Atomfall is an action survival game that aims to bring something new and unique to the genre. Set in a fictional quarantine zone established following the Windscale nuclear accident in Britain’s Lake District, Atomfall features a variety of biomes for players to explore, a non-traditional guidance system that encourages players to approach the story in their own way, and a wide variety of NPCs and factions to interact with. There are also RPG elements that emphasize observation and interaction, melee and ranged weaponry to utilize, and the constant need to manage health and heart rate as players struggle to survive.
Game Rant spoke with Rebellion head of design Ben Fisher about the various aspects of Atomfall’s gameplay. He discussed the various play-through styles the game supports, the different weapons available to use, the inclusion of a bartering system rather than standard currency, and why the team decided to go with “light RPG” elements over a more traditional action RPG. He also highlighted Atomfall’s unique Leads system, which replaces traditional quest markers or guided objectives. This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Atomfall’s Guidance System: Leads, Not Objectives
Q: What’s your approach to difficulty in Atomfall?
A: Atomfall can be played in several ways and that experience should be determined by the player. Some may want to focus on conversing with characters and solving Leads, while others may want a survival action experience. So, settings like the level of aggression in combat can be adjusted, so people can influence their individual story. We think the game is the most interesting when the survival, exploration, and combat are all challenging, so that’s what we recommend – but we also want as many people as possible to play the game however they prefer, so play style will have no impact on Achievements or options through the game.
Q: What was the most important thing to “get right” about Atomfall’s gameplay? Where was it you first “found the fun,” so to speak?
A: We really felt we cracked Atomfall when we started to establish the investigative style of play. Finding the balance between openness and freedom vs guidance and momentum was a real challenge. So too was tuning the game to keep the player tense and alert – in many cases this involved trying something out and then fine-tuning the details AWAY from what you would typically see, such as ammo levels or even gun placement on screen.
Q: Atomfall’s guidance system gives players vague directions instead of map markers. What led you to choose this approach over a more traditional map marker system?
A: Atomfall has Leads instead of traditional quests or missions. Leads can be picked up through conversations or finding letters and items within the quarantine zone. Discovering a new Lead will give you hints on where to go next, but they are essentially puzzles that you will need to piece together yourself. You never know where a Lead will take you, or if you are being sent in the right direction, as your sources of information may have competing interests. We took this approach because we wanted the player to stay engaged with the “observation” aspect of gameplay. A traditional quest marker encourages the player to head straight for the indicated target and discourages them from staying observant. We wanted to reduce the feeling that there was a “right” or “main” route through the game.
Q: Such a system could potentially frustrate some players. How was that consideration taken into account?
A: We do provide additional options for players that prefer more guidance through our accessibility options, including a more guided objective system. However, we don’t default to that because we prefer the overall effect of making the player slow down and think.
Fundamentally, it’s about emphasizing the importance of freedom through exploration. If there was only one set way of achieving an objective, then providing vague hints would be extremely frustrating. Instead, Atomfall’s Leads are more open-ended and allow players to start their journey from different places. These Leads can also evolve in different directions, meaning there isn’t a ‘right’ way of doing things and, in some instances, invites experimentation.
RelatedThank Goodness You’re Here and Atomfall both take place in the north of England, and it’s not an area of the world that gets highlighted in video games very often. Of course, the away each game uses northern England as inspiration couldn’t be more different, but I’d love it if the little guy from Thank Goodness You’re Here was referenced in some way in Atomfall – maybe as a bit of graffiti, or with a dialogue choice that lets you slap someone to start talking to them.
Atomfall’s Weapons And Survival Mechanics
Q: What can you tell us about the inclusion of survival mechanics? What do those add to the game, and how have these features changed or been iterated upon throughout development?
A: We wanted the deep areas of the quarantine zone, away from Wyndham, to feel like a feral and dangerous wilderness. Within this, resources and weapons are scarce, so players really need to search for and scavenge items throughout the terrain. Items you find will allow you to concoct antidotes needed to explore more dangerously irradiated areas, as well as create ingenuous weapons to tackle some of the more deadly enemies. These types of survival mechanics serve to underline the day-to-day struggle inside the quarantine zone, which has been cut off from modern society and the ‘land of plenty.’
Q: The core survival feature is managing health and heart rate. What do these features add to the gameplay?
A: Adding a heart rate that players need to manage alongside their health bar adds to the desperate sense that every combat situation is a fight for your life. We wanted these to feel like a real struggle where you use an array of weapons, some improvised and some not, to just try to find a way to make it through the encounter. If you try and aim your gun when your heart rate is high, your aim will be impacted, and the amount of damage players (and enemies) can take is limited – so fights get scrappy quickly.
Q: How does the game encourage investigation, and what would you say is the heart of Atomfall’s investigative gameplay?
A: Our Leads system encourages investigation by dropping hints about where to explore to find the next clue, as opposed to quest markers – it’s not a game where you can expect to be following pins around a map. Alongside this, items like a metal detector encourage you to look beneath the surface of the environment around you.
Q: What was your design approach to the weapons of Atomfall, and how are melee and ranged combat balanced? Is one inherently more powerful than another?
A: The weapons in Atomfall reflect how scarce resources are inside the quarantine zone. You will need to scavenge and improvise weapons – some of the most powerful weapons you can use are held together with glue!
We’ve tried to ensure that melee and ranged weapons are balanced so players can choose how to approach encounters based on their preferences. However, ammunition for range weapons is extremely scarce so you can’t always rely on shooting your way out of a situation – it’s handy to keep a melee weapon on you at all times!
Q: Do you have any particular favorite weapons you can share?
A: The cricket bat has to be up there – there is nothing more British than wielding a cricket bat during a wild melee!
Atomfall Features “Light RPG” Mechanics And A Barter System
Q: Why choose light RPG features as opposed to going full-blown action RPG?
A: We wanted Atomfall to feel like a blend of different genres and leaning too heavily into one of these elements, say action RPG mechanics, would have reduced the pressure that the player is under, which in turn would have impacted the detective/observation elements of the game. Instead, we wanted to give the player a slight edge as they progress, but not so much that it gets too easy. At its heart, Atomfall is a mystery game and so it was more important to give players agency on how they explore that mystery.
Q: What can you tell us about the design of the skill trees and how they interact with gameplay?
A: The skill tree helps further augments people’s experience in Atomfall. These are centered around scavenging, survival and combat. Skills can be discovered by finding training manuals that are littered across the world of Atomfall, which offers a further incentive to explore every abandoned house, cave and bunker.
Q: Pacifist and kill-all-NPC playthroughs are viable in Atomfall. Can you discuss why that’s the case, and also how playthroughs like that impact the story and overall gameplay?
A: It comes back to offering players a chance to craft their own story throughout Atomfall. There are multiple different endings depending on the choices you make during your journey. Some encounters will have you eliminate or offend certain characters, which in turn will close off the narratives and Leads that those individuals could have sent you on.
When we decided to make the world of Atomfall an open sandbox, and to replace Quests with Leads, we asked ourselves the question “what happens if you kill everyone, or no one?” and then found ways to allow the player to do so.
Q: Instead of currency, Atomfall features a bartering mechanic. Can you explain why that is and what it adds to Atomfall’s gameplay loop?
A: In the quarantine zone survival is everything, and concepts like money have become rather meaningless. Instead, things have regressed to a medieval-like bartering system where characters covet essential goods they need to get by. This means players will need to make interesting judgment calls while collecting ‘resources’ about what might be considered valuable. Different people find value in different things, so if you’re observant you’ll be able to make judgment calls about what they’ll find the most valuable.
Q: Because of this bartering system, loot and item management have to be considered more heavily than in some games. Can you detail how Atomfall approaches these concepts?
A: Bartering allows us to lean into the mechanic of observation and planning and avoids such economic problems as players grinding low level resources to harvest currency. Given the digestible scope of our game, we wanted to avoid power creep over time to keep the play experience focused, and bartering is a really interesting way to do this.
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