With word that Fallout 5 won’t start production until after Elder Scrolls 6, which itself won’t ramp up until after the release of Starfield sometime next year, it could be quite a while before we get a chance to explore the next proper wasteland. Of course, Fallout 76 does still exist, and it’s pretty good, in my humble opinion.
But with the announcement of the upcoming Fallout: London mod, which is set to release in 2023, we might be scavenging our way through a new entry in the long-running RPG series — albeit an unofficial one — sooner than we thought.
Now, there are caveats. This is a mod for Fallout 4, so you will need a copy of Fallout 4. Plus, if mods of the past are any indication, you will most likely also need all of the DLC. This mod will also likely be available for PC exclusively, so console fans will still have to wait another decade until Fallout 5 releases. And it goes without saying that Fallout: London is a mod, so the quality and scale could vary once the final product is available to play.
But, with all of that said, I can’t help but to walk away from this trailer impressed. It looks like the development team put a lot of time and effort into this mod, enough that this looks very much like an official new entry in the Fallout series. The trailer itself leaves much to be desired, as the first four minutes of its four-and-a-half-minute run time is just shots of environments. It isn’t until after the title card pops that we get to see actual gameplay, which reassuringly looks very much identical to what one might expect: a proper dose of melee and firearm combat involving all manner of characters in hodgepodge armor sets.
The Fallout: London development team have really outdone themselves with this DLC-sized take on London in the Fallout universe. I’ll be curious to see how much voice acting there will be, as well as to learn what factions have sprung up in the aftermath of nuclear war across the pond. It will also be interesting to see if there are variations on vaults, or what the British government devised for ensuring the proliferation of humanity after the bombs fell and the dust settled.
Here is a synopsis from the trailer’s description on YouTube:
Fallout: London is a DLC-sized mod for Bethesda’s Fallout 4. As a continuation of the base game, the mod will allow the player to visit the previously unexplored post-apocalyptic environment of London.
As a divergence from previous official titles in the series, Fallout: London is not set in America. Visiting a totally new setting allows for us to explore totally new cultures which have not homogenized with their American counterparts. It also allows us to explore pre-war European history, and the effects the Resource Wars had on the class structured society of pre-war Britain.
If nothing else, if this mod manages to deliver what feels like an authentic Fallout experience, it could no doubt serve as an example, much like Fallout: New Vegas did with developer Obsidian. What I mean is that perhaps you don’t need Bethesda to make a worthwhile entry in the Fallout series. And if Microsoft is looking to speed up the timetable on the next official release, maybe outsourcing isn’t such a bad idea.
If this looks cool, you can also check out the Fallout: Miami mod that offers a similar premise — a DLC mod for Fallout 4 — just set in a post-apocalyptic Miami. Although the scale of this project, which I believe is still in active development, doesn’t strike me as nearly as grandiose as Fallout: London.
You can check out the trailer for Fallout London below, and make sure you check the description box if you would like to contribute to Fallout For Hope Initiative.
