Fallout 3 Remastered Is Probably Coming, But Don’t Hold Your Breath

After years of radio silence and messy leaks, Bethesda finally dropped Oblivion Remastered this week—and naturally, the hype cycle immediately rolled over to the next logical thing: Fallout 3 Remastered. And honestly? It makes too much sense not to happen.

Bethesda's timeline for game development is basically “glacial but inevitable.” Starfield took eight years and still launched feeling half-baked. Elder Scrolls 6 was announced in 2018 and didn’t even enter proper development until 2023. So, expecting a brand-new Fallout this decade is borderline delusional. That leaves remasters as the next best move, especially with the Fallout TV show blowing up and season two already on the way.

“I’d be willing to bet a case of Nuka Cola on Bethesda trying to replicate the already significant success of Oblivion Remastered.”

And there’s good reason for that bet. A Fallout 3 remaster was explicitly mentioned in the same leaked FTC documents that predicted Oblivion Remastered. Sure, the document was from 2020 and had the release year pegged as 2024, which didn’t happen, but the Oblivion part turned out to be 100% real. That alone makes it hard to ignore.

If Bethesda hands it off again to Virtuos (the studio that handled Oblivion Remastered), then it’s safe to assume they’ve only just started—if at all. That would push a realistic release date to something like 2027, especially if we follow the same delayed timeline as Oblivion.

And let’s not pretend a remaster like this is a quick job. Oblivion Remastered took years of quiet development, and it wasn’t just a texture swap. It was rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5, stuffed with expansions, improved controls, new voice work, and a revamped levelling system. You don’t just speedrun that kind of project.

“It had Fallout 3 Remastered down for 2024, and obviously that never happened.”

What makes it all the more believable now is the fact that Oblivion Remastered isn’t just real, it’s actually good. Steam reviews are currently sitting at Very Positive, with players praising the visuals, stability, and overall polish. That’s not always a given with Bethesda stuff. So if you’re Todd Howard and you’ve just pulled off a solid remaster of a beloved RPG, the next move writes itself.

That said, we’re still in speculation territory. Prolific leaker Nate the Hate insists it’s still on the way, but cautions that it’ll “be a while.” And let’s not forget the FTC leak wasn’t gospel—it was based on a 2020 internal presentation, and companies pivot all the time. Projects get shelved. Plans change. Entire games get quietly buried in the Vault, never to be seen again.

Screenshot: Fallout 3 Intro in Unreal Engine 5 | R.G.Surota

But right now, everything’s lining up:

• Fallout is hotter than ever thanks to the Amazon series
• Bethesda needs time to finish Elder Scrolls 6
• Remasters are cheaper and quicker than full games
• Oblivion Remastered was a success

That last point can’t be overstated. If Oblivion Remastered had bombed, maybe this conversation wouldn’t be happening. But it didn’t. It’s already pulling in huge player numbers and topping Steam charts. Bethesda now has a proven formula: outsource to a solid studio, update the visuals and UI, throw in all the old DLC, and boom—nostalgia-powered success.

By the way, Fallout 3's Intro Gets an Unreal Engine 5 Makeover, it's not a remaster but a close look at what we could hypothetically see.

“Oblivion ain’t no Morrowind, and Fallout 3 sure as hell ain’t Fallout: New Vegas. But we can’t have it all, I guess.”

So yeah, Fallout 3 might not be the GOAT of the series—New Vegas fans will die on that hill—but it is the most commercially viable one to remaster. It was a major console RPG hit, introduced millions to the Wasteland, and has just enough jank and mid-2000s charm to make a slick remaster feel like a big deal.

Meanwhile, Fallout 76 continues to chug along, now with ghouls and expanded stories, but let’s be real—it’s not scratching the same itch. People want a proper single-player RPG again, not another crafting-heavy live service game.

So, where does that leave us? Probably waiting. The remaster seems likely, but don’t expect it next year—or even the year after. If development has started, it’s still early days. If not, well, at least we have Oblivion to keep us busy while we wait for the next return to the Wasteland.