It is easy to look at Atomfall and assume it will be a Fallout-like game. And while the game certainly does share some DNA with that game, it has plenty of quirks and mechanics all its own. The most surprising might be just how brutal Atomfall is on a new player who doesn’t play by its rules. While not a full-on survival game, you are incredibly fragile in Atomfall and let loose with almost no guidance. That can be both freeing and a bit terrifying. Whether you’ve played games in this style or not, getting a few helpful tips early on will ensure you get into the groove with the game before hitting any walls of frustration. These are our best tips we have to help you escape the quarentine zone in Atomfall.
Save, save, save
There’s no getting around it — you’re going to die in Atomfall. A lot, most likely. Saving before any combat encounter, after entering a new area, and generally, before you do anything of consequence is highly advised. If you aren’t so good about remembering to stop and manually save, you can also adjust how often the game auto saves to somewhat remedy the problem.
Besides dying, there are a lot of decisions in Atomfall, including some not immediately obvious, where you might want to go back and try something a different way. This is a game where you can freely kill any NPC, no matter how important, so it won’t stop you from doing things that could make the rest of your game very difficult.
Watch your feet
There are plenty of warnings for when you’re about to encounter enemies. You will typically hear them talking or whistling, plus get that handy awareness meter as soon as they start to get a look at you so you have a chance to back off or hide. However, Atomfall is absolutely lousy with traps waiting to ruin your day. Tripwires are the most common and can set off explosives or worse to either kill you or at least alert anyone in the area that you’re around. If you’re not crouching and looking at ground level, you will walk right into a ton of these traps. Assume that any area with enemies around is trapped and take it extra slow and watch every step you take. We highly suggest investing in the skill that allows you to disarm any traps as well. Getting the materials is nice, but it is more valuable for opening up pathways.
Besides traps, some of the most deadly foes in Atomfall aren’t just the bandits but the wildlife. Rats, bats, and bugs will swarm and assault you almost without warning. There’s no point wasting ammo on them, so your options are to either stomp them out or run. The best solution, if possible, is to lure those pests toward a group of enemies to cause them to fight and kill each other. The enemy of your enemy is your friend, after all.
Use your feet
Ammo is incredibly scarce in Atomfall, but it also isn’t as powerful as you would expect for how hard it is to come by. In most cases you will be better off trying to sneak through areas than fighting. Of course, that isn’t always possible and you will engage in a lot of battles. When this happens, it isn’t your guns that will prove most useful but your feet. The best strategy we found for dealing with enemies is to lure one away from the pack, give them a good kick to stun them, and then lay into them with light attacks from your melee weapon. In almost every scenario, they are unable to recover to fight back at all. This makes it almost too easy to manipulate the enemy AI to clear entire camps with very little danger.
Just don’t get swarmed or there’s almost nothing you can do but run.
Beware the Ferals
Besides the rabid pests we mentioned earlier, Ferals are the only real mutated enemy you encounter in Atomfall. They are almost exclusively in bunkers and caves but are not to be trifled with. If you spot one, either steer clear or be prepared to spend a lot of resources taking it down. These things can wipe your entire HP bar in just a hit or two so fighting with melee weapons is a nonstarter. Guns also aren’t all that effective unless you have a lot of ammo to burn, so rare explosives are the only way to take them out quickly. Since they tend to not have anything valuable on them, it is usually not worth whatever you spend killing one for what you get back.
Explore your options
There are dozens of ways to approach every investigation in Atomfall. This game wants you to think outside the box and approach everything in whatever way is most interesting to you, not necessarily how you think you should because it is a video game. For example, one character might offer you something as a reward for helping them, which would piss off another character. You could do so, but there is also the chance you could find that item yourself by exploring or finding other clues. Or, you could kill either or both of these NPCs and see what happens. Atomfall keeps track of and adapts to almost anything you can think to do, so take your time and think outside the box. The game will reward you if you do…or punish you. Either way it will be more interesting than just doing as you’re told.
