Rumors about Bethesda working on a remaster for its 2008 open-world post-apocalyptic RPG Fallout 3 have been heating up over the last few months, and now, The Verge’s Tom Warren has also reported that it is still being actively developed. In his report, Warren noted that the studio is aiming for the same level of polish and quality as last year’s The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered.
“The game is still in active development, and I understand Bethesda is keen to ensure it’s as well polished as the surprise release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered last year,” he wrote.
It is worth noting that Bethesda’s open-world RPGs have a reputation of launching in technically questionable states before their problems are fixed with post-launch updates. We recently saw this happen with the release of Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition, and even Oblivion Remastered had quite a few performance issues that are still being ironed out.
Another report from last month has indicated that Bethesda hasn’t yet decided on when it will officially unveil its Fallout 3 remaster. Industry insider NateTheHate recently noted that it is a “planned release”.
While the remaster being developed has been rumored for quite some time now, a recent report has indicated that it will be similar in scope as Oblivion Remastered. Windows Central’s Jez Corden even indicated that there are also plans to remaster Fallout: New Vegas.
Former Bethesda developer Bruce Nesmith had spoken about a Fallout 3 remaster last year, noting that it would likely need a complete revamp of its gun-based combat system. Bringing up comparisons with the combat in Fallout 4, he said that similar refinements would also be necessary in the remaster.
“What did you see in Fallout 4? That will tell you what they felt was necessary to change from Fallout 3,” Nesmith said. “I know in Fallout 4 there was a lot of work done on the gun combat, because Fallout 3 is the first time they ever tried to do a shooter-style game. And, well, I think the work that was done was amazing.”
He also went on to talk about how Fallout 3‘s combat systems didn’t hold up even compared to contemporary releases. 2008 saw the release of several critically-acclaimed shooters, after all, including Gears of War 2, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and Dead Space.
“[Fallout 3 combat] didn’t hold up to shooters at the time,” Nesmith explained. “Also, it’s an RPG shooter, it’s not a run-and-gun shooter. But a lot of work was done on that for Fallout 4. So I anticipate seeing a lot of that work go into it, assuming they’re doing the same thing.”
“Oblivion wasn’t just brought up to the 2011 version of Skyrim,” he continued. “It was brought up to something that, at least on the surface, looks like it exceeds the most recent graphics update in Skyrim.”
For a hint of what the Fallout 3 remaster might end up looking like, check out our review of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered. The fantasy RPG is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. A Nintendo Switch 2 release has also been confirmed for 2026.
