unity game.
