Atomfall Devs Expected Fallout Comparisons, 25-Hour Playthrough

At first glance, you might easily mistake Atomfall for a Fallout-style game, perhaps even envisioning it as an *actual* Fallout title set in a post-apocalyptic England instead of America. Atomfall is a first-person, post-nuclear adventure with an alternate history design, much like the renowned Fallout series. However, despite these surface similarities, Atomfall carves its own unique path in the gaming landscape.

Ryan Greene, the art director at developer Rebellion, acknowledges the inevitable comparisons to Fallout. "Once you play the game, you realize it's not Fallout, but yes, we knew," Greene told IGN. He further explained that one of Rebellion's owners, Jason Kingsley, is a big Fallout fan, so some parallels were expected. "And those guys are great at what they do. And that's cool," Greene added, showing respect for the Fallout creators while emphasizing Atomfall's distinct identity.

IGN highlighted last August that Atomfall is far more than just a British version of Fallout. Greene himself warned that such comparisons are "misleading." He emphasized that after playing Atomfall for a while, players would recognize its uniqueness. "Once you play it for a bit, you're like, oh, this is its own thing for sure," Greene stated. He also pointed out that Rebellion, the independently owned British studio behind the Sniper Elite franchise, isn't Microsoft-owned Bethesda. Atomfall, while ambitious for Rebellion, isn't on the scale of an Elder Scrolls or Fallout game. "The reality is, here’s this very successful franchise and we're version 1.0," Greene said, appreciating the comparison but underscoring Atomfall's distinctiveness.

Atomfall Screenshots

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An average playthrough of Atomfall, according to Greene, lasts about "25-ish hours," with completionists able to extend their gameplay significantly. For insights into the game's mechanics, check out IGN's latest hands-on preview of Atomfall, where Simon Cardy went on a killing spree. Greene confirmed that players have the freedom to kill anyone or everyone if they choose. "That's fine. We have multiple finishes to the game, so some of those would shut down if you were supposed to work with them throughout, but you'll find multiple other routes to finish the game and achieve a result," he explained.

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Atomfall doesn't follow the traditional RPG structure of main and side quests. Instead, Greene described it as "a spider web of connected story." He explained, "So even if you sever one thread, you can usually find another thread that leads you back to the overall mystery." This narrative approach allows for a flexible and immersive experience.

Interestingly, players can also complete Atomfall without killing anyone. Greene is "fairly certain" this is possible, noting, "I've made it about nine hours in, probably close to halfway running at a pretty fast dev play speed and killed no one. I'm fairly certain you can do it and there's no gating of having to kill anyone ever." This flexibility in gameplay adds another layer of depth to Atomfall, distinguishing it further from its contemporaries.