Most Fallout fans have played at least a few games from the main series. Some devotees of the series have played some of the lesser-known and critically panned entries, such as Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. However, there’s one Fallout game that few have played, since it currently cannot be played. Fallout Quest is the one piece of lost media in the Fallout series, as it is no longer accessible in any form.
Fallout Quest is a 2011 “demake” of Fallout 3, made in an 8-bit style reminiscent of early JRPG games. The game was entirely in Japanese and was meant to promote Fallout: New Vegas to Japanese audiences. It also appears to have been designed to familiarize Japanese audiences with some of the tropes of first-person open world RPGs, through the familiar JRPG format. It features elements of exploration and branching choice-based dialogue trees that may not have been as commonplace in Japanese games.
Unfortunately, the game seems to be lost forever. It was stored server-side on Bethesda’s servers, and has since been deleted from them. If it has been copied, duplicated, or saved, no copy has emerged so far, despite interest from curious fans. Even if a version of the game were found, the discontinuation of Adobe Flash would make it even more difficult to play the game. Unless a previously undiscovered copy of the game emerges, it’s likely that Fallout Quest will remain lost media.
Because Fallout Quest is no longer playable, information on what the game was like comes only from secondhand accounts and the few screenshots that exist. Even these offer little information, since the 8-bit graphics of the game make it difficult to discern different characters or settings. One screenshot features a man in a white suit and sunglasses, possibly Fallout 3’s Mister Burke, offering a reward to the player in a room that could be the opulent Tenpenny Tower. Another much more clearly depicts city of Megaton, or at least the giant bomb that sits in the center of the settlement. This would suggest that the Fallout 3 quest The Power of the Atom, in which the player character can detonate or disarm the bomb in Megaton, appears in Fallout Quest.
Otherwise, information is minimal. Another screenshot includes part of the map of the world. This confirms the presence of several locations from the Capitol Wasteland, including Vault 101, Wilhelm Wharf, the Red Racer factory, Fairfax Ruins, and several subway stations. According to one player, Fallout Quest featured a few familiar NPCs with which the player can have conversations. It also includes turn-based combat against a super mutant.
While Fallout Quest might not be anything special as a simple Fallout 3 demake, there are still fans who are interested in it. The mystery around what the game actually contains only adds to the curiosity, as does its status as Fallout’s only piece of lost media. If you want to play any other Fallout game, you can, but Fallout Quest is tantalizingly out of reach. Unfortunately, it seems like Bethesda never saw the game as anything more than a marketing tool, and now it is no longer relevant for its very specific niche. It seems likely that Fallout Quest is lost forever.