Fallout: London was released on July 26 to a relatively mixed reception, with the launch of the game-sized mod being marred by instability and constant crashes. I managed to get hands-on with the mega-mod after a lot of work which saw me installing it first for Steam, realising it wouldn’t work, then buying Fallout 4: GOTY on GOG and reinstalling the entire setup. It then worked, but it wasn’t without issues.
Here’s my Fallout: London review and early impressions of the snippets I’ve seen before I was blocked entirely by constant crashes.
Can’t Beat Free
Fallout: London is free – unless you’re like me and you need to buy the game on GOG to get it running. The mod is hosted on GOG, it’s downloaded via GOG exclusively, and when you do so, you’ll notice that there’s a GOG-themed outfit you can pick up in Fallout: London right off the bat. It’s a bit shady that it runs best on GOG’s version of Fallout 4, but that’s a debate for another day.
I’m (almost) a Londoner – I live around half a mile outside one of the city’s boroughs and regularly dip in to do the tourist thing. I think I’m relatively well-placed to pass judgment on the city represented in Fallout: London, and I’d love to do so, but I managed to explore so little of the city that it’s moot.
From what I did see, I can stress that Fallout: London is deeply authentic in its representation of the United Kingdom. Everything is quintessentially British, from the scenery to the finer details (such as calling an elevator a ‘lift’), and as someone local to London, the minor opportunities I had to explore did reveal to me an environment that felt accurate. I had a glimpse at the top-down map in the game’s ‘Atta-Boy’ device and was surprised at the size and scope of it – it’s enormous.
That’s where a lot of my positivity about Fallout: London comes from. It’s hard to believe that something this big is completely free. With 200 quests, 20 factions, an entire city built from the ground up, celebrity voice actors, and a genuinely innovative take on a long-established post-apocalyptic series, Fallout: London feels like a premium game.
It even launched with immense issues – which is typical for an AAA title these days.
Is Fallout: London Good?
I’m basing this on about 20 minutes of gameplay, but Fallout: London is good. I didn’t want to like it because it’s a lore-breaking concept at best, but it has so much potential, that it’s unreal. Let me reel off some of the things that impressed me the most:
- The voice acting is the best I’ve ever heard in a mod – it’s studio quality
- The world-building is phenomenal – you feel like you’re in a Bethesda-crafted city
- The sheer depth of originality is unmatched – every weapon, creature, character, and even the detritus and base concepts of the game such as perks and skills are original
- The scope of this mod is awe-inspiring – the size of the map, the depth of the story, and the sheer number of people involved in its creation are all mind-boggling
Fallout: London incorporates elements of other mods and is inspired by other successful creations brought about by the Fallout community. Some base elements are such subtle improvements to the overall Fallout 4 experience, it’s nuts. For instance, the movement mechanics – you don’t just break into a straight sprint, but a run turns into a sprint over a few seconds, giving you the impression of your character having inertia applied to them.
I’m genuinely quite heartbroken that Fallout: London appears to be unplayable for many people. It’s being hit hard on social media and in reviews because it’s so difficult to get it running. The installation process is far from being simple, and it looks as though you need to buy the game on GOG to get anywhere with it. I managed to get 20 – 25 minutes into the game before a string of crash loops made it impossible to progress.
I sincerely hope the FOLON team can patch some of these issues up, as the minute they do, I’ll be neck-deep in Fallout: London.
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It is easy playable with Steam version if you kept your Game on pre Next Gen. Used my slightly modded FO:4 (mostly mods that improved technically the game) and was able to play an hour without crashes. In the end it depends also on the user setup.
“…it looks as though you need to buy the game on GOG to get anywhere with it.”
I can understand choosing to do this if you have problems getting the Steam version to work via downgrading, but for most people it does work. It certainly did in my case, without any issue at all.
It seems hugely variable how many crashes people encounter. I’ve been lucky enough to have just one in my first three hours of play. One thing that seems to work for a lot of people is launching the game by running F4SE_loader.exe as administrator rather than via GOG Galaxy.
I’m a Londoner myself and I completely agree with you about how they have nailed the look and feel of the city.
I’m surprised that some are having do many issues with it. I’m 9 hours in on the Steam version and have yet to crash. Having a grand time–wish you were here.