I Went Mad and Killed Everyone in Atomfall

With my solely achievement thus far being a bunch of lifeless druids, it’s possible you’ll rightfully be questioning what my general aim is right here. And, to an extent, so was I. Aimless exploration of the Casterfall Woods area had but to unearth something vital, so I comply with my solely quest lead: a notice pointing me in the course of a herbalist, Mom Jago, who lives close to an outdated mine. Alongside the best way I spot allusions to the higher story at play, as a shimmering, oily swirl of blues and purples hovers over an influence plant – the obvious explanation for Britain’s descent into the post-apocalypse. Close by, a telephone field rings and a creepy voice warns me to remain out of the woods. It’s too late for that, however thanks for the decision anyway.

The trail is affected by comparable small environmental story touches, equivalent to an outdated boathouse rigged with an unsettling alarm system, the phrases “get misplaced” painted throughout it – a warning the close by mound of skulls and bones seemingly didn’t heed. There’s an enjoyably uneasy vibe round each nook of Atomfall, with sleepy, leafy forests giving option to creepy zones of terror. Loads of Fallout comparisons have been made ever since its reveal, however I assume Stalker and its current sequel is a much more apt touchstone, each in phrases of tone and recreation design.

Following one other druid bloodbath in which I butcher them and loot their backyard middle house for herbs (a quick-thyme occasion, if you’ll) I meet Mom Jago at her quaint allotment retreat. Dressed in a plum-coloured coat and animal cranium and rose-laden hat, she resembles Angela Lansbury if she’d bought large into black magic aromatherapy as an alternative of crime fixing. However my hopes that she may make Atomfall’s opaque thriller any clearer are instantly dashed – she provides solely obscure solutions to my questions, regardless of exhausting each dialogue possibility as I dig for clues as to the place to go subsequent. This jogs my memory of traditional point-and-click adventures in the best way you’re inspired to discover each nook of dialog in search of a touch. Finally, a door is opened: Jago gives what she guarantees to be worthwhile data in trade for the secure return of her herbalism e-book. A e-book that’s, after all, not in a library, however held hostage on the druids’ fortified fort. So, with a brand new lead in my pocket book, I traipse again throughout the map in search of recipes and the druid blood defending it.

Atomfall’s freeform design means I’m in a position to method from any angle, and so I resolve to assault the fort from the facet. As I make my manner there I encounter a druid patrol close to an deserted petrol station. The certainly soon-to-be-considered historic Battle of the Forecourt kicks off as I lob my solely grenade into the center of them. The enemy AI isn’t essentially the most reactive, hardly ever darting for canopy or actually participating in any evasive maneuvers, however the satisfying eruption of blood and bits of bone does alert a few archers from additional down the highway. I put a halt to their advance with a nail bomb and then proceed to slalom their arrows, shortly closing the space in order that I can snap one’s neck earlier than getting my trusty bat out for one more spherical of head-smashing. There’s positively enjoyable available taking part in round with these enemies, however from the small pattern I’ve had thus far, I wouldn’t go into Atomfall searching for top-tier fight. As a substitute, it appears clever to deal with enemy encounters extra like a enjoyable sideshow to the principle occasion of discovering the world’s secrets and techniques.

After sniping a few axe-wielding brutes I make it contained in the fort’s outer partitions. There I stumble throughout a locked hut. A notice printed with a set of map coordinates pinned to its door means that the keys are far-off to the southeast. Atomfall doesn’t imagine in goal markers, as an alternative leaving it as much as you to check your map and place down markers on factors of curiosity your self. Might this locked hut be the place the e-book is hidden? Do I have to go on a quest for this key? My hunch tells me no, and I as an alternative stroll as much as the central preserve’s large entrance doorways.

As soon as inside, I discover a number of extra druids to membership, however no signal of the e-book. I hunt round its dank hallways, discovering nothing however fabric and alcohol to craft therapeutic bandages with. I spend an excellent ten minutes looking each nook, however no luck. It’s an extra instance of Atomfall’s obtuse method to mission design. You gained’t have your hand-held right here, and the e-book gained’t glow gold with a giant “choose me up” signal hooked up. Whereas it will probably result in moments of frustration, I discover myself in the end inspired by Rebel’s method to make one thing that challenges the participant and sticks stubbornly to its explorative, nearly detective-like imaginative and prescient.

So, with the e-book nowhere in sight, I resolve to comply with the paper path and head to these map coordinates in search of the keys I beforehand examine. Maybe this might unlock my path ahead? The coordinates lead me into the den of a poison plant monster… factor that appears to boil my mind if I spend too lengthy close to it. Rifle bullets make minimal impression, and there’s little I can do to stop my fast dying. I reload my save and use my Skyrim bunny-hopping muscle reminiscence to bypass the beast, leaping down a rock face to gather the keys from one of many creature’s earlier victims. I head again to the hut, the place I discover a shiny new perk level and a smattering of ammo. As you’ll little question remember, none of this stuff resemble the herbalism e-book that I’m looking for.

Forlorn and barely misplaced, I enterprise beneath the fort and deep into its bowels, the place the druids concoct their rituals and chemical-fuelled practices. I kill the Excessive Priestess and a few dozen of her lackeys, discover an SMG, a recipe for crafting poison bombs, and an atomic battery which seemingly opens up an entire new questline that I merely don’t have time to look into earlier than my demo time runs out. Once more, the observant amongst you’ll discover that none of this stuff are the e-book I’m searching for.

After my play session ends, I’m advised the e-book was in the fort, simply mendacity on a desk I should have walked previous a number of occasions. Earlier than that revelation, although, I begin to imagine the e-book merely doesn’t exist. That it’s a ruse. A lie. I resolve to return to the herbalist and see if she has something to say for herself. She would not, after all, as a result of the e-book is actual and the search to amass it’s respectable. However my very own confusion manifests as totally shopping for into my character’s descent into violence, and so I kill her. She turns into one along with her vegetation in the soil. Looking out her physique for some form of hidden “fact”, I discover a recipe for one thing that would seem to assist fight the poison swamp monster I encountered earlier. It’s too late for that, however I assume that is the dear data she was going to trade her e-book for. We may have saved quite a lot of time right here, it appears.

Not you can shave an enormous period of time off Atomfall’s runtime. I’m advised by the builders at Rebel that you just’d battle to complete the story in “lower than 4 or 5 hours”, and that the majority gamers will take round 25 hours. Fairly what’s going to occur inside these 25 hours might be fairly different, although. I spoke to another person on the demo session who went on a wholly totally different journey to mine throughout their time taking part in, one which began with a crashed helicopter I by no means encountered and led to an entire new area full of killer robots and mutants. It seems that even by simply skimming the floor of Atomfall, there are a lot of depths, secrets and techniques, and mysteries to be discovered.

I do surprise if a few of the goals could also be too obtuse for some, although. The shortage of course may actually be offputting, however Atomfall looks like a recreation that rewards you the extra you indulge in its obfuscated quest design. The blurred traces between the facet and foremost goals add an actual peril to each motion, with its malleable plot design encouraging every participant to inform their very own story and discover their very own ending and clarification for what has occurred right here in the irradiated English countryside. I’ll nonetheless see the tip of the story, regardless of killing off poor outdated Mom Jago, it might simply be wildly totally different from yours.

However, that’s all that I have time to see as we speak. For now, my fingers bloodied from the undeserved demise of a herbalist and the warpath I’ve left behind, I resolve to have interaction in full-British mode: take my cricket bat, head to the pub, and await this all to blow over.

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editorial Producer who can primarily be discovered skulking round open world video games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing on the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Comply with him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.