Summary
- Atomfall takes an open-zone approach with no fast travel, enhancing immersion but leading to potential backtracking and frustration.
- The game initially had Metroidvania elements and later evolved into a semi-open world, with an unlockable hub serving as a helpful shortcut.
- Despite lacking traditional fast travel, Atomfall also offers small, hidden shortcuts on maps to balance this out.
Atomfall is out now, and Rebellion Development's latest release takes a sharp turn from the studio's previous outings in its Sniper Elite series. Initially described by many as a "British Fallout," Atomfall does contain some broad elements to Bethesda's post-apocalyptic franchise, but is also very much its own beast. Set during the aftermath of England's real-life Windscale nuclear power plant incident in 1957, but in an alternate reality where the catastrophe resulted in creating a much more dangerous and eerie landscape, Atomfall beckons fans to uncover the truth beneath the disaster.
Atomfall lets players loose in its setting almost immediately. Fans are free to wander and explore wherever their curiosity takes them right out of the gate, even if that might be somewhere occupied by various hazards and hostile groups. Atomfall isn't quite open-world, though, instead having a handful of self-contained regions. While combing through Atomfall's nooks and crannies to unravel the central tale of who they are, and why they've found themselves trapped in the quarantined area, players are not given a standard fast travel system. And while this decision is fitting in many ways, it can also be a bit of a hurdle in others.
Minor spoilers below for Atomfall.
10 Best Open World Games Without Fast Travel
Fast travel is often a crutch that people lean on in open-world games, but what of those titles that don't have such a feature?
Atomfall Skipping Fast Travel Cuts Both Ways
Atomfall Forgoing Fast Travel Aligns With its Sense of Exploration
Atomfall takes an open-zone approach to its setting. Other titles have taken a similar design, like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Obsidian Entertainment's fantasy RPG, Avowed, just to name a few recent examples. Both still had fast travel, however, which is an often expected feature of these types of games. Atomfall's lack of one thus stands out in this regard, and can be off-putting, especially to players who were expecting it to include one.
The quarantine zone surrounding the omnipresent Windscale Nuclear Facility in Atomfall is separated into five distinct regions:
- Wyndham Village
- Slatten Dale
- Casterfell Woods
- Skethermoor
- The Interchange
Rebellion stated that it wanted fans to be fully immersed in Atomfall, and by not including a dedicated fast travel mechanic, this feeds into freedom of choice and the sense of being thrust into a strange and harsh environment. At the same time, though, this can lead to some excessive backtracking and disorientation, as fans usually must travel multiple times between each zone tracking down NPCs and important clues. A fast travel system would have cut some of the downtime involved in this while not necessarily breaking immersion too much.
Atomfall Actually Has Fast Travel, Sort Of
Atomfall began as more of a Metroidvania. Rebellion head of design Ben Fisher described the studio's vision for it in early design discussions as leaning much more heavily into the genre. But after working within this structure for a bit, developers began to think about expanding and moving outward, with Atomfall eventually taking the semi-open world form it is now. Some remnants of its Metroidvania origins remain though, and these can help mitigate its lack of true fast travel.
Once players progress to a certain point, they can unlock a major hub known as The Interchange. As well as being an important story location that is eventually necessary to complete, The Interchange doubles as a shortcut to all the other main zones. Though it requires some specific key items to connect every section together via The Interchange, this can be accomplished fairly early, depending on the effort players devote to doing so. Once it's up and running, The Interchange allows access to every region, though players must still traverse through it to reach the desired locale. Nevertheless, it's a much more convenient solution than taking the long way every time.
There are also a few smaller and more hidden shortcuts in some of Atomfall's maps. While not as extensive as The Interchange, they can still be helpful when needing to get to certain locations without trekking across the entire map or having to go between multiple zones. Atomfall's lack of fast travel may seem an odd choice at first, but it does offer some good ways to balance this out while maintaining a high level of immersion.
Atomfall
- Released
- March 27, 2025
- ESRB
- Teen // Blood, Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Rebellion Developments
- Publisher(s)
- Rebellion Developments
- Number of Players
- 1
