Fallout: New Vegas' "large, interconnected story" where "any character can die" is the best comparison for Atomfall's apocalyptic RPG structure

Aug. 27, 2024

But Stalker, Metro, and even BioShock have also helped shape the game

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

The developers behind the very British post-apocalyptic RPG Atomfall list Fallout: New Vegas as its closest analogue in the iconic series.

Speaking with GamesRadar+ at Gamescom, Atomfall creative director Ben Fisher explains that “Fallout is definitely” one of the inspirations behind the game, even if “there are a good range of games in the quarantine survival space.” Atomfall is a “cocktail” of influences, he explains, but one game stands out even above the rest of the Fallout games.

“The closest Fallout analogue would be Fallout: New Vegas,” he explains, “because it’s one large interconnected story, because any character can die and the story progresses, and because the momentum of the game is driven by the player.”

Despite the obvious influence of Fallout, however, Fisher says that “the main way that our game differs from the template of Fallout is that the survival always feels kind of tense and combat always feels like a high-stakes risk.” He points to Alfonso Cuarón’s 2006 adaptation of the dystopian novel Children of Men as “a reasonable point of tone reference,” suggesting that while “there’s no gung-ho combat, [but] it’s always terrifying for everyone involved.”

Of course, Fallout isn’t the only dystopian RPG out there, and Fisher says thatAtomfall has plenty of other influences to draw from, including Metro Exodus and its “desperate survival.” Stalker was also a major reference point “because the game is very sparing with how much it guides the player,” though that might be worrying news givenStalker 2’s 100-hour play map.

Atomfall is releasing next March, but check out the otherbest FPS gamesyou can play right now.

Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

I’m GamesRadar’s news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I’ve run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam’s latest indie hit.

The Witcher 4 may not have Geralt after all: his actor was “slapped by CD Projekt” for accidentally sharing a rumor that he’d be in it, just not as the protagonist

Cyberpunk 2077 is getting a surprise update a year after its once-final update, even after CDPR moved basically every dev to other games: “Sometimes, you want to do it ONE MORE time!”

Todd Howard “rolled his eyes” at the idea of Troy Baker playing Indiana Jones in the Great Circle, but the Bethesda boss later told him “you’re doing a hell of a job”