The Fallout series has no shortage of mods or fan games. In fact, we've been covering developments from Fallout London for some time - a totally new game made in Fallout 4's engine. But now, another contender has entered the ring, and it might just be a New Vegas fan's dream come true.
Fallout: Nuevo México is, as the name suggests, a fan game built in Fallout New Vegas. But that description doesn't go nearly far enough in describing what the devs have unveiled today. In an 18-minute gameplay reveal, we're given a bunch of details on this full-fledged Fallout game, including the fact that it's set way before the modern titles, going back to the time of the first Fallout game. It even seems to be taking inspiration from the version of Fallout 3 that the original devs had in the works before the series was later sold to Bethesda.
As you can see in the gameplay trailer below, Nuevo México has clearly been in development for quite some time. This is our best look at the project yet though, revealing that there are two different origins for players to choose from, one of which being a prisoner (much like the planned background from the scrapped Fallout 3). Content warning for anyone watching the video - there's quite an explicit threat of sexual assault at around the 2:50 mark. The guy gets shot a whole lot though, at the very least.
On the whole, Nuevo México definitely seems to be coming from a team with a lot of love for the classic Fallouts. The game doesn't appear to rely on familiar faces like the Brotherhood of Steel or the Enclave, instead building its own world and lore around a setting the main games haven't explored before. It's hard to describe, but the overall vibe is also quite similar to how it feels to explore the wasteland in Fallout 2, with civilisations actually trying to rebuild rather than wallow in post-war junk.
That doesn't mean there aren't any of the usual factions we'd expect from a Fallout game. Vault-Tec is here, and causing problems as usual. But perhaps the most promising feature is that players who chose the "Dreamer" origin can play as a ghoul, living in a commune with their irradiated brethren. This completely changes the way you play, with radiation actually making you stronger, not weaker. There's still the risk of going feral though, so it's not without its own drawbacks.
All in all, there are plenty of reasons to keep an eye on this fan project. From what we're shown in the preview, it looks like Nuevo México manages to do its own thing while staying true to the spirit of the older Fallout games. It remains to be seen if it can stick the landing - something which fellow fan game The Frontier absolutely didn't. While there were many reasons this fell apart, one of them was its handling of sensitive topics - something Nuevo México doesn't appear to be shying away from. We'll just have to wait and see if it can pull it off with more tact that The Frontier.