Our Verdict
Fallout London is not just a miracle of the modding scene, nor is it a fleeting curiosity; it's the real deal - a sprawling, painstakingly conceived and authored RPG that almost resembles the idealized modern Fallout game.
Often called a “DLC-sized mod,” the fan-made Fallout London is better described as a brand-new game available for free within Fallout 4. Built over five years by more than a dozen dedicated modders, Fallout London is a wildly ambitious project that crafts a unique experience using Bethesda’s 9-year-old RPG while improving on its big brother in countless ways. While it is admittedly buggy in its launch state – just like a real Bethesda game – Fallout London deserves to be celebrated as a monument to fan dedication and the best mod for any RPG in PC gaming history.
In moving out of the United States, Fallout London offers something we’ve never seen before in the Fallout universe, and canonically perhaps never will. After the standard ‘War Never Changes’ intro spiel, you wake underground in a vat as two scientists – voiced by Doctor Who actors Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy – mysteriously discuss your existence. Fighting quickly ensues, you escape the lab, and then take a train to the main body of London, properly kicking off a giant adventure through England’s capital.
Whether it’s night or day, trundling through the fictionalized city of bombed-out London is awe-inspiring, with an attention to detail that rivals Bethesda’s own efforts. There are Easter Eggs galore, such as hidden TARDISes, a Jack the Ripper museum tour, and even a creepy hairdresser next door to a pastry shop in Fleet Street.
The Fallout London team has thought of everything while anglicizing the series. Instead of amassing the consumerist icon of bottle caps to pay for resources, you collect tickets for the still-functioning London Underground gates; instead of slurping down Nuka Colas, you slam a delicious bottle of Ion Brew.
This continues into the weapons where melee builds are considerably more useful than in any of Bethesda’s entries, and guns focus on European weaponry such as the mass-produced Lewis Gun (no connection) and Ross rifles. Even the iconic Pip-Boy is swapped out for an Atta-Boy, which is more of a tablet computer that connects to objects via a satisfyingly clunky cartridge slot.
All of this would make for a fun mod in its own right, but Fallout London goes above and beyond with a fully-voiced campaign matching the length of Fallout 4, multiple voiced companions with their own skills, unique legendary weapons, huge colonies, and even dozens of side quests to uncover across the game’s massive map. It’s an astounding feat, especially since Fallout London’s colossal offering is entirely of a piece.
At one point during the main quest, you’re tasked with traveling to the base of the militant, stiff-upper-lip Tommies to acquire a gas mask to explore another underground lab that could hold key information on your past. This one mission takes you through the Bank Underground station before roughing it out against a band of hooligans at the Bank of England, ending in the discovery of a possible new companion.
While the game occasionally struggles to properly highlight where main quest items are and how to reach them, sometimes resulting in you having to perform unintended platforming maneuvers, Fallout London’s missions are all interesting and unique. There is a lack of choices in some cases, and it does feel more linear in its design than New Vegas or Fallout 2, but the complexity of those older games is recreated in London’s moment-to-moment gameplay.
Compared to Fallout 4, Team Folon’s debut offers a more classic dialogue choice system instead of the base game’s annoyingly simple voiced-protagonist options. There’s also a return to New Vegas’ style of S.P.E.C.I.A.L integration alongside a wholly reworked perks system that makes for the deepest Fallout since Obsidian’s 2010 spinoff. It’s an almost idealized version of a Fallout game where the RPG systems enhance your adventure across London’s claustrophobic streets and relations with its people and factions.
Speaking of the factions, they’re all meticulously thought-out and work extraordinarily well in a British-based Fallout. With six groups spread across countless boroughs, each has its place in the ever-evolving British class conflict that persists in the post-apocalypse. The Gentry, built from the remnants of royals and politicians, still rule the wasted city, enforcing strict taxation across London, and are backed by the militant Tommies. Then there’s the 5th Column and the Arthurian-inspired Camelot, both attempting to tear down the establishment and free London for their own reasons.
Smaller groups include the warring Vagabond and Isle of Dogs Syndicate gangs that scrap across the city, and you can find the fishlike Thamesfolk in Thameshaven, a poor, ostracized community suffering mutations from the irradiated water of the already vile Thames River.
There are even some unforgettable companions that rival the likes of Nick Valentine or Piper from the base game. The hilariously clumsy treasure hunter Kiera, the posh ghoul Mountbatten, or the adorable bulldog replacement for Dogmeat known as Churchill are all great partners across The Big Smoke. However, the introduction to some of Fallout London’s cast is so strong that I wanted to spend more time with them than what’s on offer, meaning the lesser-touched characters and groups feel a tad shallow.
Finally, Fallout London is buggy. Really buggy. You can expect problems with damage calculations, countless crashing issues, and far more bugs besides. It’s a mod that pushes Bethesda’s decade-old game to its limits, and you can often hear it cracking at the seams. In some ways, it’s worse than a typical Bethesda launch, with many players unable to get past the intro due to a particularly nasty crashing bug, but most of its issues are relatively harmless when faced with the reality of the mod’s existence.
Fallout London is a brand-new, free Fallout game in an area of the world that Bethesda has already vowed never to touch. It is beautifully written, painstakingly authored, and only leaves you wanting more, despite already hosting dozens of hours of RPG goodness to enjoy in countless ways. Fallout London is a miracle of the modding scene, a masterful spell that turns stagnant water into wine, and a feat only truly possible within a Bethesda game.