Atomfall seems like a gamble for developer Rebellion Developments, known primarily for the Sniper Elite series. I’ve always dipped into Sniper Elite but largely bounced off it until this year’s Resistance. Despite sticking to the formula, Resistance landed with me. Turns out Rebellion has quietly been making a light immersive sim series under my nose.
There is DNA of Sniper Elite in Atomfall, but overall I was shocked by its range of inspirations and ambitious narrative design. Checkpoint Gaming was invited to play a short preview of Atomfall in Sydney before its release. These thoughts are based on about ninety minutes of the game, which took place a few hours after its opening.
Red string
A big question I had before the preview was narrative. The story in Sniper Elite is perfunctory and primarily focuses on providing scenic backdrops to blast Nazis in. But Atomfall’s marketing has promised that they’re aiming higher with both the narrative and the mechanics that drive it.
Atomfall takes place five years after the real-life Windscale Nuclear Disaster, tasking the player with discovering what exactly has happened in the highly quarantined fallout zone in the interim. Alongside Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, Windscale was one of the worst nuclear disasters in history, and the worst ever in the UK. In reality, the British Government thoroughly covered up the true extent of the disaster, and the full extent of the fallout wasn’t known until many years later.
This setup is ripe for a ‘what if’ premise, especially given the relative obscurity of the disaster. With the central narrative so focused on discovery, Atomfall eschews a traditional quest structure in similar open-world games and instead organises the player’s activity into ‘leads.’ Leads organise clues into a relevant investigation and keep track of all the clues you have found. But, as far as I can tell, unless you are given quite specific instructions and directions do not add any kind of directional marker to your map. Crafting a mystery in an interactive medium is difficult. Creating a sense of discovery means letting players search for (and miss) clues and leads and tuning in the difficulty for deductions to feel logical without becoming too simplistic.
If you’re led to each clue by the nose you’ll never feel like a detective. Traipsing back and forth between map markers is a surefire way to lose the revelatory feeling of discovery. To structure your story around these leads is an ambitious but risky narrative design.
“Leads feel natural and come from all kinds of sources.“
Thus far I think this is Atomfall’s greatest strength. Leads feel natural and come from all kinds of sources. Reading a note, overhearing dialogue, asking characters questions, and even taking damage from a particular enemy type all gave me leads. These act as a guiding hand and gently push your investigation while ensuring you focus on your environment.
This encouraged wandering, and in ninety minutes I discovered half a dozen leads that each connected to a promising mystery. Some leads overlap, and following one might cut you off from another, while others might connect you to even more mysteries. At first, the difference between ‘leads’ and ‘quests’ might seem small, but it is representative of the broader direction of Atomfall’s storytelling.
For example, after stumbling around the woods for some time, a lead sent me searching for the town of Wyndham. There Captain Grant Sims of Protocol realised I needed information. Before he would share it, he asked me to keep an eye on the local baker to prove I could be trusted. Other characters had marked my map, audio logs had provided me coordinates I had to figure out for myself, and notes had written directions to follow – but Sims trusted a capable person such as myself would find the bakery.
I did not find the bakery.
Instead, while searching for it, I wandered around Wyndham. Every conversation I had and building I investigated provided clues and hints that drove further investigation. Some of these did feel like quests in other games, but Atomfall seems to have faith that you’ll have more fun if it takes away the handrails.
You’ll make choices, and following certain leads means you might have to take decisive action. To gain trust and access from some, you might cut yourself off from information elsewhere–and I could already see the seeds of that being sown in just my short preview session.
Trigger finger
Atomfall has created an interesting and unique cocktail with recognisable elements from a range of inspirations. While the thematic tether has meant comparisons to Fallout, Atomfall plays far more like an immersive sim. It pays to be attentive to your environment, searching for narrative clues and scavenging for resources. I was shocked I couldn’t break a window to gain access to a locked building while exploring, and I hope there are more options for this kind of progression. Given how immersive the world felt, it was a letdown that made me wish the mechanical ambition was as strong as the narrative one.
When scavenging, you might run across some territorial gangs, and not everyone is friendly in the zone. Given the years of shooter experience at Rebellion, the guns feel appropriately punchy and chunky. But bullets are rare in Atomfall’s scavenging and bartering economy, forcing you to pick your shots. In these situations, I also found bashing in skulls with a cricket bat satisfying, although not particularly mechanically complex. Not every enemy will attack on sight in all scenarios. Multiple times during my short preview, I crossed paths with members of the druid faction. If I backed down first they wouldn’t initiate combat, although they were very happy to threaten me.
“…Atomfall pushes you to engage with the environment above all else.”
If you do get into a scrap, food is an option to heal and provide buffs. Thankfully, however, you don’t need to keep track of hunger. I believe Rebellion has made the right choice to let you instead focus on discovery over mere survival. You still have to keep a well-stocked inventory, to craft healing and other items to survive the lethal combat.
Combat, therefore, felt like a calculated risk. Can I survive this fight? If I do, will it have been a good use of my resources? Is there a way to sneak past instead? Hopefully, the full game dials in player progression to maintain this internal calculation, as it could be easily lost as you increase in power.
And that power increase is tied once again to engaging with the environment. You don’t level up your character with experience points, and there aren’t any big damage numbers or enemy health bars. Instead, you upgrade your skills by finding training manuals and stimulants in the environment. Again, this is a smart way Atomfall pushes you to engage with the environment above all else.
Quarantine zone
Atomfall doesn’t seem to be reinventing the wheel in moment-to-moment gameplay. But it has a very solid foundation that encourages varied engagement with encounters and the environment around you. I hope in the full game there are more opportunities for immersive sim-type solutions, given how much the world begs to be interacted with.
It is hard to ascertain if the leads will remain enthralling or that the mystery itself will be well-written. But from my early impressions, ‘leads’ have a lot of promise for creating a player-driven story. Many games promise mystery, but outside of indies, I rarely feel as if I am the one driving the investigation. So far, Atomfall’s biggest asset is the freedom of leads and the sense of discovery they foster.
Now, if someone could just point me towards the bakery, that would be great.
Atomfall launches for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC on March 27.
Checkpoint Gaming was flown to Sydney as a guest of Five Star Games for the purpose of this preview.
About the Author
Austin Gallagher
he/him
Austin enjoys long walks on the beach, sunsets, and games with turn-based tactical combat. If he isn't save-scumming in XCOM or a immersive sim, running a tabletop RPG, or climbing a rock wall... wait that's not Austin... what is that?
