Survive the Fall: Initial Preview Released

Long before Bethesda took the helm of the series and Walton Goggins donned ghoul make-up for his captivating performance in the TV adaptation, Fallout was known for its isometric, bird's-eye view action RPG style. It's this classic approach that the upcoming game, Survive the Fall, appears to emulate, drawing inspiration from the original Fallout gameplay. In the first few hours I played, this post-apocalyptic survival tale builds directly on the foundational elements of Fallout, particularly in its robust camp development system. The game combines squad-based combat and scavenging to create a fresh experience, though the somewhat static story presentation occasionally hinders its full personality from shining through.

Survive the Fall sets itself apart with a unique backstory. Unlike typical post-apocalyptic scenarios caused by nuclear mishaps, this world's demise came from a comet strike, reminiscent of the cataclysm that ended the dinosaurs. This event left behind a crater that emits a toxic mist known as Stasis. Survivors either steer clear of this mist or embrace its transformative powers, mutating into stronger beings at the cost of their humanity. As you navigate through the game, your squad of scavengers must forge alliances with various factions across three distinct biomes to survive and thrive, from the Stasis-huffing Shroomers to the enigmatic Sighted cult.

The squad-based setup in Survive the Fall quickly won me over. As you guide your party of up to three survivors through the expansive national park that sets the scene for the story's beginning, you have the option to manually search for resources or delegate tasks to your team. This division of labor feels more natural and accelerates the process of exploring and looting settlements. However, the interface can become cluttered with button prompts when interactive elements are too close together, though this issue was not frequent.

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 each encounter with marauders and ghouls as a strategic infiltration. Similar to Commandos: Origins, I used tactics like hiding in grass, creating distractions with stones, and avoiding enemy vision cones before quietly taking out foes and having my squadmates hide the bodies. The game also offers environmental hazards to exploit, such as explosive barrels and cargo pallets that can be dropped on unsuspecting guards.

Survive the Fall - Preview Screens

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Clearing out clusters of enemies felt rewarding, but combat became a bit clunky when stealth failed and guns were drawn. While a mouse and keyboard might offer more precision, using a controller made aiming challenging, often pushing me to rely on melee attacks and dodging in close quarters. Fortunately, the ability to pause and direct squadmates to focus on specific targets, similar to systems in Wasteland or Mutant Year Zero, allowed me to manage fights effectively.

After a day spent battling mutants and gathering resources in the game's dangerous landscapes, Survive the Fall transitions into a base-building management simulation at your camp. You can research documents found in the world to earn knowledge points, which can be invested in a comprehensive technology tree. This system enables you to craft various facilities, from bunk beds and kitchens to water filtration systems and armories. Resources like timber can be transformed into planks and used to build structures such as plant boxes or gates to fend off nighttime raiders. Foraged herbs and salvaged meat can be turned into meals for your next expedition. The depth of this system suggests I'll spend a significant amount of time turning my settlement from a ruin into a thriving community in the final game.

Beyond my base, Survive the Fall offers a variety of intriguing areas to explore, from a crashed passenger plane turned enemy fort to a farmstead overrun with Stasis-infected ghouls. While the detailed environments are impressive, they sometimes come at the cost of performance, such as in the luminescent but lag-prone swamplands of Mycorrhiza. Additionally, the game suffers from occasional game-breaking bugs, forcing me to reload my save a few times due to issues in inventory screens or building menus. With the game's release approaching, there's hope that developer Angry Bulls Studio will address these performance issues.

The lack of voice acting in Survive the Fall somewhat diminishes the impact of interactions with your squad and NPCs, which are limited to onscreen text. While some characters, like the amusing Blooper who humorously refers to the Stasis smog as "fart wind," provided moments of levity, much of the dialogue felt like a means to initiate the next quest rather than deepen character connections.

As Survive the Fall is set to release on PC this May, it holds great promise for fans of post-apocalyptic action RPGs. If the developers can smooth out the current rough edges in controls and performance, this could become a standout title worthy of your time and attention.