post-apocalyptic survival game that transports players to Northern England, by Rebellion Developments, the studio behind the Sniper Elite series. Set five years after the Windscale accident, a nuclear disaster in 1957, the game presents an alternate history where much of the Lake District has been rendered radioactive and full of hazards. ScreenRant recently traveled to London to spend time in an authentic English pub and play about 90 minutes of Atomfall to learn more about what players can expect from the game.

During my time there, I also had the chance to speak with Ben Fisher, Head of Design at Rebellion, to gain more insight on the title. Outside its historic inspirations, the game draws from sources ranging from “early Dr. Who, folk horror movies like The Wicker Man, [and] John Wyndham books.” Since trailers releases, many have called Atomfall the British Fallout, a comparison Fisher doesn’t resent, stating that, “Fallout New Vegas would be the most relevant reference point,” based on its structure, though it also takes inspiration from other games like STALKER.

The World Of Atomfall

Exploring The Massive In-Game Map With Complete Freedom

My time in Atomfall began in the Casterfell Woods, an area that deftly juxtaposed a peaceful-feeling natural environment with an underlying anxiety knowing that, at any moment, I could die. The way the game handles mapping and quests in general is unconventional - my map began with a few rumored locations which I could choose to investigate, which would be confirmed on my map once I’d journeyed there. There also isn’t a traditional task system, instead letting players discover leads they can choose to pursue based on information they find in their exploration.

When my playthrough started, which was in a save set a handful of hours into the game, I had one lead: to locate a woman named Mother Jago, a herbalist living in the woods. Pursuing leads is no easy feat, however; I think I died at least four times making my way to her small woodland camp. There are a myriad of threats that litter the landscape, from patrols of soldiers and cult-following druids, to mutated ferals and hives of glowing, aggressive hornets.

The title repeatedly drives home the point, through player experiences, that the best way to progress is to try to avoid conflict whenever possible.

In of map size, Fisher says that there are, depending how you count, five or six sandbox maps, each of which is “quite like a Sniper Elite map,” in how it’s made up of densely packed interconnected areas. Even in my short time with the game, this rang true - I traveled to forest locales like a dam, mine, and garden center, as well as an underground sewer system. Every place had secrets to discover, like a helicopter crash and a telephone box that rang and, when answered, a mysterious voice warned me to stay out of the woods.

Enemies & Combat In Atomfall

Ranged & Melee Fighting, Or - Better Yet - Avoiding It Altogether

Atomfall prides itself on creating an in-game world that’s incredibly difficult to survive. The title repeatedly drives home the point, through player experiences, that the best way to progress is to try to avoid conflict whenever possible. There are only two main metrics for players to keep track of, health and heart rate. The latter, when heightened by things like combat or running, will lessen weapon stability and make movements louder. Unlike some stealth games where hidden takedowns are silent, in Atomfall they make considerable noise and are a much less viable strategy, though can still be useful.

If players do choose to engage, they’ll have both melee and ranged weapons at their disposal. I started with a pistol, two rifles, a hatchet, and a cricket bat. Ammunition is incredibly limited in the world - a fact I didn’t realize until I’d spent all six of my bullets trying to take down a druid - making melee the more consistent method of the two. Four tools can be added to a quick select for easy access, and the bat soon became my go-to weapon, though the hatchet was useful for thrown attacks. However, a lot of the time, fighting proves to be in vain.

The two main threats I faced during my playtime were the patrols of druids that roamed the woods and were hostile to outsiders, and ferals, which are terrifying, blue creatures that come bursting out of gooey, cocoon-like nestings when approached. Imagine my surprise when I thought I’d found some kind of radioactive resource, approached the cocoon, and instead was immediately jumped out at and vomited on. This led to me becoming infected, one of the main status effects in the game that makes players more vulnerable; unsurprisingly, I died almost immediately.

I didn’t fare much better with the druids, who usually roamed in large groups, but they were at least possible to deescalate combat with by walking away, and I’d learned by then that it was better to try to simply avoid combat at all costs. This is sometimes impossible, however; the aforementioned Mother Jago tasked me to get her book back from a druid camp, an area I was immediately designated as a treser. There are several areas like this in Atomfall, like a bandit camp I discovered in the sewers, where enemies will immediately be more hostile than usual.

Final Thoughts On Previewing Atomfall

Varied Experiences & What Players Can Expect

Something that surprised me in my talk with Fisher was the fact the game is designed to be played through multiple times, with an initial runtime designed to be about 15 to 20 hours.

“For any route through the game, you won't be able to see everything,” Fisher explained, “You'll have some options open and closed as you explore the game world as a result of your actions.” The entire experience is also more morally ambiguous than many RPGs, with “no good route and bad route through the game,” eschewing a typical alignment system.

His statements about finding different paths proved true even with the short time we all had with the game. Everyone I spoke to had a starkly different experience - while I was tracking down a druid camp, some had traveled to a nearby village and met locals, others explored more of the sewer bandit camps, or traveled to a church where they stumbled upon a murder mystery. If this amount of varied gameplay came out of a mere 90 minutes with the title, I’m very excited to see what the full Atomfall experience shapes up to be when it releases later this month.

ScreenRant was invited to an in-person a special event for the purpose of this preview.