"Survive the Fall: Exclusive First Look"

Long before Bethesda took the reins of the series and Walton Goggins donned ghoul makeup for the captivating TV adaptation, Fallout was an isometric action RPG viewed from a bird’s-eye perspective. It’s this classic style that the upcoming game, Survive the Fall, seems to emulate, based on the first few hours of gameplay I experienced. This post-apocalyptic survival tale builds on the original Fallout’s template, particularly evident in its robust camp development system. The squad-based combat and scavenging mechanics help craft a fresh experience, though the somewhat static story presentation slightly hinders its full personality from shining through.

As I delved into the numerous quests offered by Survive the Fall, I quickly grew fond of its squad-based approach. Navigating a party of up to three survivors through the expansive national park that serves as the initial setting, you can manually search for chemical compounds in abandoned chests or chop down trees for lumber, or simply delegate these tasks to your team members, allowing you to focus elsewhere. This division of labor feels natural and accelerates the process of scavenging settlements. However, the interface can become cluttered with button prompts when interactive elements are too 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 in the early stages, I prioritized stealth when confronting marauders and ghouls. Each enemy camp infiltration felt like a strategic mission, similar to the gameplay in the recent Commandos: Origins, where I hid in long grass, threw stones to distract enemies, crouch-walked to avoid detection, and silently took them down before instructing my squad to hide the bodies. Environmental hazards, such as explosive barrels and dangling cargo pallets, added satisfying tactical options.

Survive the Fall - Preview Screens

14 ImagesClearing out clusters of cultists was gratifying, but when my cover was compromised, the combat became somewhat challenging, particularly with a controller. Aiming with the lasersight felt imprecise, leading me to rely more on melee attacks and dodging. Fortunately, the ability to pause and direct my squadmates to focus on specific targets, reminiscent of systems in Wasteland or Mutant Year Zero, allowed for effective strategy, especially against tougher enemies.

After a day of battling mutants and gathering resources, Survive the Fall transitions into a base-building management sim. Documents found during exploration can be researched to earn knowledge points, which you can invest in a comprehensive technology tree. This unlocks crafting options for everything from bunk beds and kitchens to water filtration systems and armories. Resources like timber can be turned into planks to build structures such as plant boxes or gates to defend against nighttime raiders. Foraged herbs and meat from wolves and deer can be prepared into meals for your team’s next expedition. The depth of this system suggests I'll spend significant time transforming my settlement from a dilapidated heap into a thriving community.

Beyond my base, Survive the Fall offers intriguing areas to explore. From a crashed passenger plane converted into an enemy fort to a farmstead teeming with Stasis-infected ghouls, the game rewards exploration in every direction. While the detailed environments, like the luminescent mushroom clusters in the Mycorrhiza swamplands, are impressive, they can also cause performance issues, such as framerate drops. Additionally, I encountered occasional game-breaking bugs that forced me to reload my save after getting stuck in menus. With Survive the Fall’s release approaching, there’s hope that developer Angry Bulls Studio will optimize performance further.

Interacting with my squad and NPCs via onscreen text felt somewhat flat, though characters like the quirky Blooper, who humorously referred to the Stasis smog as “fart wind,” provided some laughs. Conversations often served merely to initiate the next quest rather than deeply engage with the factions.

As the full game unfolds, deeper bonds may develop, and we won’t have to wait long to find out. Survive the Fall is set to launch on PC this May, brimming with post-apocalyptic potential. If the developers can polish the existing rough edges in controls and performance, this could become a survival-based action RPG worthy of your hard-earned bottlecaps.