King Charles and Queen Elizabeth zombies cut from Fallout: London mod

King Charles as a Fallout ghoul — (Image credit: Fallout: London)

One of the most exciting Fallout 4 mods in the semi-near future is Fallout: London, which is due out in 2023 and will take us across the Atlantic to see how jolly old England coped with a bunch of nukes being dropped on it. We've seen a lot of the mod already, both in this lengthy gameplay video and another that gave us a tantalizing glimpse of ridable bicycles and weaponized elephants.

Something we won't be seeing in Fallout: London, however, is Queen Elizabeth. Original plans for the mod included a ghoul-ified version of the United Kingdom's longest reigning monarch, complete with blue dress, fancy hat, and two little ravenous corgis ghouls by her side.

But the real Queen's death in September has led to the mod creators' decision to remove the zombie version of Elizabeth from the full-conversion project. (Note: ghouls, particularly feral ghouls, are occasionally referred to as zombies in the Fallout universe, though it's usually considered a derogatory term.)

The development team of Fallout: London first tweeted news of the removal of Queen Elizabeth from the mod last month, reminding fans that this was the plan all along: "In the event of Her Majesty's death, our feature for her within the mod will be removed," the modders had said previously in a statement I can't be bothered to find or verify. A new Fallout: London progress video posted yesterday officially confirms this decision. The Ghoul Queen is out.

"There's no point moaning. This is the official stance of the mod."
Fallout: London project lead

"Do not expect them in there," Carter says. "There's no point asking in the comments, there's no point moaning. This is the official stance of the mod, it will not change." Carter says there are plans to replace the missing monarchs with something else but we'll "have to wait and see" what it is.

As an American I admit being a bit baffled over the more extreme reactions to the death of Queen Elizabeth, but I respect the modders' decision to remove the monarchs from their mod out of respect. It's their mod, after all, and it should satisfy their vision, not anyone else's.

I will say I really loved the concept art and character design of both ghoulified royals, especially the wonderful little touch of a Q on the Queen's hat. It's very Mario. I definitely would have enjoyed defeating the ghoul Queen and wearing that hat myself. But hey, knowing the internet, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if someone modded the Queen's ghoul back into the mod at some point (or at least the hat), so maybe I'll still get a chance.

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.