Once I performed a number of hours of Atomfall at a preview earlier this month, the principle query Rise up’s action-survival sport left me with (apart from ‘the place’s the closest place I should buy a vegetarian pasty to eat for tea?’) was simply how attention-grabbing would the bits that lay past what I’d performed be?
How deep would the intrigue go, when you’d actually began to crack open the razor-blade coated pastry of this tough and rugged journey to a Cumbrian quarantine zone arrange after a fictional variant of the true life Windscale fireplace?
Because it seems, the reply is maybe rather less deep than I’d have favored. However right here’s the factor: I feel it relies upon quite a bit on precisely who you’re whether or not this lack of depth shall be a constructive or a detrimental. To correctly rip the hastily-crafted bandage off, right here’s the state of affairs. I reached the ending to my first playthrough of Atomfall after simply 11 hours. That was with me pursuing a number of of the principle quest threads that every provide a unique technique to assault the ending, however not fairly all of them.
I used to be on the really useful ‘Survivor’ issue (the second hardest the sport gives), so I wasn’t doing something that may artificially shorten my run-up by doubtlessly mismatching the overall hardness of issues to my already not uber-MLG skills. I didn’t have any particular pre-order bonus gear or something to assist out both. Atomfall’s only a sport that, when you’re not planning on taking many extended breaks from pursuing whichever major story leads you’re prioritising to show over each stone and comb by way of each location within the zone, doesn’t have that lengthy a runtime.
That’s to not say that what’s within the sport isn’t commonly intriguing, charming, or satisfying. Nor will you come out of whichever ending you go for feeling that you just’ve been short-changed. However this truncated runtime makes the sport an attention-grabbing one to grade.
Given an opportunity to correctly settle right into a construct and crafting setup, I gravitated in direction of a basic technique of transferring all over the place stealthily, then taking out most foes by sprinting as much as them, dodging any pictures or swings as greatest I may, and bonking my enemies to loss of life with a trusty cricket bat.
As soon as I took a perk to spice up my character’s melee harm, I discovered I may end off most human enemies with two or three hits, and so long as I stored a gentle stockpile of alcohol and material to craft bandages I may use each time meals and first help kits weren’t plentiful, I may simply get well from most harm this technique uncovered me to.
In eventualities once I didn’t wish to danger charging in, I used weapons and a bow from a distance, with the latter and a bolt-action sniper rifle serving to whittle down enemies with an honest chunk of well being from vary. In the meantime, my fourth giant weapon slot held an SMG that I may save for essentially the most brown trousers-time encounters so as to not burn by way of its comparatively scarce and simply burned-through ammo.
In the direction of the tip, I began utilizing considered one of my smaller backpack slots for a pistol I may whip out in close-quarters fights towards weaker foes if I fancied. The hardest foes – large BARD robots with flamethrowers and machine weapons – I simply snuck or ran like hell previous, as the sport very a lot appears to mean. On the opposite finish of the dimensions, you possibly can kick or slap swarms of rats, bats, pigeons, and leeches to loss of life. Which is enjoyable.
Nearly all of my perks, nevertheless, went into survival and conditioning. Stuff that helped toughen me up and higher put together me to combat the hostile environments you spend the overwhelming majority of the sport in. Three of those – Casterfell Woods, Skethermoor, and Slatten Dale – are open air areas of the sport’s above-ground sandbox, and every is patrolled by its personal enemy faction that’ll shoot you on sight. Masked druids, rowdy-looking outlaws, and British military troops often called The Protocol, they’re all to be handled in no matter trend you deem most sensible as you discover every of those thematically-distinct areas that each one boast a rugged magnificence matching their harmful atmospheres.
Wyndham is the fourth little bit of the puzzle, and it’s the biggest of the uncommon secure havens which you could dip into if you’re overwhelmed down and in want of a fast reprieve from the kicking Atomfall provides you. That’s, until you mess with the Protocol troopers who’re occupying it, so it’s a bit much less secure than you would possibly first suppose. There’s some respectable intrigue happening throughout all of those areas, an honest roster of pleasant NPCs to speak to, results in chase, and little mysteries to analyze.
As you push in direction of the tip sport, nevertheless, you’ll end up spending numerous time in The Interchange – the secretive underground bunker you’ll must steadily carry again to life and achieve entry to totally different bits of with the intention to uncover what occurred on the sport’s model of the Windscale plant to kick into impact the quarantine. I’ll not delve too deeply into spoiler territory, however I’ll say that what you uncover feels prefer it pulls bits from online game apocalypses you might nicely have performed by way of earlier than.
I used to be very a lot reminded of some parts from The Final of Us, together with Fallout: New Vegas – particularly the Lifeless Cash DLC. None of that’s a problem in a vacuum, Atomfall delivers its story with nearly sufficient distinctive flavour to maintain you hooked, however I do really feel prefer it solely scratches the floor of the potential its premise exudes from a story perspective.
The mechanic that delivers the story works nicely. Except you go for a decrease issue that allows issues like map markers and additional hints to assist exploration, Atomfall’s detective-style lead system is a refreshingly stripped-back different to the UI-heavy quest and navigation methods you’ll discover in most open-world video games (you already know those I imply).
It meshes nicely with the narrative tone Rise up’s gone for, which could be very understated and retains numerous its playing cards near its chest. That fashion of storytelling could be very British, and is a part of what makes Atomfall really feel totally different from the likes of Fallout, with the latter typically being extra open – both by way of simply pulling again the curtain as to what’s happening and why, or in acknowledging the philosophical dialogue at play.
In idea, each work simply wonderful, however I do really feel Atomfall’s strategy holds it again in locations from delivering one thing extra compelling or with a bit extra depth. Lots of the lore – for lack of a greater time period – about The Interchange, the occasions of the quarantine, and the mysterious Oberon mendacity on the centre of all of it, is delivered by way of notes or brief conversations that usually really feel like they cease wanting actually fascinating you and delivering a correct whiff of the attention-grabbing story Atomfall’s always teasing that it’s received brewing away.
I’ve seen 4 totally different endings to the sport thus far, and all of them felt a bit flat, like they had been failing to or breaking off earlier than they may conclude issues in a correctly satisfying trend. There are occasions when Atomfall’s mystery-weaving serves it nicely as its narrative progresses and also you get some good short-term selection in consequence, however it doesn’t drop the curtain a lot, even if you attain the purpose if you really feel prefer it ought to be, and the reveals you do get typically really feel like they’re the least curiously delivered end result potential.
It jogged my memory numerous The Chinese language Room’s Nonetheless Wakes the Deep on this manner – well-crafted, unquestionably good enjoyable, however with a narrative that feels prefer it’s most likely the weakest a part of the factor, both as a result of it’s leaning a bit too closely on style tropes or holding again from really committing to delivering on the weather that might transcend that.
There’s nonetheless an excellent probability you’ll nonetheless find it irresistible. The gameplay loop is satisfying, the environments are enjoyable to discover, and the brief runtime makes it an excellent Recreation Cross factor you may give a go with out having to fork over 60 hours that might nicely get a bit stale by the tip. Nevertheless, I feel Rise up’s left what may have made Atomfall an excellent sport reasonably than only a good or okay one on the desk right here.
It’s nearer to puddle deep when it may very well be a lake or ocean given its cool premise. Or, to place it in a extra Atomfall manner, it’s a pasty that doesn’t fairly ship a filling that matches how tasty the pastry appears.
Atomfall launches on March 27 for PC, Xbox Collection X/S, Xbox One, PS5, and PS4. It’s going to come to Xbox Recreation Cross on day one. This assessment was carried out on PC utilizing a code offered by the writer.
