Fallout: London is a DLC-sized mod, which is a complete lie considering how huge this mod is, launched on July 25th by Team FOLON. To whet their appetites and see what this highly-anticipated mod is about, we decided to discuss and share some of our favorite things about post-apocalyptic London.
As expected, the mod is full of neat British touches (not that there’s anything great about being British), as well as Easter eggs, which are a real joy to experience. Of course, Fallout: London isn’t without bugs and crashes (which is true for the Bethesda experience, if you ask me), but that doesn’t take away from the passion and detail we have for the game. Fallout: London” becomes a reality.
Without further ado, here are some of our favorite things about Ashes: London.
Jeremy Bentham Protector
Mark Warren: “What is a gentleman?” asks Head in a Jar, my character in Ashes: London, a mustachioed man born to snipe and nothing else. . Jeremy Bentham, the founder of modern utilitarianism, looked back at me. His cold, lifeless, perfectly preserved eyes stared straight into my soul. What did you just say, they seemed to ask. His protector body should probably hit me in the face with a metal limb.
But in fact, it’s not.
Because Jeremy Bentham – or rather his preserved body – was a gentleman. He believed in healthy debate, and that was exactly the kind of debate he tried to have with me before I rudely flouted the Law of Stupidity. He slowly realized it wasn’t worth it. I don’t have any opinions about Gentleman, and even if I could piece together some opinions after he told me what they were, they weren’t worth hearing.
He politely ended the argument and when we parted he handed me a cookie. I’m standing on the steps to UCL, trying to recall in a blur the past five minutes since I spotted the robot and thought, “No way, this can’t be”. Finally, I pulled out my stock and took a bite of the cookie.
My stupid personality may not be sure about the whole “the greatest happiness for the greatest number, which is the measure of right and wrong” thing that the corpse of a philosopher is selling. But I did have fun with Ashes of Life: London.
The mysterious scientist in Doctor Who
Jim Trinca: My favorite thing about Fallout London is a bold situational pun at the beginning: you. In a giant test tube, examined by two doctors and voiced by two doctors. In particular, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy, the sixth and seventh stars of Doctor Who, became infamous for leading the show during its eventual decline in the late eighties .
Colin Baker’s tenure was notoriously bad, and McCoy’s, while a marked improvement, was simply not enough to save the show from its eventual cancellation in 1989. One of the main reasons was that the undisputed quality of sci-fi shows came from America at the time: Star Wars: The Next Generation in particular. The BBC believes that the British simply cannot compete with programs that are backed by real money.
The official version of Ashes of Life will never be set in England, because it’s an American story about how America sees itself. But the British somehow cobbled together something that stood up. The result of countless hours of bedroom coding, countless favors and sheer perseverance, Fallout UK is as rich as a true mainline movie.
So I think the first NPC you meet in this extraordinary project is a former Doctor Who. In fact it was these people who were responsible for the demise of the original show. It’s a statement of intent: This is the right gaming project with the right exposure to the right talent that you’ve actually heard of. Like all good British science fiction, we made it with two yoghurt buckets and a piece of string, but still wowed everyone with its bold vision and quirky ways.
And I haven’t played the opening yet.
postal boxer
Kelsey Leno: Traveling through post-apocalyptic London is quite dangerous. In Fallout: London, there are gangsters, gatherers, guardsmen, and all kinds of terrifying mutant creatures that you need to watch out for. There are foxes that get brutally bitten, giant ladybugs that feel bad about killing me, and crabs that confront you.
However, one enemy I was unprepared for was the Royal Mail. One of the few trustworthy mail delivery services in the UK – actually reliable – is far from reliable in Fallout: London.
In the first few hours of the game, I walked past many red mailboxes without any trouble. In fact, one of my earliest game screenshots was of a mailbox. Nothing spectacular, but I was certainly surprised to see it for the first time in Afterlife. However, my surprise disappeared when one of the things startled me.
that’s right. Some of the post office boxes in Fallout: London aren’t just abandoned relics from the days when the postman’s red van was everywhere. No, some of them have turned into mailboxers; mailboxes that pop out when you least expect it, conjure wheels from underneath, and conjure hand saws.
My previous fascination with robbing mailboxes in the hope there was money inside quickly faded, and I’ve avoided mailboxes ever since. There is a friendly game to look forward to at Westminster, though.
Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett
Kelsey Leno: “Sweeney Todd” is set in the 1800s and details the life of a barber who murders his clients with a sharp instrument. He delivers the bodies to his downstairs neighbor Mrs Lovett, who then uses the victims as ingredients for “mysterious mince pies”. It’s grim, sure, but so is post-apocalyptic London.
If you explore the streets around St Paul’s Cathedral during the day, you’ll find Fleet Street, which is also where Sweeney Todd lived. Walking along the road, you will see a barber shop owned by a disheveled man named Ted. Will you take a look? His neighbor Mrs. Meekins happens to be a baker, and there’s a garbage bag in the shape of a corpse outside…I wonder what the two of them are doing.
Exploring further, you’ll find a bucket of human remains behind Mrs. Meekins’ counter.
Sadly, there’s not much more to this interaction than Ted actually giving you a haircut and his baker neighbor becoming a trader, but it’s still nice to see this old and horrific tale come to life in Fallout: London Very wonderful.
Berco Robot
Mark Warren: Yes, all my content is about Protectrons and is intended to reflect the iconic British character. Look, I’m a New Vegas fan, and robot fetishism kind of ties into that realm.
Anyway, back on track, John Bercow’s cameo in Fallout: London is a small thing, but it’s a perfect example of the mod that goes the extra mile to deliver a truly British experience , which fully embodies all our crazy traditions and bizarre sense of humor.
As you’ll see, if you’re from another part of the world and you play mods, we are a country that – at least on the establishment side – is dedicated, in a frankly psychopathic way, to the concept of order. Everyone did what they were told. In theory at least, it’s clear that these rules generally don’t apply to people at the top, at least in any way beyond the surface.
So, there’s a man out there who’s famous for yelling “Order!” His performance among MPs during his tenure as Speaker was nothing short of a chef’s kiss. This is also very interesting.
Horsemeat from Fesco
Kelsey Leno: If you haven’t heard, the UK and the rest of Europe were at the center of the 2013 scandal. that’s right. People all over the country are buying 100% beef burgers and God knows what else, only to later discover that these foods actually contain traces of horse DNA. Coincidentally, Tesco is at the forefront of the scandal, with other stores such as Aldi and Lidl also affected.
While consuming horse meat does not actually pose a health risk, it does raise a lot of concerns about how horse DNA gets into our food, and understandably so. If this happens, what else is in our food that we don’t know about?
Regardless, if you explore the aptly named Fesco in Fallout: London, you’ll find “Mixed Meat Burgers” with a variety of animals on their packaging. One of them was, of course, a horse, no doubt a mild provocation to Britons’ food safety concerns in 2013 and the meme the whole scandal later became.
Fallout: London has a lot of similar niche references, which is why the mod is so great. Take for example the random NPC in Westminster talking about napping in Parliament. That did happen. If you also explore every inch of Fesco, you’ll also find some controversial Warmite.
For more information on Fallout: London, check out what to expect in future updates to the mod, all the companions you can recruit, and the easiest settlement locations to get.
