Fallout: London Review – London is Calling

Fallout: London begins with the usual Fallout spiel – war unchanging, the world in ruins, etc. – but there’s no Vault to emerge from. You don’t venture into the wasteland to find a family member (thank heck), but rather answers and connections. The post-apocalyptic playground may still feature all the tenets of Fallout 4, from junk collecting and armor and weapon crafting to settlement building, but wrapped in the remnants of a completely different culture. London has fallen, and you have no idea who you are.

An amnesiac protagonist isn’t a new concept, yet it remains a solid enough mechanic to introduce players to the world while allowing them to shape their own story. The lack of a voiced protagonist furthers that goal – for all intents and purposes, you’re one of the people from the labs. Nothing is known about you or the scientists seemingly conducting experiments in a facility beneath The Shard. When a gang known as the Vagabonds breach it on an alleged supply run, you break free.

"It’s amazing and – to employ a cliché – really makes you feel like you’ve awakened in a retrofuturistic London that’s gone to hell and back."

Some tea bags, Radshrews and terminal digging later, and the only relevant name throughout it all is Smythe (Mr. or Mrs., depending on your gender). They don’t seem all that hung up on you leaving – in fact, they subsequently unlock the doors, allowing you to take The Tube and escape. The journey doesn’t last long, as it crashes onto the street, leaving you with afflictions resulting in less damage dealt and more taken. After a brief conversation with the same Vagabonds, it’s time to cut loose.

Join up with the Peaky Blinders rejects and help them with their tasks, perhaps get some sweet weapons and clothes, or venture to the canned goods factory to locate the Thamesfolk. You can also reject both choices and explore, weaving in and out of the main quest as you please.

Compared to Fallout 4 or many other open-world titles, Fallout: London doesn’t immediately douse you in random occurrences and side quests. The overcast skies, incessant rain and minimal music lend a darker mood to it all. The meticulously detailed environment further adds to the immersion. You’ll walk down the street and see wrecks of double-decker buses, maybe venture into the Fesco (clearly based on Tesco) to see what’s available and encounter some Bloatflies. The radio offers a mix of intriguing beats when the soundtrack isn’t offering dour chords during the silent moments and heart-thumping beats during combat.

There are still terminals to investigate and NPCs to converse with, but the world-building relies almost as much, if not more, on the decrepit streets and skeletal remains. It’s amazing and – to employ a cliché – really makes you feel like you’ve awakened in a retrofuturistic London that’s gone to hell and back. This may not vibe with every kind of player out there, especially if they need a constant stream of activities on the map, or random occurrences to keep themselves occupied.

"The fact that certain decisions have proper consequences is another feather in the mod’s cap, to say nothing of all the speech checks for adding some extra flair to your dialogue exchanges."

Sticking to a quest path is beneficial for those who want more consistent narrative beats, and Fallout: London delivers in that department as well. I chose to head to the canned goods factory and got caught up with the owner wanting a rebellious worker taken care of. After robbing the former blind, I did the deed, received some Tickets (the de facto currency), and hightailed it alongside my new dog, Churchill. We ventured to a checkpoint leading to Thameshaven, told that the front was barricaded, and proceeded through a series of irradiated underground tunnels that wouldn’t be out of place in a Metro game.

Helping the mutated Thamesfolk was key towards locating Archie, a boy who knew about the underground laboratories, and where we may potentially find another. First, a former Tommy conscript turned mercenary seeks to destroy some Mittenlurk nests before allowing me entry into the crashed plane to speak with Archie. What ensues is a game of “the floor is lava”, navigating rooftops and makeshift walkways to avoid mega-radiated water, find the nests and destroy them.

Throughout all this, Fallout: London is opening up to you through its characters about the state of its world and the different factions. The Vagabonds’ leader Sebastian Gaunt is an ally of the Thamesfolk but is considered a wanted man by the Tommies. The Thamesfolk are sheltered and seemingly pitiful but also wary and passive-aggressive to outsiders.

Other factions exist, each with dedicated quest chains, and it’s a joy to slowly unravel this brutal world while coming to care about those within it. The fact that certain decisions have proper consequences is another feather in the mod’s cap, to say nothing of all the speech checks for adding some extra flair to your dialogue exchanges. Unfortunately, the voice-acting ranges from decent to forgettable – it gets the job done, but very few performances stand out.

"Even if you can deal with all that, optimization remains one of the biggest hurdles to enjoying Fallout: London."

However, it bears remembering that this is still Fallout 4’s gameplay. The shooting mechanics and crafting are still very serviceable, but melee combat remains somewhat clunky. In a game that pushes for more of the latter, whether it’s reserving ammunition for the harder-hitting foes or relying on knives in relatively close-quarters scenarios, it’s rough.

Not enough to make the game unplayable or outright annoying, but I lost count of all the times I tried to swing my knife again while my character was seemingly trapped in molasses, finishing the first attack. On the bright side, the selection of quirks at the beginning, allowing for further build specialization or just wacky fun, helped feed more into the role-playing.

The Fallout 4 base also means that despite excellent attention to detail, well-realized environments, and much more, the visuals remain several years behind some of today’s best (or second-best). Even if you can deal with all that, optimization remains one of the biggest hurdles to enjoying Fallout: London. GOG is the best way to go, but even with a relatively smooth installation process, there are crashes galore. It starts when emerging from the Tube crash and continues, seemingly at random, regardless of what you do.

Installing another mod, Buffout 4, alongside some dependencies and a High FPS Physics Fix, resulted in a much more stable performance. However, the busier areas, whether it was the Thameshaven market or nighttime with lots of shadows and rain, resulted in severe FPS drops. Note that your mileage may vary and not in a good way – there are plenty who followed all the steps and tried other fixes, but still face crashes. Furthermore, the experience isn’t bug-free, whether it’s hands clipping through models, Churchill floating in the air when he’s not blocking my path, etc.

"I feel excited to explore buildings, streets and locked doors – not for the XP, the loot or the materials, but to immerse myself further in this world and learn more about it."

At the end of the day, Fallout: London is a free mod with a scale rivaling many full-priced games. It offers tons of content, a compelling narrative with interesting characters and factions, and a stunningly realized world rife with detail. If Team FOLON can fix the various crashes and deliver more consistent performance, it’s a worthy experience for any Fallout 4 fan (even if it doesn’t revolutionize the well-worn gameplay). How long that may take and what it could break in the process is unknown.

Nevertheless, the current product is an enjoyable, solidly built experience. I feel excited to explore buildings, streets and locked doors – not for the XP, the loot or the materials, but to immerse myself further in this world and learn more about it.

This game was reviewed on PC.