A strange countdown clock. Missing games and weird glitches on Steam. Cryptic comments from Todd Howard. The end of Fallout season two fast approaching. All of this is feeding into an ongoing belief among many Fallout fans that long-rumored remasters of Fallout 3 and New Vegas are coming soon. But how much of this is true, and how much is just out-of-control hype from fans hungry for a new entry in the series?
As reported by PC Gamer on January 14, Fallout fans on Reddit noticed something odd with Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 3. When trying to leave a review, Steam would block it and say the games weren’t out yet. Considering the games have been out on PC for closer to 20 years than I want to admit, this confused people. It also fueled the ongoing belief that a Fallout 3 remaster, as well as a possible New Vegas remaster, are launching in the near future. People theorized that this was some backend snafu related to Bethesda getting ready to shadow-drop both remasters soon.
And then someone noticed that if you search for Fallout, Steam lists 12 games, but there are actually only 10 games currently available. Curious! This further convinced a lot of people who frankly didn’t need much convincing to begin with that Fallout 3 and New Vegas remasters were coming in hot.
Debunking the Fallout remaster theories
But let’s slow down and throw some cold water on all of this. First, the issue with being unable to review games on Steam despite them already being released, while strange, isn’t related to any upcoming remaster. Instead, it was an issue that has affected various Steam games over the past 72 hours or so, including Batman: Arkham City. It also seems like it has been fixed. I was able to leave a review for Fallout: New Vegas, no problem.
As for the 12 Fallout games listed but only 10 being actually available on Steam, this is a common quirk on Valve’s storefront and often happens as a result of various editions and versions of games being available or not available depending on your region. For example, looking up Call of Duty, Steam lists 25, but there are only 24 on the franchise page. So I wouldn’t read too much into this piece of evidence either.
Meanwhile, before Steam glitches and oddities got Fallout fans freaking out, there was all the hubbub about Amazon’s Fallout countdown clock. As explained by Polygon, Amazon recently activated a website that features a Fallout-like map with different locations. Clicking on them lets you explore these places via 3D and 2D tours. It’s neat, but what caught people’s attention is that one location is locked and won’t open until the season two finale of Fallout airs on February 4. It didn’t take long for people to connect the dots between this date and some past comments from Todd Howard explaining that Bethesda is working on more Fallout and that he thinks the shadow drop of Oblivion Remastered was a successful test.
But once again, I’ve got some cold water to pour on all this, as according to one Redditor who dug into the data of the Amazon site, the locked location is just the Lucky 38 Casino, and when the clock runs out, players will be able to explore it like the other spots on the map. That’s not to say that nothing else will be announced or revealed after the finale, but don’t expect that locked spot on the site to turn into a portal leading to Fallout 3 Remastered.
All the evidence that Fallout 3 Remastered is happening
Okay, so is there any actual evidence of a Fallout 3 or New Vegas remaster? Or is it all just fan hype and rumors? Well, there is some hard proof that at least a Fallout 3 remaster is in the works.
First up, in 2023, a remastered version of Bethesda’s popular wasteland RPG was listed in a leaked court doc that got out during the FTC vs Activision/Xbox hearing. That doc listed other unannounced games, including Oblivion Remastered and a Doom prequel, both of which did launch, though later than planned. So it seems very likely that, yes, Fallout 3 Remastered is a thing, and it is being worked on as we speak.
Fallout 3 Remaster, Ghostwire Tokyo Sequel, Dishonored 3, Oblivion Remaster, Doom Year Zero appear on a release schedule listhttps://t.co/xttFBM30wp pic.twitter.com/A1sv7TAuL7
— Wario64 (@Wario64) September 19, 2023
In November 2025, VGC further corroborated the leaked doc and confirmed it had heard that, yes, Fallout 3 Remastered was real and is currently being developed. The site didn’t share any other details, but did suggest this remastered version of the RPG will be similar to last year’s Oblivion Remastered. So I expect the original engine will still be running under some fancy new Unreal-powered visuals.
As for a Fallout: New Vegas remaster? Well, there’s not really much evidence for that beyond pure speculation and some supposed leakers and insiders teasing it. And while I know a lot of people would love both FNV and Fallout 3 to be remastered, I can’t imagine both happening at the same time and both launching on the same day. That just seems too outlandish and would have likely leaked by now, especially if it is happening sooner rather than later.
So, that’s where we are at. Fallout 3 Remastered is basically a confirmed real game that is happening, but we don’t know when it will launch, though it could be this year. Meanwhile, Fallout: New Vegas Remastered is more of an internet-created rumor that could happen one day; in fact, it probably will happen, but for now, it remains a pipe dream. So in short, everybody calm down, stop checking Steam for weird bugs, and enjoy the last few episodes of Fallout season two.