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Introduction
One of the coolest elements of the Fallout franchise is its use of real-world settings. Where game series like Grand Theft Auto only allude to their real-life counterparts, Fallout shows us familiar American cities in the aftermath of Nuclear War. Famous landmarks such as The White House, The Pentagon, and Fenway Park Stadium are either shown in tatters or rebuilt in unique ways, and players get to explore these famous landmarks and delve into their past and present through the lens of Fallout’s retro-futuristic lore.
Despite the praise for the ambitiously detailed recreations Interplay Productions, Black Isle Studios, and Bethesda has created, fans are desperate to learn what happened in other parts of the world. Given the mutually assured destruction of the entire planet, we’re only seeing a snippet of The Great War’s effects on a global scale.
Unless Bethesda surprises us with Fallout 5, chances are the next game will once again be set in America, but that hasn’t stopped a talented group of modders from taking on the mammoth task of creating a brand new UK-based Fallout world to explore with Fallout: London. In this Fallout London guide, I’ll be doing a deep dive into everything you need to know about this exciting new project!
Bottom Line Up Front
Given the sheer scale of this mod, there’s a huge amount to cover. If you’re in a rush, here’s a rundown of the key facts:
- Fallout London is a mega-mod for Fallout 4 featuring a fully realized depiction of London.
- The mod is currently set to release sometime in 2023.
- There are currently 15 separate boroughs and 7 new factions for the game.
- Little is known about the story, but it will feature a new protagonist called The Wayfarer and will start amidst a gunfight in a laboratory.
For more unique insights, I recommend checking out this interview from TKs-Mantis featuring project lead Dean Carter and lead writer Siren. All references to in-game elements can be found through the Discord server, the YouTube channel, and from the aforementioned interview as well as this one by Degenerate Dak.
What is Fallout London?
Fallout: London is an upcoming mod for Fallout 4, which encompasses a brand new story, setting, characters, and lore. The mod aims to fully recreate the city of greater London and its familiar character and landmarks, all while enveloping the player in a would-be British setting.
The project goes above and beyond what you’d expect from your usual mod. It’ll feature a complete main story with accompanying side quests, and NPCs you meet along the way will be fully voiced. Alongside an expansive new location, you can also expect new weapons, clothing, skills, and much more.
Fallout London’s Development: A Brief History
Development got started in 2019, but the game has really started to take shape within the last year or so. The development team currently consists of eleven core members with project lead Dean Carter at the helm. According to an interview between the devs and YouTuber Degenerate Dak, Fallout 3’s depiction of the North American capital inspired the U.K.-centric team to think about how a Fallout game would look in their own capital.
The majority of the development news has come through YouTube: structured quarterly videos detailing everything the team has been working on serve to keep interested high, while the official website serves as a hub for exploring the project. The videos served as short commentated and non-commentated footage in five-minute bursts, conveying new weapon mechanics, architecture, lore titbits, and more.
Updates kept coming for two years until the team finally released the first teaser trailer on June 15th, 2021. The two-and-a-half-minute video has amassed 3.5 million views at the time this article was published.
The Fallout: London official Discord server also quickly became a hotbed for exciting discussions and exclusive content. This is also where users can find the Doomsday Book: a compendium of everything players need to know about Fallout lore as it relates to the U.K.
As can be seen on the accolades tab of the mod’s website, what’s been shown of the game so far has been given dozens of glowing reviews by respected outlets and YouTube personalities. It’s plain to anyone that the project has gained a lot of steam, and hyped up via their various outlets, the game is set to become one of the biggest and best mods the Fallout series has ever seen.
The Plot and Gameplay
The game is set in the year 2237, placing it in between the events of Fallout 1 and 2 and around 50 years before Fallout 4. Beyond this, little else is known.
We do know our protagonists will be unvoiced and that they’ll be known as The Wayfarer. The player will awaken in a strange lab to explosions and gunfire. The writers confirmed that the player would have an overarching objective to fulfill (similar to finding your father in Fallout 3 or your lost son in Fallout 4).
The player will be introduced to the major factions in Act 3, with acts 1 and 2 used to slowly ease the player into the new world.
You can see some gameplay at the start of the game here but expect spoilers. If you don’t wish to spoil anything, know the game is shaping up to present with incredibly high production in all areas. The environments are beautifully detailed and atmospheric, and the game’s audio design and voice work is superb.
We don’t know anything about the main characters in the story, only seeing the silhouettes of a couple of unnamed “mysterious” scientists and a disembodied and ominous voice that is viewed through a monochrome TV screen. We briefly learn this character is the fabled Mr. Smythe towards the end. We also see the player character take a tube ride — another unique London feature we’ll come to use in the final release to get from borough to borough.
Other than traveling via the London Underground, though, it’s currently unclear how Fallout: London’s gameplay will differ from Fallout 4. The gameplay footage above shows the typical character creation, skills, and traits selection screens, but only time will tell what alterations have been made within the engine.
The Location
London is a very unique city in the real world, both in terms of its scale, architecture, and transport systems. All of these aspects have been considered and carefully implemented within Fallout: London. From the dense streets of Westminster to the not-so-leafy borough of Greenwich, here are the areas we know will be included in the game.
Tower Hamlets
Tower Hamlets is one of the newer boroughs of London and was formed in 1965. It’s always been one of the most deprived areas in London, and in the Fallout universe, it’s no different.
In fact, it’s much worse. Residents suffer from frequent gang attacks and monsters wandering into the area — an issue accentuated by the fact that homes are not secure and citizens are particularly vulnerable. Your chances of survival are slim if you live in Tower Hamlets.
Camden
If there’s one area of London beside Westminster that I’d envisaged having the Fallout treatment, it would be Camden.
It’s a bizarre, quirky part of the city in the real world, and I was pleased to learn the famous Camden Market — a flourishing array of stalls that rose to prominence in the 1970s — was being reborn with a post-apocalyptic twist. It’s not only going to be your usual trip to the borough, of course: a gang named The Pistols runs Camden these days. The group clings to power as the Gentry tries to impose their will, making Fallout: London’s rendition of the area a hotbed for brewing conflict.
Eastminster
In real-world London, there’s no Eastminster — only a 13th-century church in East Smithfield which bares the same name. In this game, though, Westminster was split with only some of it being included within the walls.
As such, a new area called Eastminster comprises that of old Westminster which lies outside of the border. This encompasses Trafalgar Square: the once famous London landmark which is now a dilapidated slum of holding camps. Gone are the days when art and culture proliferated in this plaza.
Greenwich
I remember Greenwich fondly during my childhood: a particularly green borough with sprawling parks I used to have picnics with my family in and play football with friends.
I’m not sure I’d like to live in the version of Greenwich, though. Run entirely by a gang of sailors who call themselves the Jack Tars, the area has become one a traveler should move through with trepidation and caution. Working out of their base in the old National Maritime Museum — the gang keeps careful watch of their area of the city.
Bromley
Bromley is one of the larger areas of London, with a population of roughly 90,000 people in the real world. Of course, those numbers have vastly diminished by the events of the game.
The town is now the Vagabond’s stomping ground. The Swan and Mitre, a classic real-world Bromley pub, is their base of operations, but the gang is not the only inhabitant of this once-prosperous market town. Another group called the Druids live there, a party of nature worshipers, though not much is known about them yet other than their affinity for the natural world.
Bromley looks to be a hive of activity during the post-apocalypse.
Islington
In Fallout: London, Islington, one of the city’s inner boroughs, is brewing with a conflict ready to erupt.
A dangerous and particularly violent gang who call themselves Miller’s Men dominate the streets, making the once metropolitan district suicide for anyone who isn’t part of that group. The area is technically under Gentry rule, though an unspoken agreement allows Miller’s Men to run riot so long as they toe the line. Despite his once tight grasp over Islington, Miller’s old age is getting the better of him; the violence he instilled is starting to spin out of control.
Lambeth
Lambeth is an old borough of inner city London. It is now home to the Tommies, who have adapted the Imperial War Museum into a fortified base of operations.
The area has become one of the most violent boroughs in London at the time of the game: whether it be bloody conflicts between inhabitants or the inherent dangers of irradiated beasts ascending from the Thames, this once prestigious and expensive area isn’t somewhere you’d want to live in 2237.
Southwark
Close to Tower Hamlets and the river, the borough of Southwark has become a breeding ground for those with a thirst for violence and murder.
It’s a bustling place and a hive of activity with it being run almost entirely by gangs, and anyone who stumbles in is most likely going to become part of one of those groups in one way or another. You’ll need to keep your wits about you at all times when you tread the grounds of this southern borough.
Croyden
In this timeline, Croyden had been turned into a fracking hotspot before the great war. We don’t know a lot about the inhabitants yet, but so far as the appearance of the place, it’s rusting fracking towers as far as the eye can see.
Newham
While the whole of London is naturally a mess due to nuclear devastation, Newham was hit particularly hard: once by the Newham Nuclear Bomb detonation and again by the destruction of the Greenwich nuclear power plant. It’s a key area for trading, but don’t go it alone.
Wandsworth
Home to the famous and expansive Richmond Park, the Wandsworth area has been converted into the main farming location in Fallout: London.
It’s become a crucial asset to those living outside the catchment of Gentry rule allowing them to sustain themselves against the harsh reality of the wasteland. Naturally, it is home to the Camelot group.
Hackney
As a former industrial hotspot, Hackney saw great amounts of regeneration in the times before the war.
It’s always been known for being different and a bit wacky, but above all, residents know it as a hotbed for underground music. This proclivity seems to have lasted post-war: the area is home to The Roundels who operate Roundel Radio (a popular North London music station). The group is also known for its love of motorbike racing.
City of London
The City of London is a free-for-all: gangs, hooligans, and even occultists all fight for territory. The Tommies also control a significant area.
You’ll find all the famous landmarks here, as well as The London Wall: a huge barrier enclosing the city from tunnel cough victims. We are yet to hear exactly what has befallen these people.
Lewisham
Lewisham is another central borough in the southwest. After the war, the local population made a life for themselves within the old recycling center — a place of refuge they called The Den — which was unfortunately wiped out by the Isle of Dogs syndicate.
Only a few remain now, but oddly, weird noises have been heard rising from the center of Pindar Station. Who knows what lurks beneath…
Westminster
Ever the epicenter of culture in London, Westminster still exudes that sentiment even after a nuclear war.
London once saw thirty million tourists a year, with much of that localized to the Westminster area as it’s home to landmarks like Buckingham palace, Westminster Abbey, and Big Ben. Today, the rich and powerful cower behind its high levels of pre-war fortifications.
The Factions
Just like the original games, there will be a large focus on dealing with various factions throughout Fallout: London’s main story. Here’s an overview of all seven.
Isle of Dogs Syndicate
Isle of Dogs Syndicate is an organized crime gang: merchants by trade operating out of One Canada Water (the area encompassing post-war Canary Wharf). They’re in control of the borough of Millwall, and they aren’t your ordinary street thugs — the syndicate is a rich, highly organized gang that can be traced back to the pre-war era.
Naturally, they are direct enemies with Fallout: London’s other big gang, the Vagabonds, after they killed their leader. They are affiliated with the Gentry but are not loyalists.
Vagabonds
Led by the fearless and controversial leader Sebastian Gaunt, the Vagabonds’ are a gang with a vendetta to fulfill. They’re direct enemies of the Isle of Dogs Syndicate with the two gangs being embroiled in a deep feud during the time of the game, though while their opponents take a more violent approach to their criminal business, the Vagabonds consider a more measured approach.
The volatile attitude of Sebastian Guant often doesn’t do the gang any favors, however, and those initially on board with their vision for London can be put off by their less-balanced leader. The gang draws heavily from the 1900s era British gangster styles and values.
Gentry
This faction is exactly as they sound: the remnants of the British aristocracy and the old world’s governmental leaders and the upper class. In many ways, the Gentry is akin to the Enclave from the official series: they’re a group with big ambitions to reform the country to its former glory. Aristocratic descendants, their grasp over the city is not what it once was, but nevertheless, they manage to enforce strict rules for those that wish to be part of their supposed superior society.
Camelot
Camelot: the castle of King Arthur in British mythos, but in Fallout: London, the name given to an underground rebellion fighting for freedom from the Gentry. The group, which is reportedly in hiding during the game, plans to reform London’s government into a new republic.
Taking inspiration from those old Arthurian tales, they want all Britons to be represented with a seat at the metaphorical round table — for a revolution that will rightfully remove the Gentry who cling on to power.
Tommies
The developers have described the Tommies as being depicted as Retro-futurized Great War soldiers. They were originally established as a militia group to protect London after the war, but during the events of the game, they are being utilized by the Gentry for their own defense purposes.
The Tommies will be found guarding the walls around the city. While not much has been divulged about the group, the developers state they may in fact have the power to change the future of London.
Angel
While the Gentry may appear to hold London in their grasp, the true puppet masters may be those unseen. A group shrouded in ambiguity, little concrete information is divulged about the hidden group known as Angel.
Some believe they are simply a myth, though others pit this puzzling faction as a science-based entity with eyes and ears all over the city — a sort of shadow government. A mysterious figure referred to as Mr. Smythe is said to be at the helm of it all. If the group does exist, they don’t want anybody to discover their true motives.
5th Column
The 5th Column is another group that wishes to see the reign of the Gentry come swiftly to a close, but in a much more physical sense than the Camelot movement. The group is headed by leader Eve Varney: she aims to burn the establishment to the ground, reimagining a brand new empire and for Briton to be reborn into.
We don’t know a lot about this forceful leader yet, but she and her followers wish the new Briton to be built in her image. At the time the game takes place, the movement is growing rapidly into a viable and dangerous opposition to the Gentry, the group’s ideas being particularly popular in the lower orders of London.
Weapons
According to the developers, the vast majority of Fallout London’s weapons are brand new. Naturally, not all the new weapons have been disclosed (or even created yet), but many have been revealed via the Discord server and YouTube channel. You’re also able to download many of these weapons right now as their own separate mod: click the title of each weapon to bring you to the official mod page.
Note: Apart from the M72 Gauss Rifle which is a Fallout creation, all other weapons are real-world models. Therefore, the descriptions below represent their history in our world and how the weapon is implemented for the game.
Luger
If you’ve played any of the World War military shooters of the 2000s, you’ll likely be familiar with this classic German sidearm. Designed by George Luger, the weapon was produced from 1898 to 1949 and was the standard service pistol for many different countries including Switzerland, Bulgaria, Portugal, and the Netherlands.
In Fallout: London, you’ll be able to customize the P08 model for several different historic Luger designs.
M72 Gauss Rifle
Those who played Fallout 2 back in the day will have fond memories of the M72 Gauss Rifle: one of the most powerful weapons in the game.
The gun was considered the most expensive weapon to grace the 23rd century; it uses electromagnetic coils to fire projectiles at an unprecedented speed. It has deep roots within the series lore as the product of genius scientist and mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss, whose research into magnetic propulsion made the weapon feasible.
The version in Fallout 2 was only seen as a two-dimensional sprite, so the Fallout: London version revitalizes the classic rifle with a stunning 3D model with new sound effects and animations.
Dardick Tround
The Dardick Tround is a pretty unique pistol. Developed by inventor David Dardick in the late 1950s, the gun gets its name from its utilization of triangular rounds — a type of bullet that was supposed to allow for greater efficiency both in the sense of capacity and reloading.
The round and the unique pistol model that used it were a commercial failure, but nonetheless, they make for a pretty cool new weapon to add to the Fallout: London lineup. The mod includes both the round itself as well as the Dardick pistol.
Webley 1913
In the real world, the Webley 1913 was one of the first magazine-fed pistols, which led to it being described as a self-loading weapon. Originally designed by the British arms manufacturing company Webley & Scott, the handgun was used by the London Metropolitan Police, the Royal Navy, the Royal Horse Artillery, and the Royal Flying Corps. As such, it was the first automatic pistol to be used in British service.
In Fallout: London, the gun can be modified at a workbench with various attachments to suit the need.
EM 2 (Rifle No.9 Mk1)
The EM2, also known as Rifle No.9 Mk1) was a British assault rifle that was used by the British army during the early 1950s. Designed and manufactured by The Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield, the gun was one of the first weapons to use the .208 round as opposed to the old .303.
Infamously, the U.S. declared the .208 round to be too weak for rifles and machine guns. Nevertheless, the design became popular. It is the predecessor to the SA80 family of rifles which remains the first choice for the British army today.
Some Trivia
To round off, here are some cool facts and trivia I discovered during my research!
- Ion Brew: U.K. residents will likely be familiar with the bright orange Scottish soft drink known as Iron Brew, but in Fallout: London, you’ll be drinking Ion Brew — the atomic age counterpart. You’ll see billboards for the drink all over the city.
- Big ben will display an accurate time: Project Lead Dean Carter confirmed that Big Ben — London’s iconic clock tower — will display an accurate in-game time. The clock also chimes realistically, and you’ll be able to hear it at different distances throughout the map.
- Cultural references: The developers have confirmed that there will be many subtle cultural references within Fallout: London. The most widely discussed has been a hat tip to the classic British science-fiction program Doctor Who: the player will be able to find visual references to the show throughout.
- You’ll have a dog: In what has now become an established mainstay of the official series, Fallout: London will also feature a canine companion. He’s an English Bulldog called Churchill and will behave in the same way Dogmeat does.
- The royal family: It was confirmed that the Queen of England was going to feature in the game, but her representation was cut as a mark of respect following her death on September 8th, 2022. She and her corgis were set to appear as Ghouls.
- Robot post boxes: The red Royal Mail post boxes are instantly recognizable, and in Fallout: London, they’ve been transformed into circular blade-wielding robot enemies. They were shown off in one of the latest update videos, as was a walking sea mine enemy which runs and you and explodes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Question: Will Fallout London be coming to consoles?
Answer: Given that Fallout: London is a mod, and that the current consoles have very limited mod support, Fallout London unfortunately will not be available on consoles. It will remain a PC exclusive. Specific DLC items may be added for Fallout 4 at a later date, however.
Question: How big is the world when compared to Fallout 4?
Answer: Fallout London is said to be about the same size as Fallout 4’s world. As each mainline Fallout entry has done, the devs are working hard to approximate distances and geography to get a good balance between the scale and compactness of the real city.
Question: Will the game utilize official lore?
Answer: As is the case with most countries outside North America, we know very little about what happened canonically in the United Kingdom within the Fallout universe. The developers have said in the past that they’ll draw from official lore to make the game as lore-friendly as possible, while the bulk of the experience will be entirely new.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this guide to this brilliant new and ever-growing project. This is one of the most exciting Fallout mod projects ever made, and we can’t wait to see it fully come to fruition. For more information on the project and to stay up to date, don’t forget to subscribe to the official YouTube channel linked above.