Atomfall Will Not Have a Traditional Quest System, Focuses on Investigating Leads

Developer Rebellion has revealed that its upcoming survival game, Atomfall, will not have a quest system like other open-world titles. In an interview with Games Radar, art director Ryan Greene spoke about what sets Atomfall apart from other titles with a similar premise like Fallout.

According to Greene, the reason Atomfall doesn’t have a quest system is because it is being made as a game that promotes investigations more than following quests. The title will have a few lines of investigation that players can take up right from the outset, with the player having to decide for themselves what path to take.

“Right from the outset, you can do whatever you want. You can follow whatever lines of investigation that you want. Now, given that you’ll be poorly equipped, some choices may lead to bad results,” said Greene.

He goes on to talk about how Atomfall will have more in common with stories like those from classic TV show X-Files rather than other post-apocalyptic stories like Fallout, owing to the game’s emphasis on players investigating the story of the game.

“We like to think of it as the X-Files in the Cold War Lake District,” Greene explained. “It can be difficult to wrap your head around what this game is. There are RPG-ish elements, but it’s definitely not an RPG. Atomfall is a detective game. It’s a survival game. There’s weird stuff happening and you have to adapt to it. You have to talk, you have to research, and you might have to do violence.”

Rather than having a simpler way to track the story of the game like a quest journal and objective markers, Atomfall will instead allow players to follow different leads to uncover different mysteries. Ultimately, the player’s efforts will lead to them discovering the reason for the disaster that incites the game’s events.

The freedom offered to the player will also coincide with a sense of paranoia that the game wants to instil. Players will have to deal with various investigative obstacles, such as false leads and misleading journal entries, which could potentially lead to investigative dead-ends. The game has been designed in a way, however, that would allow players to complete its story even if they kill every NPC they encounter.

“Theoretically, you could play through the game by killing every single character and still find enough leads to uncover a route through the game and understand what’s happening,” said creative director Ben Fisher.

“You can kill people at certain times of the game that will potentially sever a line to complete an ending,” Fisher continued, “but there are also routes to reconfigure some of them by talking to certain characters, making smart choices, or bartering with traders for different information.”

Atomfall was unveiled last year with a trailer. The post-apocalyptic survival title takes place in 1962, with the player having no memory of themselves or where they are. The studio has previously described Atomfall as being inspired by classic British sci-fi stories like Doctor Who, The Prisoner, and Day of the Triffids.

Atomfall will be coming to PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on March 27. For more details on the game, check out a trailer showcasing its setting, and details on the Deluxe Edition that provides early access for players.