Van Buren tech demo

A tech demo of Van Buren, the cancelled Fallout 3 by Black Isle Studios, was created during the game's development. When asked about it, Bethesda's Pete Hines replied: "(...) releasing someone else's unfinished product, or assets from it, is not something we intend to do." Several screenshots and one video of the tech demo have been released at No Mutants Allowed on April 30, 2007, followed by the tech demo itself on May 2.

The plot of the tech demo is not connected to the main storyline and was going to be included in the finished game as a tutorial. It takes place in the United States during the Great War, somewhere in the Great Midwest Commonwealth. The Player Character in the demo is referred to only as Citizen (even though he uses the Prisoner's model). His parents were reduced to ash, as they didn't believe the government's bombing raid sirens. He made his way to the relocation center and is escorted to a Vault by corporal Armstrong of the 4th or 13th Armored Infantry Division. To reach the Vault, they must fight Communist Insurgents. After he enters the Vault, the citizen must help turn on the life support system.

There are several things of note in the tech demo. The first is that the female PC appears naked from the waist up, without the prisoner suit with the "13" legend. The second and most curious is that the male PC's character portrait appears to be Eric Wu from Eric Conveys an Emotion (or simply Emotion Eric). The female PC has no character portrait whatsoever.