Atomfall is a detective sport. Sure, the post-apolyctic first-person shooter from the Sniper Elite studio feels extra like Paradise Killer than Fallout. Relatively than ping-ponging between goal markers round a map, Atomfall’s story is structured round a sequence of clues which might be organically picked up and tracked as you discover its world. Its quests are nonlinear and also you’re gently guided to factors of curiosity. From there, it is on you to reference your quest log and put the story of its world collectively.
Atomfall’s world may look spinoff given how prevalent the post-apocalyptic style is, however its setting and tone do loads to distinguish it from its friends. The sport takes place 5 years after the Windscale fireplace of 1957, a real-world occasion that occurred within the UK and is taken into account one of many worst nuclear accidents in historical past. Nevertheless, Atomfall envisions a world that by no means correctly recovered from that disastrous occasion. Violent factions have popped up throughout England, irradiated monsters roam the wilds, and–of course–there is perhaps a couple of authorities conspiracies at play.
Whereas this will likely sound like Fallout England, Atomfall’s tone is kind of completely different. The darkish, sarcastic humor of the wasteland is principally changed with a extra grounded tackle the style. Inventive Director Ben Fisher actually wished to seize the appear and feel of British speculative fiction and science-fiction from the Fifties and Nineteen Sixties, like Physician Who and John Wyndham novels. The end result looks like a uniquely British tackle the post-apocalyptic setting.
This grounded tone makes a whole lot of sense when paired with its gameplay. Not like Fallout, Atomfall isn’t an RPG. You’re as frail as most of your enemies, and if a specific encounter is providing you with grief, you possibly can’t degree up your character and are available again later. Totally different weapons and equipment might provide you with an edge in a firefight, however virtually each shootout feels lethal. Fisher talked about Stalker and Metro as inspirations for Atomfall, and whereas it is not as dense or sophisticated as GSC Game World’s first-person shooter, the similarities are straightforward to identify. Ammunition is tough to come back by, objects like bandages and well being packs are invaluable, and it would not take a lot to place you within the floor.
Not like Stalker, although, Atomfall has an even bigger emphasis on melee fight. Given how scarce bullets are, most encounters could be settled with an axe, knife, bat, or one of many sport’s many close-quarters weapons. The melee fight is not as strong as one thing like Avowed or Dying Gentle, however there’s a little bit of heft to the weapons, giving the melee fight a tactile really feel. Plunging an axe into an enemy feels lethal and is accompanied by some crunchy sound results.
Though Sniper Elite may look like the polar reverse of Atomfall, it does retain Sniper Elite’s open strategy to exploration and fight. As Fisher places it, “[In the Sniper Elite games] you have acquired a transparent goal, and then you definitely uncover methods to attain that goal over time, and then you definitely’ve acquired a way of freedom in that area.” For Atomfall, the staff wished to “take that template and make your entire sport construction one large Sniper Elite mission.”
Whereas it is onerous to say if Atomfall will reside as much as this lofty ambition, the narrative construction might assist one thing like this. It does have an general goal, however the way you obtain that purpose appears comparatively open-ended. The sport will loosely information you round considered one of its handful of semi-open-world maps, nevertheless it’s as much as you to place the mysteries of its world collectively, and it looks like there are a number of methods to uncover these mysteries, whether or not it is befriending a hostile faction or turning over each stone in an vital dungeon. Sadly, I solely acquired to see the primary space in my play session, so I am unable to say how far-reaching or concerned these narrative threads are, but when Riot pulls it off, it might make for an attention-grabbing strategy to storytelling.
It is also onerous to say if the fight will really feel as open-ended because the Sniper Elite video games. When you are given some company relating to the weapons you utilize and strategy you’re taking for any given encounter, it would not fairly have that sandbox really feel that the Sniper Elite video games are recognized for. This might change as you unlock extra expertise and discover new weapons, however the extra grounded strategy to fight and the shortage of climbing mechanics feels at odds with Sniper Elite’s open strategy to fight. This is not essentially a foul factor given Atomfall’s tone and style, however followers of Riot’s latest video games may not discover as many toys in Atomfall’s sandbox.
My largest criticism I can degree at Atomfall–at least based mostly on the 90 minutes I played–is that the enemy AI is pretty straightforward to use. Fairly early on I found out that if I kicked a human enemy after which used a heavy assault with my trusty axe, it was an instantaneous kill. Since most enemies simply rush you down, I might wait on the finish of a hallway and allow them to come to me. It will get a bit of extra sophisticated when there are ranged combatants, however so long as I broke their line of sight, they could not do a lot. A part of what makes survival video games so compelling are their crafty use of NPC AI, and based mostly on what I performed, Atomfall would not fairly hit the watermark set by video games like Stalker and The Final of Us. It is attainable that tweaking the problem and playstyle settings might alleviate this difficulty, however I did not have time to dig into these choices throughout my restricted playtime.
Atomfall looks like an enormous swing for Riot. Whereas it borrows bits and items from its earlier video games, it looks like a real try for the staff to step exterior of its consolation zone and ship one thing completely different. The narrative construction specifically has me desperate to discover that world and piece collectively its narrative. I am very curious to see how the narrative holds up because the scope of the world expands and extra threads are launched, but when performed effectively, it might make for a memorable story.