Atomfall

I had found it, after dozens of notes talking about it and the clear flow of the game and narrative needing me to possess it I had finally found the Signal Redirector. But something nagged at the back of my mind 'this can't be the only way I can get it, it just doesn't seem right for this game'. Cut to 3 hours later and lo and behold I found the other one and this one was possible to get without advancing the story or a superhuman act of violence. At that moment what Atomfall is fell into sharp relief.

The team at Rebellion, better known for their action stealth Sniper Elite games did something a little different with Atomfall. Set in the Lake District in the UK in the 1960's this game centres around a stalker esque zone which you are trapped within along with an odd bunch of thick accented locals.

The game rejects the notion of a standard quest system to offer a more vague 'leads' system which foregoes the direct UI text and way points instruction the player where to go and what to do in favour of a more hands of approach which merely categories the information you have gathered and lets you know when you have resolved an open question. This hands off approach necessitates the player engaging with the diegetic text not only on a thematic level, as is present in most titles, but also on a structural level, looking for clues, corroborating information. In doing so it turns the player into a detective, without it being a detective game.

But that's not the only trick Atomfall has up it's sleeve.

Every NPC can be killed, and not in a scripted fashion, at any time by the player. This signals to the player the type of game it is, one where they have a high degree of agency and also that there must exist alternatives to any narrative thread. This is the haymaker set up by the jab of the quest system: You are in control here.

This had me sitting forward, I wasn't just exploring the world, I was exploring the narrative. Engaging with threads only so much as they didn't change things too much until I felt confident I had explored the other options and done my own investigation to find alternatives and this is where we return to the signal Redirector.

Very early in the game it lays it's two main threads: find out what is going on and try and escape AND get to the end of an underground bunker which all of this seems to revolve around. These clear and imminent objectives set the tone and soon enough you will need the signal redirector. In as much as there is a main quest this item is tied to it and many of the threads weave in to a tapestry which has at it's centre the Signal Redirector and if you follow these threads you will need to explore, fight and bargain your way to it.

Except you don't, hidden somewhere is another one, one accessible with far less brute strength or narrative progress and it is the presence of this alternative, available at the start of the game which defines the experience you have with this game and one very few RPG's choose to mimic. One which respects your time and intelligence enough to give you all the tools and pieces of a puzzle and let you figure it out.

It's not a perfect game, it's systems are sleek but not especially deep. It's pretty but not stunningly beautiful. It's well written but not a masterpiece. But it is fresh and brave to attempt this and to do so with a modest budget and team in a way that was respectful of the realities of game development as well as the creative passion to do something unique.