The Fallout 1 fan remake is done just two months after its meaty demo. Bethesda has not interfered or caused any 'infighting.'

It was just the other day that I told PCG writer Ted Litchfield that I want a whole game--Museum of Mechanics: Lockpicking-style--that lets me walk through the ruins of all the doomed fan attempts to remake old games in a modern engine. KOTOR's Apeiron remake, Resident Evil 2's redo, and countless attempts to remake GoldenEye, all of which failed to attract Nintendo's wrathful gaze, have all gone the way of the Dodo. They've been lost to the passage of time.

Alas, here's another one to add to the pile. Fallout:Vault 13 was a project by a fan to recreate the original Fallout 1 using the hi-res and first-person skins of Fallout 4. But now, it's pretty dead. It looked like the project was going well. Just two months earlier, a demo showcasing some of the early areas of the game was released and received very well. It's not what you would expect from a project that is just a few months away from being abandoned.

But that's what's happened. Fallout Vault 13 co leader culinwino announced on Discord: "We've decided to officially suspend the development of Fallout Vault 13." It was not an easy choice, but we feel it is the best step for us at this point in our journey. We apologize for any disappointment this news may cause.

It's a little disappointing, but there is a silver lining. Culinwino said that "we will release in the coming weeks a full build that includes all unfinished Fallout: Vault 13 content." This would allow players to explore the content already made, and maybe even let other modders continue where the original team left. The team is also working on a post-mortem, promising a "retrospective that will look back at all we've achieved with Fallout: Vault 13 and celebrate the highs, lessons learned, passion that drove this" project.

If a project must die, this is probably the best thing to do. Plus, it sounds as if the developers had good reasons to pack up things. Despite the apparent progress following the demo, culinwino claims that behind the scenes, there was "burnout," "difficulty in recruiting and retaining members with niche skills," and "personal life changes among core members." They stress that the decision was not made due to "infighting," and that Bethesda did not "cease and cease" anything. It's simply the way things turned out: "The decision to prioritize the wellbeing of project members was made."

I think that this is the right decision. I wouldn't mind if someone else picked up the slack if there was a team of modders who were eager to take on culinwino's project.