‘Atomfall’ is a distinctly British take on a postdisaster survival game

Rebellion Developments built a name for itself with the success of its “Sniper Elite” series, but the studio has stretched out and explored other genres. “Strange Brigade” was its co-op shooter and it has dabbled with a bit of horror in the “Zombie Army” efforts.

The studio’s latest title is an ambitious project, one that takes it out of Rebellion’s comfort zone. At first glance, “Atomfall” may remind players of “Fallout.” The comparisons are undeniable. Both take place in the first person and seemingly have post-apocalyptic environments. They feature retro-looking robots and scavenging elements, but “Atomfall” carries a distinctly British vibe and a different premise.

HOW IT’S DIFFERENT FROM ‘FALLOUT’
Creative director Ben Fisher said, “‘Atomfall’ is a survival action game set in a quarantine zone in the 1960 north of England. … We looked at a lot of 1960s speculative fiction from the U.K. Things like ‘The Quatermass Experiment’ or early ‘Dr. Who,’ John Wyndham novels like ‘Day of the Triffids,’ things like ‘The Wicker Man’ as well. What we did is we looked at all these reference points and found a way of blending them into something that felt balanced but new.”

The players take on the role of a protagonist who wakes up with no memory of what happened before and finds that they’re trapped in an area that has been cordoned off. A vortex is growing out of the Windscale atom plant, which was a real-life facility that had a disaster in 1957.

In Rebellion’s fictional world, the situation escalated and became more dire. In the hands-on demo I played, I explored a world that had been isolated for five years. The military is patrolling the area. Bandits roam the roads. Druid cultists have their own villages. Fisher said the goal of the game is to escape the area, but to do so, players will meet several people claiming to have a way out.

The first and only lead I had was a person named Mother Jago, who was at a mine in Casterfell Woods. I wandered around a bit, meeting cultists who have a small village and castle. They’re the type of people who attack on sight, and at first, I had trouble dealing with them.

GETTING USED TO COMBAT
In “Atomfall,” cricket bats, bows and axes are more common while firearms and the bullets needed to use them are more scarce. That means players will have to rely on more primitive ways of fighting. It took a while to realize that confronting any of the Druids head-on was a bad idea.

First off, players don’t know how many there are in a given area, and they can quickly swarm them. Second, healing in “Atomfall” isn’t instant. Weapons can inflict status effects such as bleeding, and players need to quickly bandage themselves or risk bleeding out. Plus, it’s difficult to heal on the fly because the game doesn’t pause as you look through your backpack.

It’s better to go stealth. Players have to move through an area methodically. It’s better to sneak behind cultists and strangle them. Fisher said it’s often better to avoid confrontation. I found that to be good advice, especially when infiltrating the cultists’ castle home.

DANGER AT EVERY TURN
I was led there after exploring the woods a bit. I used my metal detector to find bits of treasure. I discovered a cellar and found a treasure trove of items. The big issue when finding goodies is that backpack space is limited, so the developers force players to decide what items they should bring with them.

In my initial fights with the cultists, I found it better to eliminate them one on one. I did that through stealth when I was still undetected, but when my cover was broken, I avoided being surrounded by funneling them through doors. I was also armed with a shotgun, which gave me an advantage.

I eventually used the map to find Mother Jago, who was across the map. Wandering around the woods leaves players with a sense of danger. Players don’t have a special sense like Focus in “Sniper Elite Resistance” that highlights surrounding enemies. Players will have to keep an eye out for bandits and other hostiles in the area.

Eventually, I found her, and she’s one of the characters in “Atomfall” that promises players a way out of the quarantine zone, but before she’s willing to help the protagonist, she asks players to find her herbalism book that the Druids took to their castle.

INFILTRATING A CULT
That quest sent me off across the map again, and I had to infiltrate the cultists’ headquarters. Going through the front door left me fighting a slew of enemies, who ganged up and quickly took me out. Even though I had firearms, I opted for a bow and arrow that I scavenged from a dead Druid.

The advantage of this weapon is that it’s silent, but unless players nail a headshot, they have to fire a few more times before taking out an enemy. After dying again, I continued from an autosave, and instead of running through the front door, I wandered and found a way to sneak through a hole in the fencing. I made my way through the camp, silently killing any threats, and I even stumbled upon a backdoor to the castle and managed to kill a priestess.

It upset half the people in the castle, and I fled, zoning out of the area. It didn’t alert the cultists outside. While I snuck around, I did run into an enemy who alerted others and I had to fend everyone off with a gun. My advantage this time was that I was fighting from an uphill position and fought smartly, shooting at exploding barrels to save on ammo.

Eventually, I snuck into the castle’s front door, and I was surprised that enemies weren’t alerted. In some ways, the stealth in “Atomfall” feels a lot like “Sniper Elite.” Enemies tend to swarm players but forget about them after a certain point if players remain hidden. Adversaries will notice dead bodies, which is unfortunate because I couldn’t hide their remains, but if you’re far enough away, you can snipe them with the right weapon.

SCOURING A CASTLE FOR ONE BOOK
The problem with the Lead quest system is that much of it is vague. Players have clues and they’re supposed to search the environment. They won’t see a marker telling players where to go. That led me to slaughter everyone in the castle looking for one book. I killed a lot of people. I explored and slayed. I was ambushed and fended off more cultists before eventually finding a special key that unlocked a hidden passage.