For seven years now, British developer Riot has honed and enhanced its craft on iterative sequels. A second Evil Genius, a fourth Zombie Military, a fifth Sniper Elite — all completely good to nice video games in their very own proper, however based mostly on an already fine-tuned system. Atomfall, then, the studio’s first new IP since Unusual Brigade, represents an attention-grabbing break from that norm.
With shades of Disco Elysium and immersive sims like Deus Ex and PREY, the workforce has swapped simple motion for thriller and suspense. It’s about meddling in locations you don’t belong, working for and in opposition to folks to get what you need, and discovering a manner out of an English quarantine zone. It’s an idea so effectively executed that Atomfall clears Riot’s previous efforts to turn out to be its biggest achievement thus far.
Set within the picturesque Lake District of northern England, the village of Wyndham and its environment have been closed off from the surface world for 5 years. The sport makes use of the real-life Windscale nuclear catastrophe and creates an alternate timeline the place the as soon as peaceable countryside surrounding the plant by no means recovered. The village now finds itself beneath authorities management, with robots patrolling the streets and violent, excessive clans looking anybody not sporting their colors outdoors of its partitions.
You get up at some point in a bunker contained in the quarantine zone with probably the most candid of targets: escape. As everyone knows, nonetheless, it’s by no means that easy. Conspiracy theories and rumours are rife all through the village, and you could separate truth from fiction so as to trend a dependable getaway. The magic of Atomfall is there’s no assure your discoveries will even result in something of observe — deadends are widespread and false hope is frequent. As such, the expertise turns into one you’ll need to poke and prod to see the way it reacts again (and doubtlessly reload a save), at all times unsure over whether or not you’ve been manipulated into taking the mistaken path.
The title presents this investigation to you within the type of Leads, that are a substitute for the standard RPG quests system. As a substitute of markers routinely littering a map, you’ll discuss to folks and discover notes that reveal extra in regards to the world as you go alongside. These clues are then documented and grouped collectively so you may discover an total concept of escape slightly than finishing a singular goal in isolation.
Places will likely be marked in your map based mostly on the proof you discover, opening up extra locations to pursue the hearsay and work out whether or not it’s a viable method to go away the quarantine zone or not. There are simply as some ways to interrupt free and end the sport as there usually are not, making the expertise ripe for replay to see what alternatives you missed the primary time.
Tying all these inquiries collectively is a gameplay loop of exploring, speaking, crafting, and the occasional capturing. The sport adopts an open zone construction, with Wyndham Village at its centre and a handful of various areas surrounding it, all accessed via brief load screens. Inside its partitions, Wyndham prioritises the investigation via character interactions and sneaking previous guards. Outdoors of them, killing cult members — both with a gun or melee weapons — replaces any introductory pleasantries.
You need to scavenge for provides, assets, and ammo to outlive out within the wild, however there’s greater than sufficient to go round. Whereas it’s been marketed as a “survival-action recreation”, the crafting system is the one mechanic that comes near one thing you’d count on of a survival expertise. You don’t have to handle any starvation, thirst, or sleep meters — there’s nothing near that in Atomfall. And even then, we had been by no means low on therapeutic objects or bullets, permitting us full freedom in how we approached any state of affairs.
That is, for all intents and functions, a conventional motion recreation once you resolve to combat again in opposition to the cults — but it surely’s additionally the place the expertise slips considerably. The melee fight and gunplay are each a little bit clunky, with disappointing hit suggestions that makes swinging the likes of cricket bats and knives significantly unfulfilling.
There’s additionally a stealth system and a easy trespassing mechanic for locations you’re not purported to be in, alerting close by enemies once you’re noticed. Each really feel tacked on, nonetheless. Regardless of it clearly not being the principle focus of the sport, you have interaction in fight usually sufficient for it to remove from the general expertise. Atomfall is much and away at its finest once you’re pursuing Leads via dialog and espionage because the countryside’s James Bond, not bashing an enemy’s head in with a cricket bat.
Riot not less than does a improbable job of guaranteeing you’re partaking with the previous as a lot as attainable due to an exquisite recreation of a typical, quaint English village. Hailing from the UK, we instantly fell in love with Wyndham and its dry stone partitions, pub, and the identical type of village corridor with a stage in all places appears to have.
Complementing the setting is social and political commentary performed over loudspeakers all through Wyndham that makes enjoyable of varied British stereotypes and themes, together with Conservative slogans from the COVID-19 pandemic. A few of the magic will likely be misplaced on gamers from outdoors of the UK. Nonetheless, for anybody who can determine with that small-town nature the place everybody is aware of one another, and native gossip and grudges are the discuss of the place, then Wyndham proves a particular setting.
On the PS5 Professional not less than, all of it runs excellently too. Save for a rogue audio cutout difficulty, the sport performs at a really easy 60 frames-per-second with first rate visuals to match. Wyndham appears to be like pretty regardless of the ruins round its perimeter, and the encircling zones are simply as a lot of a deal with to discover with attention-grabbing landmarks and attractive underground areas.
Conclusion
Atomfall commits to embodying every little thing it means to be British, and it comes out the opposite aspect all the higher for it. The thriller on the coronary heart of the alternate Nineteen Sixties setting is gripping, eternally teasing clues and options to a manner out of its rural quarantine zone. Its fight techniques and mechanics let the expertise down, however Riot’s newest peaks when it makes you the countryside’s Inspector Gadget with a bunch of Results in pursue and villagefolk to suspect.