Fallout 4 mod Fallout: London is set to become a fully-fledged sequel to Bethesda’s survival RPG, transporting the series from the radiation-washed United States to the acid-raining, nuclear-wintry Land of Hope and Glory. One of its biggest features is the addition of vehicles, with Black Cabs, antique Rolls-Royces, and even push bikes available to help you cross the capital in style, and as you can see in these newly released screenshots, they each come with their own serving of pure 90s nostalgia.
Like the Grognak the Barbarian comics, or issues of Guns and Bullets, Fallout: London includes collectible manuals that boost a variety of your skills. As posted on the developer’s Twitter, the London Crime Statistics catalogues add to your combat abilities – find the one covering assaults, and it will instantly add a rank to the lovingly named, melee-based ASBO perk, with presumably allows you to chin the Super Mutants outside ‘Spoons with an increased chance of a crit.
Even more British, though, are the books that boost your car-based stats – not to go all “only 90s kids will remember…” here, but those of you unlucky enough to be raised in the decade of Spice Girls, Tamagotchis, and TFI Friday will instantly recognise these front covers.
Just picture the scene. It’s 1997. It’s Saturday afternoon. Your dad is outside in his ripped jeans and paint-stained Fruit of the Loom jumper, sipping coffee from the mug that came with a Smarties easter egg, looking increasingly stressed out as he pores over the innards of his K-reg Ford Mondeo. He reaches into the glovebox, and retrieves his solitary lifeline, a staple of every 90s nuclear family: the Haynes manual.
They’re piled up in your grandad’s garage. Every charity shop has a whole section of back copies. And now they’re in a Fallout game, as each car in Fallout: London, from the royal Ambassador to the lowly, Smart Car-esque Tater T, comes with its own, Haynes-style upgrade book. So, if you break down in the middle of Deathclaw-infested Shadwell, you’ll know what to do.
It’s a loving and well-observed tribute to British culture, and yet another reason why we’re looking forward to Fallout: London. Until then, another Fallout fan sequel, Appalachia, just got an hour of new gameplay footage.