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 components. 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 staff has swapped simple motion for thriller and suspense. It’s about meddling in locations you don’t belong, working for and towards folks to get what you need, and discovering a approach out of an English quarantine zone. It’s an idea so properly executed that Atomfall clears Riot’s previous efforts to change into its best 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 skin 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 underneath authorities management, with robots patrolling the streets and violent, excessive clans searching anybody not carrying their colors exterior of its partitions.
You get up at some point in a bunker contained in the quarantine zone with probably the most candid of goals: escape. As everyone knows, nevertheless, it’s by no means that easy. Conspiracy theories and rumours are rife all through the village, and you should separate reality from fiction with the intention to trend a dependable getaway. The magic of Atomfall is there’s no assure your discoveries will even result in something of word — deadends are frequent and false hope is frequent. As such, the expertise turns into one you’ll wish to poke and prod to see the way it reacts again (and doubtlessly reload a save), all the time 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 alternative for the normal RPG quests system. As a substitute of markers robotically littering a map, you’ll speak to folks and discover notes that reveal extra concerning the world as you go alongside. These clues are then documented and grouped collectively so you may discover an total idea of escape moderately than finishing a singular goal in isolation.
Places will probably 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 solution to go away the quarantine zone or not. There are simply as some ways to interrupt free and end the sport as there will not be, 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 by means of brief load screens. Inside its partitions, Wyndham prioritises the investigation by means of character interactions and sneaking previous guards. Exterior of them, killing cult members — both with a gun or melee weapons — replaces any introductory pleasantries.
You need to scavenge for provides, sources, 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 sport”, 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 have been by no means low on therapeutic gadgets or bullets, permitting us full freedom in how we approached any state of affairs.
That is, for all intents and functions, a conventional motion sport once you resolve to battle again towards the cults — nevertheless it’s additionally the place the expertise slips considerably. The melee fight and gunplay are each a bit of 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 alleged to be in, alerting close by enemies once you’re noticed. Each really feel tacked on, nevertheless. Regardless of it clearly not being the principle focus of the sport, you interact 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 by means of dialog and espionage because the countryside’s James Bond, not bashing an enemy’s head in with a cricket bat.
Riot a minimum of does a improbable job of guaranteeing you’re partaking with the previous as a lot as potential 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 model 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 probably be misplaced on gamers from exterior 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 speak of the place, then Wyndham proves a particular setting.
On the PS5 Professional a minimum of, all of it runs excellently too. Save for a rogue audio cutout challenge, the sport performs at a really clean 60 frames-per-second with first rate visuals to match. Wyndham appears beautiful regardless of the ruins round its perimeter, and the encompassing 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 facet all the higher for it. The thriller on the coronary heart of the alternate Nineteen Sixties setting is gripping, ceaselessly teasing clues and options to a approach 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.
