In case you hadn’t noticed already, Atomfall is a very British game. It features those unmistakable red phone boxes, plummy, moustachioed army generals, and that most quintessentially British creation, exploding sheep.
Now, you might be thinking that one of those items is not like the others. But combustible farmyard animals have been a fundamental part of British gaming culture for decades, primarily via the Worms series. As a kid, there were few things I enjoyed more than sending my younger brother’s annelid army scattering with a perfectly deployed woolly bomb, though admittedly, they’d blow up in my own face half the time.
Anyway, as a recent video deep dive demonstrates, Atomfall continues this proud tradition. The video, which is primarily about how you’ll explore the post-nuclear disaster quarantine zone around Windscale, takes a moment to address some of the hazards you’ll encounter while wandering around the game’s rolling fields and picturesque villages. These include familiar dangers, like mines and guard posts. But you may also stumble across sheep corpses in the landscape. As the video describes, these “exploding sheep” can “infect you with spores that creep into your lungs until you collapse, lifeless.”
Delightful. The video also unveils more information about some of Atomfall’s other major British touchstones, most notably those red phoneboxes, which are more than just stereotypical UK iconography. If you happen to pass one of them while exploring, there’s a chance the phone inside (a delightfully chunky rotary number, I might add) will ring. As the video explains, “If you answer the call, a voice on the other end may offer helpful advice, or cryptic warnings.” The video doesn’t specify what these messages might entail, but in the accompanying footage, the subtitles for the anonymous caller read “Oberon must die”. So at the very least, it seems you’ll be hunting some poor fellow called Oberon down, though whether you’ll actually have to kill them or not remains to be seen.
This all ties into Atomfall’s emphasis on investigation, which the video elaborates upon elsewhere. For example, Atomfall doesn’t have a traditional quest system, instead offering “various leads” which you can pursue of your own accord. These form part of a “larger, interconnected web of stories” that will help you “unravel what happened after the Windscale fire.” Moreover, as you travel about Windscale, you’ll meet numerous NPCs who’ll offer to aid you in your mission. But apparently, their motivations may not be entirely what they seem. “It’s up to you to discern who truly wants to assist, and who seeks to take advantage.”
It all sounds fascinating. Rebellion has already claimed it’s trying some highly experimental stuff with Atomfall, to the point where it isn’t sure whether or not it will actually work. After years spent mainly making Sniper Elite games, it’s great to see the studio trying something a bit more unusual. We’ll find out whether it pays off in about a month’s time, as Atomfall launches on March 30.