Fallout: New York is a Mod of Unprecedented Scale

Fallout: New York is a mod currently in development by a crew of extremely dedicated individuals over at Nexus Mods. The project has been in development for about a year now, and new screenshots have been released showing off some of the progress the modders have made in that time.

Needless to say, things are looking pretty good.

Although the featured image above is not an actual in-game shot, it’s certainly an inspiring piece of concept art. The actual gameplay photos are looking a lot less perfect and a lot more like Fallout 4.

They’re also looking a lot like New York. The creators of this mod have shown an incredible attention to detail.  So much so that the streets of this mod are more than just a generic NYC-like Cityscape, but are actually irradiated versions of a real spot in NYC.

When the mod kicks off, players will begin their journey through what remains of the very big, very irradiated apple right here:

From there, they’ll be free to explore, take on quests and sidequests, and manuver through whatever else the developers decide to fill this world with once they’ve gotten the larger pieces out of the way.

But according to the team, the completed project is still quite a long way’s off. So long, in fact, that they haven’t even bothered an estimate on a concrete release date yet. As one modder says on the Nexus page, a few NPCs have been placed around the environment, but the AI does not currently have pathing, zoning, has not been given any animations or instructions to follow. So for now, they’ll just be standing around.

There’s also no quests and no – or very few – destructible / interactive environment features. This means no water ripples when it’s hit with a gunshot, no breakable objects, and not even a lot of movement on chests and boxes, even boxes that are clearly meant to be unlocked.

But despite all the missing features, it’s still incredible that a project of this size and scale will eventually be offered up for free to the Fallout 4 mod community. A project this big could easily make for a worthy DLC addition to the additional game, given a larger team and a bit more expertise. Hopefully, those involved in the project can find some way to include it on their resumes once its been released, and will be able to transfer this experience into a career later in their lives.

The modders have stated that they plan to continue improving the section even after the 1.0 release. Nexus modder Roserosenbergfr has mentioned plans to add in NYC’s subway system later down the line. There has also been mention of making loot and gear in the underground subways quite good, but very scarce, giving players plenty of time to bask in the immersion of running through long, dark, and potentially dangerous tunnels.

True scarcity is something Fallout games seem to have done away with some time ago. As the series has progressed, it’s become less and less about survival in a bleak apocalypse and more and more about how many cool and interesting stories the developers can place into the world. While the games have become more densely packed with content, the trade-off is in the world’s tone and mood: It goes from a desolate and scary wasteland to a toybox full of fun and interesting content. It’s not a bad direction for the series, but there is a sacrifice being made. Perhaps the NYC mod will look to bring the game more in line with its roots.

If you’re curious, go check out the project’s page on Nexus Mods for more information, or check out the forums to post your thoughts and see what others are thinking. The mod has been given no set release date at this time.

Featured Image and Images in Article via Official Fallout NY Nexus Mod Page