Atomfall devs insist upcoming game isn’t a London Fallout

The developers behind Atomfall have shrugged off any Fallout comparisons, dubbing them “misleading,” but admitted they always expected they would emerge.

Set five years after a nuclear disaster in northern England, Atomfall is a post-apocalyptic world with an alternative-history design, just like Fallout does, but it’s there where the comparisons end as Atomfall is its “own thing.”

Speaking to IGN, art director Ryan Greene admitted that Fallout comparisons were inevitable given the design choices, but when it comes to playing the game itself, Atomfall has plenty of differences with the long-standing Bethesda franchise.

“Once you play it for a bit, you’re like, oh, this is its own thing for sure,” he said, though admitting that the comparisons are something they appreciate as there is a “skillful team” behind the Fallout franchise.

One of the major differences with Fallout is the story, both in the way it operates and the overall length. According to Greene, the average playthrough will take around 25 hours, though completionists can extend that.

Atomfall doesn’t have a linear story to follow like many other games, including Fallout, and instead showcases a “spider web of connected story.” If one thread is severed, another will lead you back to the larger mystery at play, with a main quest line seemingly avoided altogether.

Greene’s comments match up perfectly with Dot Esports’ own early experience of Atomfall, where we discovered there’s no super-soldier approach and survival is a challenge with scarce resources and challenging combat.

There are various outcomes to finishing the game, with Greene pretty sure it’s possible to complete without killing anyone, revealing that he is currently around nine hours into a playthrough without ending a life.

That freedom to create your own path is exciting, as it always is, but the most intriguing element here is the seeming lack of a main quest line, with the story instead progressing at a pace decided by the player in whichever route they choose.

I quite like the idea of going down a completely different route to a friend in the game and having an entirely different experience, so this aspect is exciting and, for once, I’m actually quite glad that we’re not going to see a Fallout-like approach.

This is mostly because I definitely fall into the completionist category and my history in Bethesda games has seen me act like a pack mule at every opportunity, carrying everything from random pieces of cutlery to a collection of stuffed toys, just because I can.