Black Isle Studios' planned version of Fallout 3, codenamed "Van Buren," was canceled in 2003, followed shortly by the studio's dissolution. It remains a great "what-if" of gaming. The financial decline of parent studio Interplay was likely terminal by this point—the subgenre of complex, isometric RPGs reached the nadir of their popularity in the early 2000s, going dormant until their revival with Pillars of Eternity and Divinity. While there was no saving Black Isle itself, the project they were working on has captured Fallout fans' imaginations over the years... Read more.
