At first glance, you might mistake Atomfall for a Fallout-style game, perhaps even imagining it as an actual Fallout title set in a post-apocalyptic England instead of America. Atomfall is a first-person, post-nuclear game with an alt-history design, much like the iconic Fallout series.
Ryan Greene, the art director at Rebellion, acknowledges the inevitable comparisons to Fallout. "Once you play the game, you realize it's not Fallout, but yes, we knew," Greene told IGN. He further noted that one of Rebellion's owners, Jason Kingsley, is a big Fallout fan, which naturally draws parallels. "And those guys are great at what they do. And that's cool," Greene added, appreciating the work of the Fallout team.
However, Atomfall isn’t just another Fallout clone. As IGN reported last August, Atomfall offers a unique experience that sets it apart from its American counterpart. Greene himself cautioned that the Fallout comparison is "misleading." "Once you play it for a bit, you're like, oh, this is its own thing for sure," he said, emphasizing that Rebellion, the independent British studio behind the Sniper Elite franchise, has crafted a distinct game. While ambitious, Atomfall isn't on the scale of an Elder Scrolls or Fallout. "The reality is, here’s this very successful franchise and we're version 1.0," Greene explained, appreciating the comparison but recognizing the differences.
Atomfall Screenshots
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Greene estimates an average playthrough of Atomfall to be around "25-ish hours," with completionists able to extend their playtime "a long way." For a detailed look at how the game plays, check out IGN’s recent hands-on preview where Simon Cardy explored a more aggressive playstyle, killing everyone in his path.
Interestingly, Atomfall allows players to choose their approach. "You can kill anyone or everyone if you choose," Greene confirmed. "That's fine. We have multiple finishes to the game, so some of those would shut down if you were supposed to work with them throughout, but you'll find multiple other routes to finish the game and achieve a result."
AnswerSee ResultsAtomfall doesn’t follow the traditional RPG quest structure. Instead, Greene describes it as "a spider web of connected story." "So even if you sever one thread, you can usually find another thread that leads you back to the overall mystery."
Conversely, players can opt for a non-violent approach. Greene is "fairly certain" that it's possible to complete the game without killing anyone. "I've made it about nine hours in, probably close to halfway running at a pretty fast dev play speed and killed no one," he shared. "I'm fairly certain you can do it and there's no gating of having to kill anyone ever."
