“Atomfall tries to blow Fallout to pieces with new ideas, but fizzles out instead,”
Pros
Great visible design
Inventive lead system
Very open-ended gameplay
Bartering is a intelligent concept
Cons
Underdeveloped world
Too a lot key fetching
Aggravating stock system
Poor fight and stealth
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Storytelling wasteland
Following leads
Cricket, anybody?
When you have been a teenage boy rising up within the early 2000s, you bought requested one query so much: What is your apocalypse survival plan? This is one thing that you simply wanted to have a solution to — and a superb one, too — with the intention to stay in excessive social standing with your folks. I all the time had my go-to response rehearsed. I’d work my strategy to the coast, steal a houseboat, and dwell out at sea. It was an ideal plan … apart from the truth that I don’t know the way to drive a ship and might’t swim.
You can see that very same model of ill-conceived doomsday prepping on show in Atomfall.
In its newest action-adventure sport, Sniper Elite developer Rebellion lays out a strong plan to thrive in a wasteland of nuclear apocalypse video games. Rather than aping Fallout or Stalker’s motion RPG components, the extra streamlined Atomfall scavenges collectively some authentic concepts in its deconstructed quests and an emphasis on bartering. That may have made for a compelling survival story constructed round open-ended exploration, nevertheless it’s these pesky particulars that can get you killed throughout a nuclear catastrophe. With poor execution the place it issues most, Atomfall is as misplaced at sea as I’d have been had I ever set sail as a teen.
Storytelling wasteland
At a floor look, Atomfall would possibly simply look and sound like British Fallout. It is, however there’s a bit extra to it than that. Its story is ready within the wake of the Windscale fireplace, an actual nuclear catastrophe that ravaged the United Kingdom in 1957. Atomfall provides an alternate historical past wherein that occasion was much more devastating, making a useless zone within the British countryside full of troopers, outlaws, and irradiated monsters. It’s an important premise, however one which Rebellion isn’t in a position to absolutely capitalize on resulting from restricted worldbuilding.
Rebellion
Atomfall largely follows the tropes of its style to a T, usually with out a lot rationalization. When the story begins, I’m solely handled to a brief slideshow organising its premise earlier than taking management of an amnesiac who wakes up in an underground bunker. Who I’m and the way I acquired there’s by no means actually a lot of a query; the one factor I’m involved with is escaping the wasteland. I must be prepared to take any assist I can get to perform that, allying with a small handful of locals with ulterior motives who all supply their assist for a value. There are teases of a superb thriller early on after I reply a ringing cellphone in a brilliant crimson phone field and am greeted by a creepy voice telling me to kill Oberon, no matter that’s, however the cryptic breadcrumbs by no means actually repay via a flat sci-fi story.
Part of the issue is that Atomfall by no means actually presents a coherent world. The quarantine zone is overrun with bandits, nevertheless it’s by no means clear why they’ve determined to take up residence there (a spot with no cash or valuables to steal) in any respect. Early on whereas exploring, I’m attacked by a blue humanoid monster in a bunker. I assume that’s my first glimpse right into a wider story, however I barely be taught something about that enemy sort after that. I’m equally at the hours of darkness in regards to the killer vegetation lining streams, the swarms of poisoned bugs, or the zombified troopers who take dozens of gunshots to take down. It seems like all of this stuff exist as a result of, effectively, that’s what you do in a nuclear online game. Of course the army has superior mechs that seem like they belong in Fallout even if they’re all carrying rusty World War 2 weapons. Duh!
Atomfall by no means feels prefer it expands previous the confines of what we explicitly see in it.
I think about that a few of that is because of Atomfall’s scope. This shouldn’t be an unlimited open-world sport full of NPCs to fulfill and a glut of lore logs. It’s a refreshingly compact journey that principally takes place throughout 4 small areas joined collectively by The Interchange, a science hub that gamers are tasked with powering again up with the intention to escape. There are just a few characters to fulfill who every have one main quest hooked up to them. The greatest thread follows a cult (with visible ties to The Wicker Man) that worships the poisoned soil. It’s one of many few moments the place I begin to get a way of what has drawn so many individuals to the quarantine zone, however I don’t get many different alternatives to study them or how they connect with the opposite factions of the world. They’re simply our bodies for me to gun down searching for one other MacGuffin.
Atomfall does at the very least ship some robust visible design that helps carry the underdeveloped world to life. Rather than portray the countryside in burnt browns and greys, it throws gamers right into a surprisingly brilliant world full of vibrant greens. It’s not what you’d count on to see within the wake of a nuclear catastrophe, feeling nearer to the world of Alex Garland’s Annihilation. Seeing a pristine phone field, its paint and wiring completely intact, in the midst of an empty subject offers every little thing a surreal edge that excuses a few of its lacking items. Maybe it’s simpler that we by no means know what precisely occurred within the zone, however even cryptic storytelling wants to go away you feeling like there’s extra to uncover. Instead, Atomfall by no means feels prefer it expands previous the confines of what we explicitly see in it.
Following leads
Rather than spending its efforts making a 40+ hour open-world sport that’s dense with distractions, Rebellion’s focus was extra used to craft targeted gameplay methods that set Atomfall aside. The crux of that is available in its inventive strategy to questing. There aren’t conventional quests in Atomfall; as an alternative, I start accumulating “leads” as soon as I’m out on the earth. Loose pages and conversations with NPCs typically give me a narrative thread I can look into in any order I would like. Players who select to scale the issue up received’t even get goal markers telling them the place to go subsequent. It’s totally open-ended, and you may end the sport by solely actually serving to one character in the event you so select. I hit credit on my first playthrough in below eight hours, opting to not snub potential allies that I merely didn’t belief (you can simply double that playtime in your first go, however it could require finishing quests for characters which might be at odds with those you’re constructing relationships with).
It’s an enchanting concept, and one which builds on the immersive sim DNA current in Rebellion’s Sniper Elite sequence pretty effectively. The moments the place that system comes collectively feels revelatory. In an early space, I chatted with a army chief who instructed me a couple of scientist he had locked up in a neighborhood jail. He gave me clearance to the normally locked down jail and despatched me to interrogate her. When I acquired there, she instructed me a couple of system hidden within the facility that might manipulate electronics. I made a decision to assist her in trade for the placement, orchestrating a jail break that set her free. That turned the army towards me, remodeling the as soon as secure zone right into a hostile area that I may barely cross via with out taking just a few bullets.
I could be as useful or hurtful as I want and Atomfall will all the time have a response to that selection.
Much later, I discovered myself in a analysis wing of the Interchange, the place I acquired a unique clue in regards to the system that I may have adopted to seek out it. Even later, I unlocked a gear stash in a bunker after searching the area for a key and located a replica of that very same system inside. I didn’t have to incite a jail riot to get that key software, nor did I have to work together with both of the characters I met alongside the way in which. In an alternate playthrough, I may have killed them each. I could be as useful or hurtful as I want and Atomfall will all the time have a response to that selection.
While that sequence sounds implausible when written out, Atomfall isn’t practically as thrilling in its second to second gameplay. The bulk of my playthrough had me accumulating batteries out on the earth to energy up the Interchange’s varied wings. When I wasn’t doing that, I used to be searching down keycards to open locked doorways in bunkers. In between all that, I used to be backtracking throughout the identical few disparate areas (every feels a bit like a Sniper Elite map in scale) to get from one goal to a different. I’ve but to seek out any strategy to quick journey both, which meant that just a few hours of my playthrough have been merely devoted to schlepping again throughout areas by foot to speak to an NPC or drop off an merchandise.
Atomfall’s different authentic concept comes within the type of bartering, however that’s one other neat system let down by every little thing round it. There isn’t any foreign money within the zone. Instead, gamers can solely get objects from retailers by making an equal trade. Each dealer has a sort of merchandise that might be of worth to them, and ones that might be value much less. It’s a thematically sound idea, as Atomfall’s story is all about survival via mutual trade. Everyone, together with the participant, desires one thing and is prepared to make a commerce to get it. That extends to the primary story, the place escape comes with some form of value regardless of who you determine to belief to interrupt you out of the zone.
Rebellion
But buying and selling by no means actually seems like a viable choice in context. For one, stock house is extremely slim. I can carry just a few weapons on me directly, a grenade or two, and a few therapeutic objects, however that’s about it. I not often ever have room for one thing I’m not utilizing. There aren’t a glut of things to select up both. Atomfall is extra within the vein of The Last of Us than Fallout, principally leaving gamers to select up free crafting objects and switch them into necessities like makeshift bombs and bandages. I not often ever had the proper objects readily available to finish a commerce throughout my whole playthrough.
The restricted stock house torpedoes different methods too. At one level, I unlock a perk that lets me craft higher variations of my weapons. That requires me to have a number of variations of the identical weapon readily available to finish a recipe. That’s merely not possible after I barely have room to hold the junk I’m really utilizing. I simply flat out by no means used the system in any respect, nor did I have to. I acquired via the complete journey simply positive with the weapons I scavenged.
The drawback is that Atomfall is constructed as if it’s an RPG, however there are not any precise RPG methods in it. This is a reasonably static action-adventure sandbox that simply occurs to have the sort of significant dialogue selections you’d discover in Avowed. There’s a rigidity right here between streamlined adventuring and friction-filled survival that by no means meets within the center. At the very least, Rebellion at the very least features a suite of accessibility options to push it additional to every finish of the spectrum. Those who desire a pure survival expertise with no waypoints can get that to an extent.
Cricket, anybody?
Perhaps probably the most irritating side of Atomfall is its first-person fight, one other function that feels torn in two instructions. The concept right here is that gamers can strategy motion in just a few other ways. They can run right into a bunker, weapons blazing, knock bandits out with stealth, and even keep away from fight altogether. I ended up doing the latter for many of my playthrough, although not as a result of I essentially wished to: It was simply preferable to scuffling with my different choices.
Combat is skinny and doesn’t really feel terribly effectively balanced. Many of my weapons really feel weak and imprecise, which is smart given the 1960s setting. Still, it’s annoying to stroll right into a room and have your shotgun outmatched by a man operating as much as you and throwing just a few punches. It seems like Rebellion desires gamers to make the most of melee weapons as an alternative, like cricket bats and stun batons. Those are extra enjoyable to toy round with, however each performs kind of the identical by utilizing a lightweight and heavy assault. There’s nothing as intricate right here because the close-combat of each Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Dead Island 2.
In attempting to make a sport that could possibly be tackled in just a few completely different playstyles, Rebellion created one which doesn’t actually help any.
With the motion as clumsy as it’s, taking up a room full of individuals is a recipe for catastrophe. That would indicate that maybe Atomfall is extra balanced for a stealth playthrough, however that choice feels even worse. The solely software gamers actually have at their disposal for sneaking is a regular again assault. That by no means acquired me very far, as a result of areas are both densely populated with enemies who would catch me throughout a protracted takedown or the motion takes place out within the open the place there’s no room to cover. In one bunker, I opened a door and tried to sneak into a big room filled with bandits. They noticed me the second I stepped in even if I used to be far-off and elevated. Every subsequent try yielded the identical outcome triggering a 10-on-1 shootout. Each time I died, a tooltip instructed me I ought to strive crouching to get round them. Tried that. Thanks.
In attempting to make a sport that could possibly be tackled in just a few completely different playstyles, Rebellion created one which doesn’t actually help any. Just watch how shortly your well being bar drops when a robotic spots you in an open subject with no surfaces to cover behind. It’s a little bit of a shock contemplating that that is the studio behind Sniper Elite, the most effective stealth motion franchises nonetheless lively right this moment. It has cracked immersive sim motion that rewards cautious motion, however nonetheless offers gamers the means to be deadly when plans go awry. That philosophy falls aside in a transfer to an open-ended journey as to 1 that takes place in rigorously constructed capturing galleries.
Rebellion
I get the sense that Atomfall is much less a sport constructed for gamers and extra one constructed for Rebellion itself. It’s an experimental sandbox that lets the studio break away from the franchise it has been targeted on for the final decade and see what else it could do with its design chops. I can’t say that it comes collectively, as its restricted scope doesn’t give any of its neat concepts sufficient room to breathe, however perhaps it’s a necessity for survival. In a fast-moving trade the place stagnation means dying, a inventive dash could be what’s wanted to remain forward of the blast radius. Sometimes you stumble. Sometimes you wind up behind the wheel of a ship that you simply don’t know the way to drive. But whenever you’re dealing with down apocalypse, staying nonetheless will kill you even faster. You could as effectively take a threat and have some enjoyable whereas doing it.
Atomfall was examined on PS5 Pro.