Fallout Extreme: The Fallout That Wasn’t

Ausir, administrator of The Vault, told me about a cancelled game in the Fallout series called Fallout Extreme. Originally developed for the Xbox by defunct studio 14 Degrees East, which was responsible for the marginally successful Fallout Tactics, Fallout Extreme was planned as a cross between Fallout Tactics and a squad-based third person shooter somewhat akin to Full Spectrum Warrior, Freedom Fighters and Valkyria Chronicles with bits of Jagged Alliance 2 thrown into the mix.

According to The Vault, which received design documents of the game, most of the developers at Black Isle Studios had no knowledge of the game’s development. The game itself would have taken place in the Pacific Northwest, with most of the game being set in and around Oregon, Washington and various parts of western Canada. Players would have to make their way through various locations, cross the Bering strait, go through Siberia and finally arrive in China, where they would have had to destroy a Doom’s Day Missile aimed at what was left of the United States.

Just one big missile to end it all. I suppose that’s why they named it Fallout Extreme.

It’s fun to note that the first part of the game would have taken place in Seattle, as players made their way through the Seattle Underground, Capitol Hill and a vault located in Mount St. Helens (Vault 6).

Apart from its third-person squad-based combat, the game’s campaign would have progressed very similarly to the one in Jagged Alliance 2, as players in control of a squad of characters known as The Cause would have to reclaim each town in their path and earn resources and equipment to bolster the player’s cause.

More details of the cancelled game can be found at The Vault.

Trivia: Fallout Extreme is just one of seven official Fallout games that were cancelled. Other titles include Fallout 3 v1 (Black Isle Studios), Project van Buren, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2, Fallout Tactics 2, MicroForte's Fallout Online, and an unnamed Gauntlet-like for the Playstation 1. This list isn't counting Troika's post-apocalyptic title, the Fallout d20 table-top game (now released as "Exodus"), or any hidden titles that Bethesda might have refused to greenlight at its studio.