I’ve always had a lot of fun using mods for the Fallout saga games. I’ve written several articles on this topic, but sometimes one of these mods for Bethesda games is so special that just reading about it isn’t enough: you have to try it. One of these mods is Fallout: London. I first learned about this unique project a year ago and now, after several delays due to Bethesda’s attempts to update the original Fallout 4, the mod has finally seen the light of day. In my case, I used the mod with the GOG version of Fallout 4, but if you play with the additions released for the game, you won’t have any problems playing Fallout: London either.
Let’s start by explaining how to install Fallout London and get the mod working. If your copy of the game is from Steam, you’ll need to downgrade Fallout 4. Everything you need can be found on the Nexus Mods page. If you search for Fallout London there, you’ll easily find all the tools you need. Once you’ve installed them, you’ll need to go back to Nexus Mods and install two mods using Vortex, Nexus’ mod management program. They’re Buffout 4 and the Long Loading Times Fix. Once you’ve got them working, you’ll be able to explore Broken London with just a few bugs and other shortcomings.
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The story of Fallout London respects the overall narrative of the Fallout universe. In the year 2077, the United States and China fought a war, bombing each other back to the Stone Age. The problem with nuclear wars is that the rest of the world gets destroyed too, and that includes London, which was truly devastated. You wake up in a giant test tube surrounded by two scientists who tell you that you are their best experiment, however the lab is soon attacked and the scientists die before you can figure anything out. You break free from your crystalline prison and try to escape the spooky building. Along the way, you meet the mysterious Mr. Smythe, who knows exactly what is going on and who you are. Name your character Walker before he seemingly meets his end. You manage to escape the building and find yourself in ruined London, where you quickly encounter the Wanderers faction who will take you to their base. There you will receive your first mission and can then explore the destroyed streets of London and do whatever you want.
It’s fantastic and Bethesda themselves couldn’t have done better than the Folon team, the creators of this mod. One of the things I quickly discovered was that there were even more stories hidden in the nooks and crannies of London. In many buildings you can find holodisks that tell you the interesting stories of people who have been in the area. It’s an incredible thing and helps you get to know the world of the mod much better. I would even say that it’s actually better than what Bethesda does. The main story is full of secrets and the numerous side missions you can find while exploring London are interesting, a commendable task for a small group of fans. To the people of Folon: I take my hat off to them.
Fallout London is full of English charms and eccentricities. All the actors and actresses and voices are native English speakers and the dialects correspond to the region you are in, which is a great detail. You will also find a lot of English culture. For example, one of the first missions is to find sixteen blue police boxes. If you are a Dr. Who fan, even a small one, you already know what that means. In addition, the factions couldn’t be more English. There is the Hooligan faction and if you go further into London you will find the Beefeaters, a faction with a certain taste for human flesh. If you have an Anglophilia, Fallout London is a treasure trove of English culture and the so characteristic “stiff upper lip”, without forgetting the liters of tea of course.
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Fallout London is based on the basic framework of Fallout 4, so many parts of the game layout will look familiar if you’ve played the main game. Of course, Folon has made things more primitive by borrowing mechanics from Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas. First of all, the character you use won’t speak or make any noises, so only the characters you encounter will speak. This helps with the immersion issue, because then you can imagine what noises your character is making as they react at your discretion. Progression is a mix of the various Fallout games. Leveling up allows you to acquire extra points, one per level. These extras are already familiar from other games in the series, but have been well adapted to the mod, and in some cases even changed to make them more useful. Some are stronger and some weaker than in Fallout 4, but they work very well. He thinks I’m a stealth-savvy walker, which I’ve named Binky Fuzzcoggle, because of course it’s important to give him a really silly English name. This stealthy rascal proved to be quite effective and a lot of fun to play. You’ll also come across a ton of cool new weapons, only a small portion of which are from Fallout 4. Fallout 4’s mod system is also back, meaning you can upgrade your gear if you manage to collect enough reusable junk. The core of Fallout London is undoubtedly that of a Fallout game, but the team at Folon have certainly put their stamp on it and more than once I’ve had more fun than I did with the first Fallout 4 years ago. Crazy.
Fallout London is a huge game. The most popular parts of London have been recreated in great detail and the first encounter with some of the most iconic places is amazing. For example, while walking around I suddenly found myself in front of the London Eye, which had been converted into a housing development with people living on and under the Ferris wheel. Climbing to the top of the buildings to see London from a bird’s eye view in great detail is an amazing experience. The time it took Folon to complete this small part of the modification is impressive. An experience that was constantly replayable because Fallout London must have taken a lot of time. That’s why the game is as big as Fallout and Far Harbor combined. Fallout London offers hundreds of hours of playable content… and it’s free. Simply amazing! This is probably also the biggest problem with Fallout London, because there are so many errors and bugs. Missions that don’t work at all. Graphical glitches and game crashes occur from time to time. Installing Buffout will fix many of the errors, but not all of them. So remember to save your game. Anyway, I’d say it’s no worse than Fallout 4 when it first came out, and when you look at the mod as a whole, it’s just pretty annoying little details. The voice acting is another thing that could have been better. Was better. On the whole, it’s fine, but depending on what microphone the specific user is using, you might notice changes in the audio. Sometimes it can take one out of the experience.
My conclusion is that if you consider yourself a Fallout fan, you absolutely must try this mod. It’s free and offers a fantastic vision of what the world of Fallout could look like beyond the American wasteland. This is an impressive project that brings us hundreds of hours of Fallout entertainment, reusing Bethesda’s game design but improving on it in virtually every way. So, that’s enough for today. I need to get back to the game to see if I can find the Tower of London to see if the Crown Jewels are in there. And if they are there, I’m going to confiscate them.
