Produced by Rebellion games, this double A rated game is a reworking of a historical event from the 60's UK, in which a fire at the atomic reactor caused the release of significant amounts of radioactive material into the surrounding atmosphere.
Labelled as the UK's worst nuclear disaster (have we had more than one?) it's only recently emerged that this event was probably more significant than the authorities let on at the time - no suprise there - and no real precautions to protect public safety were carried out, other than milk from cows ingesting radioactive fallout in the surrounding area was discarded.
But in the world of Atomfall, the surrounding area has been set up as an exclusion zone in which for 5 years a 'protocol' has been followed, administered by the army under the guidance of scientists, most of whom seem to now be dead.
The world of sixties Britain is nicely realised in the game graphics: you have essentially one north country village with a number of discrete areas radiating off it, and easily moved between via short loading screens. The game doesn't try to go bigger than its relatively small remit, and has a slightly old-school quality that is rather nice. Map size would be something similar to Kingdom Come Deliverance (1), so not huge, but quite varied nevertheless. There is no fast travel which in itself forces the exploration upon which the game is essentially driven by.
Your aim, having woken up in a bunker with a dying scientist and no memory, is simple. Escape the quarantined zone and bring news of the events therein to the outside world. Needless to say, the events are more sinister and extensive than the 'simple' fire in the piles of the real disaster. You have different options as to how to play the game in the original set up screens, and I have chosen to go for a high exploration, low combat playthrough, but could equally well have chosen a different alternative of combat over exploration (or choices in between). The nature of the game means that 'high exploration' requires a lot of investigation, putting together leads and following clues, none of which are hud marked or drawn out for you, to arrive at a conclusion at which point a given thread is 'resolved'. It really does leave you to do the work and while the combat at this game style is not difficult, the investigation is quite challenging. This is less the case at other game style choices where combat is apparently much harder, but clue following correspondingly easier. Perhaps they have more hud markers - I don't know.
There's a lot of underground bunkers to discover and explore, item crafting is key to survival and enemies, when you encounter them will give you options to back away in lovely language and regional accents that anyone who lives in the UK will be familiar with. The graphics in the foreground are quite lovely in a not overambitious way (as I say, a bit like a game of say 10 years ago), but the backgrounds let you know that this is a lower budget production, but not unpleasantly so.
The game as I'm playing it is slow burn. I'm not on tenterhooks worrying about survival all time, but the exploration is constantly throwing up new things (eg I was at the top of a cliff yesterday, looking down at a lake in the woods, and suddenly spied a 'triffid' like plant that I'd not encountered before in middle of the lake). This keeps things interesting and together with the clue gathering and dialogue options you have with npc's, makes for a nice progression that is not stressful but never dull. I've currently got around 20 plus threads of clues ongoing, and the options screens group these quite nicely for you so you can keep track of them. The enemies ranged against you are the soldiers overseeing the protocol, outlaws that have formed into countryside bands in the five years since the accident and quarantine was established, and druids that have returned to a sort of primitive shamanistic existence. Getting the clues, following the leads (many of which are dead ends) that will lead to your ultimate end game (there are apparently four different endings) demand that you get in amongst these groups, either by stealth or by combat, and of course it is here that the risks of dying are greatest. But the game saves well (every three minutes) so you never loose much, and the relative simplicity of the game (in comparison with tripple A titles of a more advanced type) means that there are few bugs of significance as far as I can tell.
All in all it's a fun if not overly ambitious title and a nice nostalgic ride with a twist. I might get bored and take a break before I complete the game, but it'll sit there ready to be picked up again when I don't require anything to challenging to beat myself up against. The nature of your character (who is what he/she is - no character creation here, not even naming) is such that it's quite immersive: you don't ever see yourself or hear yourself speak which I like. Interactions with npc's are simple dialogue boxes from your end, with them answering according to your choices. You can be nice, slippery or just a ***t according to your wants. Or hell, if you're feeling that way, just kill 'em all! (Only kidding - I don't play this way, even in games
.)All in all a pretty reasonable buy. Perhaps wait until it gets discounted if you want, but even at full price (50 pounds roundabout) it's an okay buy. Scoring I'd put at around 7.5 out of ten, but I don't want to damn it with faint praise. It's good - just paced differently from your usual gaming experience. And very much concentrating on not overstepping it's remit, just presenting a solid experience at the level it is produced at. I like it.
