Long before Bethesda took the reins of the series and Walton Goggins smeared on the ghoul make-up for his spellbinding turn in its adapted TV show, Fallout was an isometric action RPG viewed from a bird’s eye perspective. It’s that classic style of wasteland-wandering that the upcoming Survive the Fall appears to be using as its reference point, at least if the first few hours of the game I experienced are anything to go by. This deadly post-apocalyptic tale of survival builds on the original Fallout’s template – quite literally in the case of its robust camp development system – and its squad-based combat and scavenging help it craft an experience that feels fresh, even if the somewhat static story presentation prevents its personality from totally shining through.
*Survive the Fall* sets itself apart with a unique twist on the post-apocalyptic genre. Unlike the typical nuclear-induced devastation, this game's world was ravaged by a comet's impact, leading to catastrophic loss of life and the emergence of a toxic mist called Stasis. Survivors face a choice: avoid the mist or harness its power to mutate into stronger forms, sacrificing their humanity. Throughout the game, your growing squad of scavengers must build bonds with various factions scattered across three biomes to survive and thrive, from the Stasis-embracing Shroomers to the enigmatic cult, the Sighted.As I undertook each new task from Survive the Fall’s numerous quest-givers, I quickly grew fond of its squad-based setup. Navigating your party of up to three survivors around the sprawling national park setting at the story's start, you can manually search for resources or delegate tasks to your team, enhancing the efficiency of exploration and settlement ransacking. The only minor drawback was the occasional clutter of button prompts when interactive elements were closely grouped, though this was a rare occurrence.
Combat in Survive the Fall is also team-oriented. Given the scarcity of rifle and shotgun ammunition in the early stages, I prioritized stealth, approaching encounters with marauders and ghouls with careful planning. This involved tactics reminiscent of Commandos: Origins, like hiding, creating distractions, and executing silent takedowns, followed by body disposal by my squadmates. The environment offered strategic advantages, such as explosive barrels and precarious cargo pallets that could be utilized for tactical advantage.
Survive the Fall - Preview Screens
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Clearing out enemy clusters felt rewarding, but when stealth failed, combat with firearms became somewhat cumbersome, especially with a controller. Aiming was less precise than I hoped, leading me to rely more on melee attacks and dodging. Thankfully, the ability to pause and direct my squad to focus on specific targets added a strategic layer, reminiscent of systems found in Wasteland or Mutant Year Zero.
After a day of battling mutants and gathering resources, Survive the Fall shifts into a base-building management sim. Documents found in the wild can be researched to earn knowledge points, which unlock a comprehensive technology tree. This allows you to craft various facilities like bunk beds, kitchen areas, water filtration systems, and an armory. Resources like timber can be transformed into planks for constructing structures, while foraged items can be prepared into meals for your expedition team. The depth of the base-building mechanics promises hours of engaging development from a barren wasteland to a thriving settlement.
Beyond my base, Survive the Fall offered a variety of intriguing locations to explore, from a crashed passenger plane turned enemy fort to a ghoul-infested farmstead. The game's detailed environments were occasionally hampered by performance issues, particularly in areas like the Mycorrhiza swamplands, where framerate drops and game-breaking bugs disrupted gameplay. With a release date looming, developer Angry Bulls Studio has time to refine these aspects.
Survive the Fall seemed to reward me with distinct locales in any direction I pointed my compass in. However, the lack of voice acting made interactions with my squad and NPCs feel somewhat flat, relying solely on onscreen text. While some characters, like the humorous Blooper, provided moments of levity, most interactions merely set up the next quest, lacking deeper character development.
Perhaps the bonds will deepen over the course of the full journey, and we won’t have to wait long to find out. Survive the Fall is set for release on PC this May and is brimming with post-apocalyptic potential. If the developers can smooth out the existing rough edges in controls and performance, this could well be a survival-based action RPG worthy of your hard-earned bottlecaps.
