While the Fallout franchise is experiencing a resurgence in popularity, the Bethesda studio could release remakes of the first two cult games. But he won’t do it and for a very simple (and quite logical) reason.
Video game news is punctuated by the announcement of remakes and remasters, new versions of cult games brought up to date for both a new audience and longtime fans. These projects are often a way to revive interest in a license, but also to modernize games for current platforms.
The Bethesda studio, which now belongs to Microsoft, has continued to adapt its largest licenses to each new generation, offering major technical updates, without using the term “Remaster”.
Asked about the subject of Fallout, the president of the studio brushed aside any possibility of remakes of the first two games, and for good reason.
A charm of the times
It was the content creator MrMattyPlays who was able to speak for an hour with Todd Howard, the big man at Bethesda, on the hot news of the studio’s licenses and in particular Fallout. The success of the series on Prime Video has sparked a resurgence in popularity for this post-apocalyptic universe, so much so that Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 are enjoying a second life.
But what about the first games in the license, namely Fallout and Fallout 2, which are heavily referenced in the television series? Will they see remakes? The answer is unequivocal, the studio’s priority being to ensure “that they are available and that you can still play them on PC” without wanting to modernize them.
Todd Howard’s reasoning goes so far as to protect the identity of these first two games, whose charm “comes from that era”. Indeed, these isometric 2D RPGs may seem so far from the contemporary trends that they have nevertheless greatly influenced.
However, the gaming community is not necessarily of this opinion.
A community remake for Fallout 2
We learned last May, more than 100 fans are developing a remake of Fallout 2 in the Fallout 4 engine, going from 2D to 3D in first person view. The project is titanic, requiring the creation of environments and levels from scratch, inspired by the artistic direction of the original game.
Without going that far, Bethesda could modernize its engine while respecting its main graphic principles. Games like Disco Elysium and Wasteland use the Unity engine, perfectly suited to isometric 3D, for greater graphic fidelity and an equally crafted atmosphere.
But for Todd Howard, such a project would require too much investment when these games, as they currently exist, are to be played “as they were on PC”. And we would be tempted to agree with him on this. And if you really want to modernize these cult games, then the modding community has plenty of solutions for you.