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In case you hadn’t observed already, Atomfall is a really British sport. It options these unmistakable crimson cellphone bins, plummy, moustachioed military generals, and that the majority quintessentially British creation, exploding sheep.
Now, you is likely to be considering that a kind of gadgets just isn’t just like the others. But flamable farmyard animals have been a basic a part of British gaming tradition for many years, primarily through the Worms sequence. As a child, there have been few issues I loved greater than sending my youthful brother’s annelid military scattering with a wonderfully deployed woolly bomb, although admittedly, they’d blow up in my very own face half the time.
Anyway, as a latest video deep dive demonstrates, Atomfall continues this proud custom. The video, which is primarily about how you will discover the post-nuclear catastrophe quarantine zone round Windscale, takes a second to deal with a few of the hazards you will encounter whereas wandering across the sport’s rolling fields and picturesque villages. These embrace acquainted risks, like mines and guard posts. But you might also stumble throughout sheep corpses within the panorama. As the video describes, these “exploding sheep” can “infect you with spores that creep into your lungs till you collapse, lifeless.”
Delightful. The video additionally unveils extra details about a few of Atomfall’s different main British touchstones, most notably these crimson phoneboxes, that are extra than simply stereotypical UK iconography. If you occur to cross certainly one of them whereas exploring, there’s an opportunity the cellphone inside (a delightfully chunky rotary quantity, I would add) will ring. As the video explains, “If you reply the decision, a voice on the opposite finish could provide useful recommendation, or cryptic warnings.” The video would not specify what these messages would possibly entail, however within the accompanying footage, the subtitles for the nameless caller learn “Oberon should die”. So on the very least, it appears you will be searching some poor fellow known as Oberon down, although whether or not you will really must kill them or not stays to be seen.
This all ties into Atomfall’s emphasis on investigation, which the video elaborates upon elsewhere. For instance, Atomfall would not have a standard quest system, as an alternative providing “numerous leads” which you’ll be able to pursue of your personal accord. These type a part of a “bigger, interconnected internet of tales” that may enable you to “unravel what occurred after the Windscale fireplace.” Moreover, as you journey about Windscale, you will meet quite a few NPCs who’ll provide to assist you in your mission. But apparently, their motivations will not be fully what they appear. “It’s as much as you to discern who really desires to help, and who seeks to take benefit.”
It all sounds fascinating. Rebellion has already claimed it is attempting some extremely experimental stuff with Atomfall, to the purpose the place it is not positive whether or not or not it’s going to really work. After years spent primarily making Sniper Elite video games, it is nice to see the studio attempting one thing a bit extra uncommon. We’ll discover out whether or not it pays off in a few month’s time, as Atomfall launches on March 30.
