Some time ago, speaking about the possible future scenarios of the brand, Todd Howard was lapidary: Fallout is and will always remain tied to America. The fact that Bethesda does not want to explore territories outside of America does not mean that fans cannot do so, and that is exactly how the idea of Fallout London was born.
For those who don’t know, we’re talking about a big mod for Fallout 4 that allows players to experience an unedited adventure set, as you may have already guessed, in a post-apocalyptic English capital. Taking advantage of its recent release, we decided to take a trip across the pond to see how the English are doing after the nuclear holocaust that gave birth to the series.
A problematic mod
Those who follow us know that when we talk about particularly complex mods like Fallout London, which can be considered a game apart from the original title, we always want to spend a few words on the installation process, which sometimes isn’t exactly immediate. Part of the installation problems stem from Bethesda’s choice to publish the next-gen update for Fallout 4 right around the time of Fallout London’s launch.
This has created quite a few problems for Team Folon, who found themselves having to adapt to events. The result is simple: the only way to play the mod is to downgrade to an old update. The principle, therefore, is the same as that seen for Archthrones (have you read our review of the demo of Dark Souls Archthrones?), but here the process is much more complex than the simple replacement of an executable.
The story changes if you own the GOG edition of Fallout 4 GOTY, since in this case the process is almost immediate and it is sufficient to download the game and its mod from the GOG Galaxy client and then start the client. The fact that the installation goes smoothly, however, does not make this version any less problematic than those who play on Steam: in both cases, Fallout London is a product that currently suffers from annoying bugs and crash problems that can occur with a certain frequency both at startup and during the game phases, we will delve more into this specific aspect of the experience.
What are they saying in London?
The most interesting aspect of Fallout London is precisely the fact that it offers a completely different point of view on the world we are used to seeing. In this case there are no Vaults and the protagonist wakes up in a mysterious laboratory without knowing exactly how he ended up there and who are the scientists who are keeping an eye on him.
The only certainty is that the building in which it is located is a sort of English Vault: it would seem in fact that in this part of the world there are no anti-atomic shelters, but the political class and the richest population, called Gentry, have managed to barricade themselves inside buildings equipped with every security measure, thus managing to survive the anarchy that reigns outside.
At the beginning of the adventure, however, the building we are in is stormed by a group of bandits, thus facilitating our escape through the London Underground.
And so, after a more linear phase, we find ourselves on the streets of the English capital with the aim of discovering more details about our past and with the possibility of getting to know the various factions that keep the various areas of the map under control. And the journey we will undertake will be truly pleasant, since the care taken by Team Folon in creating a post-apocalyptic London is truly incredible, so much so that it almost seems like original material as far as the lore is concerned. Each individual group is perfectly contextualized, such as the annoying Hooligans who set up ambushes in the alleys or the Tommies, a sort of all-English Brotherhood of Steel. There is even the people of the Thames, a group of survivors who have suffered the consequences of the radiation of the London river, undergoing body changes that have made them similar to blue-skinned fish-men.
In short, it all makes perfect sense and it is not a trivial job. Just think that Nuka-Cola has also arrived in London thanks to globalization, but the caps are not the main currency in the European city: here the exchanges take place with subway tickets, a very precious currency with which to make purchases or perhaps bribe someone to obtain a favor.
Post-apocalisse british
In terms of gameplay, Fallout London is almost identical to the fourth chapter of the Bethesda series, but places more emphasis on the role-playing component. Suffice it to say that, after creating the character with the same editor already seen in Fallout 4, we can decide whether or not to activate a maximum of two Traits: exactly like in New Vegas (and Starfield, to give a more recent example), we can obtain advantages that will always be counterbalanced by some malus and that often and willingly have a strong impact on the gameplay.
Team Folon also went all out with the power-ups screen, as the list of power-ups to choose from each time you level up is huge and offers endless possibilities for any RPG fan looking to create a character with very specific abilities.
The multiple-choice dialogue system has also undergone some changes and very often offers numerous options, a good part of which involve the character’s unique characteristics.
In this regard, we had the feeling that the quests only apparently gave a certain degree of freedom of action and that, in reality, the missions in which it is truly possible to take multiple paths are very few. It is also a shame for the lack of differentiation between main and secondary quests, which is why it can happen to find yourself entangled in a series of minor tasks thinking it is the main mission. Obviously the developers have also introduced a series of new weapons, not to mention the return of some mechanics that we appreciated in the original game, such as VATS. There is also no shortage of companions such as Churchill, an adorable little dog that can be obtained by completing an event around the map and that, just like Dogmeat, will follow you everywhere during your adventures.
A few too many bugs
As mentioned above, Fallout London’s biggest limitation is bugs and crashes. The mod is currently plagued by a number of issues that cause various types of disruption: from bugs that prevent the completion of the main quest and make it impossible to progress through the story to frequent errors that suddenly take you back to the desktop.
In our case, we were unable to activate the highest graphics options or play with the controller, as in both cases we noticed an increase in the frequency of crashes or, even, the total inability to load the save. In this regard, the developers have not implemented a system to modify the graphics options and for every small change you have to start the Fallout 4 launcher to adjust the settings and then exit.
As if that weren’t enough, there’s a problem that significantly affects the gaming experience: loading times. It doesn’t matter whether the game is installed on a super-fast SSD or not, since moving around can take up to a couple of minutes. This would be a bearable flaw if these events were sporadic, but there are missions where you spend more time looking at the loading screen than playing. Just think that fast travel takes the right player out of a building: this means that, in cases like this, you’ll have to endure two long loadings in sequence to get to your destination.
