"Survive the Fall: Exclusive First Look"

Before Bethesda took the helm of the series and Walton Goggins donned his ghoul makeup for the acclaimed TV adaptation, Fallout was an isometric action RPG viewed from above. It's this classic style that the upcoming game, Survive the Fall, seems to emulate, as evidenced by my initial hours of gameplay. This post-apocalyptic survival tale builds upon the original Fallout's foundation, particularly with its robust camp development system. The game's squad-based combat and scavenging mechanics offer a fresh experience, though the static storytelling somewhat dampens its personality.

Unlike many other post-apocalyptic settings, Survive the Fall's world wasn't destroyed by nuclear war. Instead, a comet strike wiped out a significant portion of humanity, leaving behind a toxic mist called Stasis. Survivors either avoid this mist or harness its power, mutating into stronger forms at the cost of their humanity. In Survive the Fall, your squad of scavengers must form alliances with various factions across three biomes to survive and thrive, from the Stasis-absorbing Shroomers to the enigmatic Sighted cult.

I quickly grew fond of Survive the Fall's squad-based mechanics. As you navigate your party of up to three survivors through the expansive national park that sets the stage for the story's beginning, you can manually search for resources or delegate tasks to your team. This division of labor feels more natural and accelerates the exploration of each settlement. However, the interface can become cluttered with button prompts when multiple interactive elements are close together, though this was a rare occurrence.

Combat in Survive the Fall is also team-oriented. Given the scarcity of rifle and shotgun ammunition early in the game, I prioritized stealth, approaching enemy camps with tactics reminiscent of Commandos: Origins. I used environmental hazards like explosive barrels and dangling cargo pallets to my advantage, adding a satisfying layer to the gameplay. When stealth failed, combat with firearms could feel clunky on a controller, but the ability to pause and direct my squadmates to focus on specific targets was a welcome feature, reminiscent of systems in Wasteland or Mutant Year Zero.

Survive the Fall - Preview Screens

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After surviving the dangerous badlands, Survive the Fall shifts focus to base-building. Documents found in the world can be researched to earn knowledge points, which are then used to unlock various technologies on a substantial tech tree. From bunk beds and kitchen areas to water filtration systems and armories, the depth of the base-building mechanics is impressive. Resources like timber can be transformed into planks and used to build structures such as plant boxes or protective gates, while foraged herbs and salvaged meat can be prepared into meals for your adventurers.

Exploring beyond my base, I encountered a variety of intriguing locations, from a crashed passenger plane turned enemy fort to a farmstead overrun by Stasis-infected ghouls. While the detail in these areas was impressive, it sometimes led to performance issues, particularly in the Mycorrhiza swamplands with their luminescent mushroom clusters. The game also suffered from occasional bugs that required me to quit and reload my save, though there's still time before Survive the Fall's release for developer Angry Bulls Studio to address these issues.

The lack of voice-acted dialogue made interactions with my squad and NPCs feel somewhat flat, though some characters, like the quirky Blooper who referred to Stasis as "fart wind," provided a few laughs. Conversations often felt like mere cues for the next fetch quest, rather than opportunities to deepen character relationships.

With its release scheduled for May on PC, Survive the Fall is brimming with post-apocalyptic potential. If the developers can smooth out the existing rough edges in controls and performance, this could be a survival-based action RPG well worth your investment in bottlecaps.