Taking on board some Atomfall tips before you emerge from your first bunker will help you to survive in the harsh world of the quarantine zone, where soldiers, outlaws, and terrifying creatures all pose a serious threat. If you want to escape from these confines then you need to get to grips with the light survival and RPG mechanics used by the game, as you're basically left to figure everything out for yourself. There's a lot to get through in order to find The Interchange, understand what Oberon is, and ultimately escape to the outside world, so it can feel like a bit of an overwhelming challenge.
That's why we're here to help, with 10 top Atomfall tips and tricks for you to heed before jumping into this alternative future of the Lake District in England.
If you're wondering how much time it will take to escape the quarantine zone, then here's the answer to how long is Atomfall?
1. Get a Metal Detector as soon as possible to find buried caches
There are three essential tools available to you: the Atomfall Signal Redirector, Torch, and Metal Detector. The latter is the one we'd recommend acquiring as a matter of urgency, because there are so many buried caches to find throughout the quarantine zone. When you have the Atomfall Metal Detector in your inventory, which can be acquired from trader Reg in the Slate Mine Caves or found for free just outside the mine by a pool of water in southeast Slatten Dale, it'll beep and direct you towards the loot whenever you're near one.
2. Keep an eye out for traps when exploring seemingly abandoned buildings
The quarantine zone outside of Wyndham is a lawless place, with Outlaws roaming the cobbled paths and traders taking refuge in dilapidated ruins and farmhouses. As a result, there are plenty of makeshift traps around the place, so if you're exploring anywhere you think could house people, keep an eye out.
You'll need to wait until you have one of the necessary Atomfall Skills, but when you do, you can disarm traps and loot the resources from it. Until then, just make sure you're steering clear of traps such as tripwires on the floor, lest you set off a grenade or end up with a board of spikes in your face.
3. Kick enemies in combat to stagger them and give yourself some breathing room
In combat, you'll usually be using your melee weapons against Ferals and Thralls, or your guns against Outlaws and the Protocol if you engage with them, but for any enemies that get up in your personal space, don't forget about the kick. You have legs, so a quick tap of L1/LB will push enemies away with your foot and give you enough time to either swing with your weapon or reload your gun.
4. Use Pneumatic Dispatch Tubes as an extension of your inventory
Unfortunately, inventory space in Atomfall is limited. There's no way to upgrade your inventory size, so you can only carry four large weapons such as shotguns and rifles, with 12 remaining slots for consumables and small weapons. However, you'll find Atomfall Pneumatic Dispatch Tubes scattered throughout Atomfall, each of which has 100 slots to store things in.
If you loot anything you don't think you'll need immediately, such as weapons you're saving for upgrades, atomic batteries, and ultimately anything you've looted solely for the purposes of bartering with, stick it in the Pneumatic Dispatch Tube. They're usually found in any built-up areas such as bunkers and The Interchange, which are also the places you're likely to encounter the most resistance.
5. An increased heart rate means you make more noise and you're less accurate
While the survival mechanics in Atomfall are fairly light, so you don't need to worry about food and water, your heart rate is something you'll need to keep an eye on. The long and short of it is essentially the more strenuous the activity, the higher your heart rate. So if you're running, jumping, and climbing a lot, your heart rate will go up. This is indicated by a dark effect around the edges of the screen, as if your vision is getting worse.
The consequences of this are that it makes you louder, so being stealthy is a lot harder, and your aiming is less accurate. You can consume tea to bring your heart rate down, or you can just slow your playstyle down and your heart rate will slowly return to normal.
6. Use stealth as much as possible, especially when Thralls are near
Atomfall doesn't have any forced stealth sections, but we'd recommend sneaking around to deal with as many hostiles as possible before you're spotted and need to switch to a guns blazing approach. This is easier said than done in the early stages of the game, but when you acquire the two Skills that make both your footsteps and melee takedowns quieter, you can creep around with ease as long as you stay out of enemy lines of sight.
However, when you eventually reach an area with Thralls (such as Medical in The Interchange), which are tougher versions of Ferals, you'll want to be extremely cautious. Do not fire a gun unless you are absolutely certain there are no other Thralls in the vicinity, because dealing with multiple of these hard-hitting, high-defence enemies at once is a quick path to death.
7. Resources and crafting materials don't take up inventory space
While inventory space is limited, as explained above, that is limited to weapons and consumables. Resources and crafting materials simply have a hard cap on how many you can have on you at any given time, and this can be increased with a Skill. So make sure you're picking up as much scrap, string, cloth, water, poison, etc. as possible, and only crafting new items as and when needed to save inventory space.
An additional component of this is to keep an eye out for any purple plants in the world, because these are herbs. They blend in well with the environment and it isn't obvious you can interact with them, so don't miss loads in your opening hours like we did.
8. Think about the motive behind some leads, as you can get locked out of others
Atomfall is as much a detective game as it is a survival one, which means you'll be doing plenty of investigative work. Lots of your subjects and leads will focus on folks who have kicked the bucket before you got involved, but there are also a number of living people who have motives and reasons for wanting their way.
This is especially true when you make it to Wyndham, so we'd recommend reading each note and lead carefully before making your decision. If you go against someone's wishes or betray them, you may lock yourself out of future options and leads.
9. Watch your step in Wyndham as the guards get tetchy when you look suspicious
You're able to roam around Wyndham freely thanks to Captain Sims, much to the dismay of the other villagers. However, the soldiers and guards don't quite trust you as much, so they'll always have their eye on you. If you do anything suspicious, such as trespass, smash Atomfall gnomes when they're nearby, or even get too close to one of them for too long, they'll kick up a stink and you may find yourself on the wrong end of a combat situation… which is the last thing you want in the most populated place in the entire game.
10. Look for and destroy nests to stop swarms of rats attacking you
Being attacked by swarms of pests is one of Atomfall's most frustrating mechanics, from bats and birds to rats and fish. Rats are especially annoying because they seem to be endless, but in fact all you need to do is find the nest nearby and destroy it to stop them from spawning. Stomp on the rats by looking down and pressing L1/LB, then as soon as you've got some breathing room, find and destroy the nest in the same way. Note that there may be more than one nest, but once they're all destroyed, the rats should disappear eventually.
Want more help with the early stages of the game? Learn about whether you should help the Scientist in Atomfall or not, and check out our guide on how to open the Forgotten Cellar door in Atomfall located in Wyndham.
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