New fan-made Fallout New Vegas remaster is the game I wish Bethesda would make

There are only a handful of games that I believe need remasters at present. Dragon Age: Origins is the first. BioWare's seminal fantasy romp had so many brilliant, original ideas that deserve another chance to shine. Besides, I've still never played the human prologue and it's a real pain to get to work on modern hardware. The other game is Fallout New Vegas. Obsidian and Bethesda don't seem interested in printing free money, though, so fans have taken it into their own hands to create a stunning mod that updates the game's graphics for modern sensibilities.

Fallout New Vegas is the best Fallout game, one of the best apocalypse games, and one of the best RPGs ever made. The first thing it has going for it is its atmosphere. Oppressive, grim, and mysterious, the dilapidated streets of what was once Las Vegas are at the core of everything this game does right.

That's supplemented by excellent mechanics and decisions that will force you to start a new playthrough just to find out what would have happened if you'd picked the other option. Whether you play vanilla or install some of the best Fallout New Vegas mods, few games have a similar power when it comes to roleplaying.

However, New Vegas is looking a bit worse for wear. Don't get me wrong, I like the old school aesthetic, but modern players expect the very best. So, in lieu of an official remaster from Oblivion or Bethesda, fans have taken it into their own hands to remaster the game in stunning 4K resolution.

The mod, imaginatively named the FNV Texture Upscale Project, is replacing all the game's textures with 4K assets. This looks brilliant in screenshots, but playing it might be a different story. The 2006 Gamebryo engine may struggle with memory while playing in 4K, so the modder has also created a mod that maxes out the textures at 2K.

The effect is impressive. While it does highlight some of the issues with low-poly models that the original art style cleverly hid, the modder allows anyone to use these textures as they see fit. That means, if someone else wanted in on the collaboration, they could redesign the 3D models to create a really stunning effect.

The original modder says they have retired, however, so there's no chance of them taking a second pass themself.

The Fallout New Vegas 4K remaster mod is available on Nexus Mods. You can download it here.

If you, like me, are bored of waiting for the Fallout 5 release date, why not try some of the best games like Fallout to while away the hours?

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