Fallout: New California is an ambitious standalone prequel campaign mod for Fallout: New Vegas. We first caught wind of its existence in 2013—then known as Fallout: Project Brazil—despite it first being planned for Fallout 3. Now, after nine years of development, the project has entered its beta phase.

"So after many years, not only is BETA 200 playable from start to end credits with no major interruptions but it's stable and finally coming together as a finished thing," says project leader Brandan Lee is this ModDB update . "We still have bugs, and we still have defects, but it's approaching a level of polish you'd expect from a release ready product most of the time."

Lee says that now New California is playable from start to finish, this is the first time he and his team have been able to step back and appreciate its scope. Against New Vegas' 65,000 lines of dialogue (a record at the time, says Lee) and Fallout 3's 40,000 lines, New California has over 14,000 lines of dialogue—delivered by 42 actors for 60 characters. Moreover, the mod boasts 12 endings, and offers multiple branching storylines along the way.

Lee also says in order to break up the Mojave's vast expanse, the mod introduces new outposts which are tied to New California's quests. Full details on that can be found in this post. Fallout: New Vegas is, obviously, unequivocally, the best Fallout in the series, so I for one look forward to New California's slant on its world.