How to Get (and Install) the Free Fallout: London Game

The Fallout game series is having a renaissance, with the recent Amazon Fallout series, a major next-gen update to Fallout 4 (originally released in 2015), and a highly anticipated fan-made add-on called Fallout: London that finally released July 25 after years of hype and delays. 

The good news: Fallout: London is big enough to be considered its own game, and it's completely free to download and play. The less-good news: You need to own a PC version of Fallout 4 and its existing official DLC, and actually downloading and installing the new mod is a little tricky. (It's also PC-only for now, with no plans to come to consoles.)

Here's the TL;DR on Fallout: London. It's much easier to get started if you own (or buy) Fallout 4 via GOG.com. GOG, or Good Old Games, is a classic-and-new gaming digital games storefront, and has agreed to host the massive install files for London. You can also play Fallout: London if you own Fallout 4 on Steam, but that requires some extra steps. 

The easy way: GOG and go

Fallout: London requires an earlier version of Fallout 4, not the next-gen update that was released earlier in 2024. Fortunately, GOG has that pre-update version if you own or buy the game there. The Fallout 4 Game of the Year Edition, which has the base game and all the required DLC, is $16 on GOG.com right now, which is close to its lowest-ever price. 

The installation path is usually set to C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\Fallout 4 by default, but you can change that if needed. 

After installing Fallout 4, grab the free Fallout: London install package from GOG and install that as well. It's easier if you use the GOG Galaxy app, which is similar to the Steam desktop client. If you don't have Galaxy, you'll be prompted to download and install it. 

From there, launch Fallout: London and get ready to survive in the post-apocalyptic UK. Just made sure to backup your existing Fallout 4 saves somewhere else if you want to keep them, The team behind the project says the following:

"In typical imperial British fashion, Fallout: London will take over your Fallout 4 installation. Installing Fallout: London will make irreversible changes to the default Fallout 4: GOTY Edition installation. You’ll also need to disable cloud saves (as the save folder is shared between the game and the mod). If you’d like to play the default Fallout 4: GOTY Edition again, you’ll need to uninstall the game and the mod, and then reinstall Fallout 4: GOTY Edition."

I used this method, and got the game to run (on a Razer Blade 16, one of my favorite gaming laptops) at between 100-120 frames per second. As a just-released home-grown project, it's still a bit buggy, and my biggest issue so far has been occasional crashes to the desktop and long loading times. 

Image: FOLON 

The hard way: Downgrade via Steam

If you own Fallout 4 via Steam and don't want to re-purchase on GOG, installing takes a little more work. First you'll have to downgrade the base Fallout 4 game to its pre-2024 state, then get the GOG-provided London package to find your Steam-based game. 

• First, make sure Fallout 4 and its DLC packs are installed via Steam. 
• Get the Fallout 4 Downgrader tool from popular mod site NexusMods. 
• Run the downgrader, pointing it at the install folder for Fallout 4, which will usually be: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common -- this can take a a couple of hours to run.
• Download and run the Fallout: London installer from GOG, as described above, and again, point it to the correct Steam folder. 

As above, this will take over your existing Fallout 4 installation, so make sure to make backups of game saves you want to keep, and in both the GOG and Steam versions, Fallout: London will have its own launcher, so don't use the Fallout 4 one. 

So far, in its early hours, I've been impressed with the game's highly detailed London environments, the reworking of classic Fallout tropes like the Pip-Boy, and the new characters, factions, and quests. Despite five years of development, it's still a little rough around the edges, with occasional crashes, some stilted storytelling, and so-so voice acting. But as a free add-on to agame you probably already own, it's a great palate-cleanser before we get into the next wave of big game releases, from Star Wars: Outlaws to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.