I was angry and killed everyone
Blog Andrew Joseph 07 Mar , 2025 0
Join me on a violent journey through the British countryside, aka: 90 Minutes, with Atomfall, this is a new survival game for Sniper Elite Developer Rebellion. I recently visited a bar in north London with a pint and some hands-on time and was interested in the Atomfall open-question design and the method of creepy tone. I might have lost my mind, too, decided to attack everyone I saw, including a cricket bat, one of the old ladies whom I probably shouldn't have. Let me explain why.
From the lowest grunt to the most important Quest-Giver, every NPC in the Atomfall can be killed. When I sat down to start the demo, I decided that my task was to test the design. I admit my approach is not high. Just two minutes after my exploration of this number in Cumbria, I clumsily activated a Tripwire alert, which forced me to end the lives of three alerted guards. I used the blunt face of a cricket bat, which is most of a piece of wood, named my murder partner and emitted in fuchsia wine.
I later robbed the bow and became the branton of archery in my game, and I quickly equipped it. Now, I've been preparing for a long time to meet so I can rest Mr. Cricket's Mr. Bat. Nearby, I found a clumsy Willow Man, towering above me, waiting to get off. I won't get close to that one. I've seen how this story ends. Scenes like this indicate to folk horror backgrounds, which are the bedrock that divides the world in the region, which consists of multiple “open areas”. It creates a compelling atmosphere of uneasiness that can only bring into the bigger mystery I am about to break: what happened in this sleepy, now radiated corner of England?
My idea of such a mystery was interrupted by a group of druids, probably related to that Willow Snack. They proved the perfect range finder for my newly obtained bow. one. two. three. They all fell. “I’m Robin’s bloody hood,” my brain yelled, and I snatched it out of the London bar setting. I promise, I haven't had a drink yet. Only 10 am.
The bow feels great. But I'm more interested in Atomfall's clever approach to endurance. There is nowhere to find the traditional depletion and regeneration bar, but instead is replaced by a heart rate monitor, the more you increase your behavior you tax your body. For example, a prolonged sprint will take you far more than 140 bpm, which can make it harder to aim stably and accurately if you suddenly have to stop and fight. Later, I discovered a skill manual for bow and arrow mastery that unlocked a revitalization, which negated the effect of strengthening the heartbeat on restoring the bowstring. This isn't the most exciting privilege, and browsing through the menu shows that atoms are not the most complex skill tree suite. However, it seems to be stretched enough to tailor the character's skills to a chosen play style, for example, whether you would like to specialize in stealth rather than shooting.
My only achievement so far is a bunch of dead druids and you might wonder what my overall goal is. And, to a certain extent, I am so, with the purposeless exploration of the Casterfall Woods area not unearthing anything important yet, so I followed my only pursuit of leadership: pointing me in the direction of Jago, the herbalist I live near an old mineral. In the process, I discovered allusions to the bigger story, as the glittering blues and purple swayed, which was obviously the reason why Britain fell in post-apocalypse. Nearby, a phone box rang and a creepy voice warned me to leave the woods. It's too late, but thanks for the call.
The road has touches of similar small environmental stories, such as an old boathouse with a disturbing alarm system, with the word “lost” drawn on it – the nearby skulls and bone piles seem to be noticing the nearby hills. There is a pleasant atmosphere in every corner of the atom, drowsy, and the green leafy forest gives way to the creepy horror zone. There have been a lot of radiation comparisons since the revelation, but I think Stalker and its recent sequels are more appropriate in terms of tone and game design.
After a druid massacre, I slaughtered them and met Jago's mother at her quaint distribution retreat, robbed their garden center (if you will). She wore a plum-colored coat and animal skull and rose-colored hat, just like Angela Lansbury, if she was surprised, instead of solving the dark magic aromatherapy instead of solving the crime. But I hope she can instantly shatter the mystery of Atomfall's opaque mystery – despite my best efforts, I provide a vague answer to my question. This reminds me of the classic click adventure, where you encourage you to explore every corner of the conversation for tips. Finally, a door is opened: Jago provides information that she promises will be valuable in exchange for a safe return of her herbal books. Of course, the book is not in the library, but in the fortified castle of the Druids. So with new prospects in the notebook, I went back to the map on the map to find recipes and protect it's druid blood.
The Freeform design of Atomfall means I can get close from any angle, so I decided to attack the castle from the side. When I walked there, I met the Druid patrol near an abandoned gas station. This is certainly an unprecedented historical war that is coming when I bring the only grenade into the middle. The enemy's AI is not the most reactive, rarely flying to cover or really engaging in any evasive move, but the satisfying outburst of blood and bones does make several archers alert on the way further. I stopped their progress with my nail bomb and continued to thrill their arrows and quickly closed the distance so I could grab my neck before pulling out my trusty bat out another round of cigarette butts. It's definitely fun to play with these enemies, but judging by the small sample I've ever been so far, I won't go into the atomic energy search for top-notch combat. Instead, treating the wise moves encountered by the enemy seem more like an interesting trash to discover the main event of the world's secrets.
After snatching a few savages wielding axe, I stuffed them inside the exterior wall of the castle. There, I stumbled upon a locked cabin. Notes printed with a set of map coordinates are fixed to their door, which indicates that the key is far from the southeast. Atomfall does not believe in objective markings, but rather lets you study the map yourself and place markings on your own points of interest. Can this locked hut be a place to hide books? Do I need to continue looking for this key? My intuition tells me not, but walk to the big front door of Central Keep.
After entering the room, I found more Druid Clubs, but there was no sign of this book. I hunted on its wet corridors and found nothing but fabric and alcohol to heal the bandages. I spent ten minutes searching every corner, but no luck. This is another example of the Atomfall passivation task design method. You won't hold your hand here, and the book won't glow with a big “Check Me” logo. While this may lead to moments of frustration, I find myself eventually being encouraged by the rebellious approach to challenge the player and stubbornly stick to its exploratory, almost detective-like vision.
So, since I couldn't see the book, I decided to follow the paper and head to these map coordinates to find the keys I've read before. Maybe this will unlock my way forward? The coordinates took me into the nest of a poisonous plant monster…it seemed to boil my brain if I spent too long around it. The impact of the rifle bullet is minimal and I can hardly do anything to prevent my rapid death. I reload the save and use the muscle memory of the sky rabbit jumping around the beast, jumping off the rocky face, collecting keys from an early victim of the creature. I returned to the cabin, where I found a shiny new cheering point and ammunition pop-up. None of these items resemble the herbal books I was looking for.
I was lonely, slightly lost, and I ventured under the castle, deep into the gut, where the Druids concocted their rituals and chemical effects. I killed the High Priestess, with about a dozen shoelaces, found an SMG, a recipe for making poison bombs, and an atomic battery, and seemed to turn on a brand new Questline, and I simply didn't have time to research before the demonstration time ran out. Similarly, observers among you will notice that none of these items are the books I am looking for.
Xbox Games Series Level List
Xbox Games Series Level List
After the game ended, I was told the book Once was In the castle, lying on the table, I must have walked through several times. But before revelation, I began to believe that the book simply did not exist. That was a trick. lie. I decided to go back to herbal house and see if she had something to say. Of course, she didn't, because the book was real, and the book to be obtained was legal. But my own chaos manifests itself as having a total commitment to my character fall into violence, so I killed her. She became a plant in the soil. While searching for some hidden “truth” in her body, I found a recipe that seemed to help fight the poisonous swamp monster I had encountered before. It was too late, but I think it was valuable information she was going to exchange books. It seems we could have saved a lot of time here.
Not that you can scrape off Atomfall's runtime for a lot of time. The rebel developers told me that you will complete the story in “less than four to five hours” which most players will take about 25 hours. However, what will happen in these 25 hours can be huge. I talked to other people at the demo session and they had a completely different adventure during the performance, a crash helicopter I had never encountered before and led to a brand new area full of killer robots and mutants. It seems that even if you just browse the surface of an atom, there are many depths, secrets and mysteries.
I do wonder if certain goals are too blunt for some. The lack of direction is certainly a distributable one, but Atomfall feels like a game that rewards you, you indulge in its obfuscated task design. The blurred boundary between the sides and the main goal presents real danger to each action, and its extended plot design encourages each player to tell his own story and find his own ending and explanations, and explains what is happening in the irradiated British countryside. Despite killing poor old mother Jago, I will still see the end of the story, but it may be different from yours.
But, that's what I've seen today. For now, my hands bleed from the demise of an undeserved herbalist and the path of war I left behind, and I decided to participate in the all-English mode: take my cricket bats, head to the bar, and wait for all this to blow.
Simon Cardy is a senior editorial producer who can find primarily hopeless around the Open World Games, indulging in Korean cinemas, or feeling desperate in Tottenham and New York Jet states. Follow him in Bluesky @cardy.bsky.social.
