One Minor Fallout: London Quest Perfectly Shows Its Biggest Flaw

The extensive new Fallout 4 mod, Fallout: London, is an impressive achievement, but not every quest in it feels fully finished. One side quest in particular is so frustratingly simplistic that it’s hard not to feel cheated by its outcome. That isn’t to say the mod isn’t worth playing. There was clearly a lot of love and effort put into it, especially regarding Fallout: London‘s adaptation of British culture, and it really is a major accomplishment for a fan-made project. Still, moments like this can’t help but remind players that they aren’t playing a full new game.

Part of what makes this quest so frustrating is that it makes the experience less immersive. Worldbuilding is one of Fallout: London’s main strengths, from its cool new factions like the Vagabonds to its new races like the Thamesfolk. It’s unfortunate, then, that certain quests feel far too shallow for the deeply constructed world of the game.

Fallout: London’s “No More Heroes” Doesn’t Offer The Player Any Meaningful Choices

Players Have No Option To Pick A Side In The Conflict

Pretty early on in Fallout: London, players may stumble upon the Prilladog Food Factory. It’s hard to miss, as players will be drawn in by a conflict between mongrels and a recruitable bulldog named Churchill. This is a great bit of environmental design, as players will naturally want to protect Churchill, which will then lead to the Prilladog factory and a quest inside. Unfortunately, that quest, “No More Heroes,” is an incredibly linear side quest.

Inside the factory, players follow the sounds of shouting to where an NPC named Allen is leading an effort to unionize the factory’s workers while the factory’s owner, Harvin, watches from a balcony above. This would seem to set up a conflict with two clear sides for the player to take. However, as soon as Allen is done speaking, players are prompted to only speak to Harvin. Even if players track down Allen and attempt to talk with him, they aren’t able to have a conversation.

After only a brief discussion with Harvin, the owner will request that the player kill Allen. The player is left with two options: accept, or use one of three different skills to try and find an alternative solution. While it initially seems like the player has a lot of choices, they don’t. All three of the skill options lead to the same outcome, telling Harvin to give Allen a new and undesirable position.

Players have no option of siding with Allen, a character who is much more likable. It’s a quest that only has a bad or worse outcome, and doesn’t offer the player a chance to find a creative solution. This quest is not only frustratingly shallow, but it is also indicative of how many of Fallout: London’s interactions go.

Many Of Fallout: London’s Conversations Seem Too Linear

Dialogue Choices Often Lead To The Same Or Very Similar Outcomes

Having a quest like “No More Heroes” is annoying, but it could be forgiven if it was a one-time incident. Unfortunately, there are a lot of conversations in Fallout: London that feel far too on-rails for an RPG. One good example is an early conversation with Vagabonds member Blind Nelson, which has several dialogue choices that lead to the same responses, and the same quest to fix his broken radio.

Now, expecting an unofficial release with many hours of gameplay to have fully voiced in-depth dialogue trees is probably unfair, and it’s also worth noting that not every conversation or quest is this linear. Still, there are quite a few instances where it feels like dialogue choices are just a formality to advance the plot, instead of a meaningful decision.

Fallout: London Lacks The Complexity That Defines The Best Fallout Games

Previous Fallout Titles Offered Players More Creative Ways To Solve Problems

At one point in time, the Fallout series was defined by its complex choices. Looking back at Fallout and Fallout 2’s in-depth roleplaying options makes a quest like “No More Heroes” feel antiquated in comparison, which is ironic given how much newer it is. That said, the blame can’t fully fall on Fallout: London’s Team FOLON when discussing Fallout’s decline in complexity.

Except for Fallout: New Vegas, most modern Fallout games have struggled to make player choices feel meaningful. Fallout 3 is perhaps the worst example, as players are locked into one main narrative, and simply watch NPCs make most of the big, game-defining choices. Though “No More Heroes” may not live up to the standard of the earlier games, it honestly doesn’t feel too far off something Bethesda might put in one of its titles.

At the end of the day, Team FOLON’s work on Fallout: London should be commended. The game is incredible in many ways, especially thanks to its setting and new factions. Still, it does occasionally fall victim to some of the same flaws that Fallout 4 and other recent games in the series have been criticized for.

Fallout 4

Bethesda’s action RPG Fallout 4 puts players into the vault suit of the Lone Survivor, a pre-war soldier from an alternate future cryogenically frozen inside Vault 111. After their infant son is kidnapped, they venture out into the irradiated wasteland of the Commonwealth to scour the ruins of Boston for any sign of him. In doing so, they encounter various factions and companions and use an array of skills and abilities to navigate the apocalyptic remnants of society.

Platform(s)

PC , PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S

Released

November 10, 2015

Engine

Creation

ESRB

M FOR MATURE: BLOOD AND GORE, INTENSE VIOLENCE, STRONG LANGUAGE, USE OF DRUGS

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