To say that I have been excited to see what Atomfall has in store for all of us would be a gross understatement. It’s a game that has been on many people’s radars for some time, and rightfully so, due to the unique setting and, equally, the pedigree of the developers behind the project.
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So, when I sat down with an Atomfall Ale in hand during the preview event in the heart of London, I felt like the luckiest guy around. At least, until I started playing and was hacked to death by a gang of Druids.
If you cast me as a mad gaming scientist and allowed me to conjure up a Frankenstein’s monster of a video game comprised of all my favorite mechanics and design principles, Atomfall would likely resemble that game.
It has a densely packed open-world map, amazing action, tight stealth, and a story that allows the player to take full control without any hand-holding whatsoever. However, even as we near release day, many may still be a little in the dark about what Atomfall is all about.
So, we sat down with Rebellion’s lead of design, Ben Fisher, to talk all things Atomfall and get you the answers you need before diving into this weird and twisted version of the Lake District.
Talking All Things Atomfall With Ben Fisher
Q: I guess we will begin by asking, this game, while sensationalized, is based on a true-to-life nuclear event in Britain. Has there been any attempt to tie-in historical accuracy and detail into the story, or is this a complete rewrite of history?
“What we decided to do was do research, and our teams took trips to the area to visit the sorts of villages that were nearby for a point of reference, and that sort of thing. Then, at the same time, we wanted to turn it into this sort of broad, culty adventure, and the sort of moment that it came together, I think, is when we started to look at contemporary British 1950-1960s speculative fiction.
In an era where fantasy and Sci-Fi hadn’t split yet, and if you look at things like early Doctor Who, you look at the Quatermass Experiment, even if you broaden the things you’re looking at and consider Wicker Man or The Prisoner, we found that there was a tonal consistency to those.
So, it all really started to come together when we started to look at it through that lens, of fiction which can represent itself with multiple different tones coming together into a wider context. But, we also wanted to make sure that the game was respectful of the actual event as well, so we consider this to be slightly fictionalised in the same way you could have expected someone at the time to tell the story of a similar disaster.”
Q: One of the standout aspects of this title is the setting. Aside from a few anomalies, Britain has rarely been the setting for a standout game such as this, and if it is, it tends to be London that’s the focus. What made you guys choose to set Atomfall in the Lake District? Was it the choice to cover the Windscale disaster that informed the setting, or were you always keen on a UK setting?
“So, the event was very much the catalyst for this whole idea, and from there, we asked ourselves, if we are using this rural setting, what would effectively be the theme park version? In the Lake District, you have different-toned environments, and it seems to have fit together really nicely.
There was a richness to it, like an unplummed well that we just started pulling ideas from, as well as a lot of cultural reference points like cricket bats and whatnot. It seemed like such a natural fit for some fresh ideas, and we did make a conscious decision to avoid including urban environments and the typical London accent so that people could see the cultural diversity of the UK, as we feel people really haven’t squeezed all the juice out of that yet.”
Q: With the setting being what it is, with a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor and Britishisms, I can only assume that including these was a daily task during development. For example, as I was playing, I killed someone, and another NPC shouted, ‘Christ on a bike!’ Which was really fun to hear. Obviously, people will know about the cricket bats and the telephone boxes via the game’s marketing, but what are some of the most fun Britishisms you’ve featured in the game?
“My favorite aspects are the Easter eggs we have included. I’m fairly confident when I say that we will be the first game to include a Last of the Summer Wine reference hidden somewhere, and we have Mr Bean references in there as well. There are many references that are indirect nods, so it’s clear they aren’t part of the main experience; it’s just to tickle the player if they get the reference.”
Q: Various outlets have reported recently that you see a lot of the mechanics anddesign choices implemented in Atomfall as ‘experimental.‘Seeing as we’ve had some hands-on access, could you clarify what mechanics you were referring to and what made you choose to implement those?
“Many of them emerged from the tone set by the game’s environment. It didn’t seem appropriate to make it a run-and-gun shooter within rural England. Instead, you might have a farmer with a shotgun, or you’ll encounter a military force occupying the area.
This is some justification for the armaments, but there’s also the fact that everyone is trapped in this quarantined zone, so we tried to make the combat feel like a pub brawl. These are dirty, messy fights where you don’t know whether you’ll get out or not, and the stakes are high for both parties. There’s a real intensity to it, and it was more tonally appropriate to a game where you are more like a detective, less like a superhero and more like a normal person trying to get by in a difficult situation.
A lot of these experimental choices stemmed from that. Then the other major experimental thing was that, earlier in development, we had a much more choreographed story where you were drip-fed information more, and the mystery would be revealed a layer at a time, and it felt too guided. It felt like someone else had already had a cool adventure, and you were just unpacking it.
So, we took the plunge and opened up the game entirely; we made all the plot threads optional to uncover. You can kill anyone in the game or no one. That was the most experimental thing, finding a way to remove traditional quests and removing that guidance and putting something else in its place.”
Q: So, are you effectively going for less of an RPG approach and, instead, with more of an Immersive Sim approach?
“Yes, exactly that, and some of the games in that genre certainly had an influence on the mechanics as well. You uncover leads to gather your own understanding of the game. We never tell you what the right answer or wrong answer is, we never tell you when you have opened or closed threads during the game, and they are happening all around you all the time. We took all of these leads and somehow connected them together, so the narrative of the game is effectively one giant spider web.”
Q: In terms of the combat, you guys are obviously best known for your efforts on the Sniper Elite series. How much has the gunplay and combat within that series informed the combat in Atomfall?
“So, there are elements that we have intentionally pulled from Sniper Elite, like the heart rate monitor. We don’t have a stamina system, but the more you exert yourself, your heart rate goes up and that impacts your ability to aim and things like that. We made the assumption that players coming to this game would have some expectation that this would be a typical Rebellion game, and we wanted to attempt to respect that.
Then, on top of that, use the setting and environment to change what that core was. You’re not a military sniper who is trained in marksman skills from a mile and a half away, you’re an everyman. You’re somebody trying to survive, and that had a huge impact on the durability of the player, the amount of ammunition that’s available, on the balance of weapons and the range of each weapon. Yeah, that had a huge ripple effect on the whole game.”
Q: Obviously, there has been a lot of discourse via trailers, gaming news, and in various forums comparing Atomfall to the likes of Fallout, and as annoying as it is, I’ve brought it up again. But I just want to ask, and you may mention Fallout if it fits, but what games have inspired Atomfall?
“So, obviously, some of the influences come from other Rebellion games. In Sniper Elite, we like to make similarly concentrated and open maps, although they are much more choreographed behind the scenes so that we can give the players the experience we want them to have. It is fair to say that Atomfall takes inspiration from Fallout, as it was one of the reference points. Specifically, Fallout New Vegas was most relevant because it is one large story told in layers.”
Q: Is that why you can see options to choose certain dialogue options that are tied to various emotions when speaking with NPCs, similar to Fallout New Vega’s speech and skill checks system?
“Yes, exactly, there are similarities there for sure. And the fact that the esoteric parts fit neatly into the grander picture. All those games that take place in a nuclear quarantine zone, like STALKER and Metro, have all been good points of reference.
When we were creating the flow of the game as this unguided story, we even looked at games like Dark Souls as a point of reference because that’s a game that trusts the player to walk into a dangerous situation and die and then expects them to learn from that dangerous situation. So, lots and lots of little bits from many different places.”
Q: Then, to wrap things up, what do you see as the main thing that would draw players toward Atomfall? What is the game’s defining feature?
“For me, it’s the overall tone and atmosphere of the game, and the ripple effects that’s had on the mechanics and flow of the game. From our perspective, it feels like you’re playing a kind of old-fashioned British sci-fi mini-series adventure. I don’t think there are any other games out there like that.”
WHERE TO PLAY
Atomfall | Official Extended Gameplay Deep Dive Trailer
This trailer explores the core gameplay pillars, including exploration, investigation, survival mechanics, and combat.
