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Atomfall guide: Seven tips to survive and escape the nuclear apocalypse in Cumberland
A
Alan Wen
You have a lot of freedom in terms of where you can go and what you can do, though that also means running into many hostile threats while you may not always know what to do next. This guide will give you some basics on how to survive the quarantine zone and what to do to make your eventual escape.
Avoid direct fights early on
As you start with no weapon, you really don't want to engage anyone in direct combat. Stealth is your best option, such as staying crouched and sneaking up on enemies from behind for a takedown. You can also keep hidden in long grass.
Provided you're not in an area that labels you as “trespassing,” enemy factions won't immediately engage or pursue you. Keep an eye on the alert radius of your screen: White indicates enemy presence nearby, yellow shows they are aware of you, and red means they are actively hostile.
When the alert is yellow, turning back might mean they won't see you as a threat compared to just pulling out a rifle and aiming it at them. If you're engaging with an enemy by themselves, sometimes it's possible to bluff, so they might retreat if you aim a gun at them.
Not every faction will be immediately hostile
It's also possible to befriend some factions, or at least ensure they won't try to kill you when you're in their territory.
For instance, the friendliest faction by default are Protocol soldiers stationed at Wyndham Village, but they will shoot on sight if you try to explore Skethermoor Prison. However, if you prove your loyalty to Captain Sims, he will give you permission to enter the prison facility.
Likewise, if you help recover a book for Mother Jago, she will give you an offering to leave in the Speaking Cave. If you are holding the offering, the druids in the cave will not attack you.
Be mindful of backpack space
While you want to scavenge as many supplies as possible, you also have limited inventory space: four slots for large weapons (e.g., shotguns, bows, and clubs) and 12 slots for other items.
Considering that food items often yield tiny amounts of health, it's better to consume them immediately rather than have them take up a slot. You'll also want to avoid carrying multiple versions of the same weapon.
Fortunately, you can find pneumatic tubes in different parts of the quarantine zone that act as a stash system, so anything you store in one can be retrieved from another. Make good use of these to store surplus items and quest items for when you need to use them.
You also have a limit on how many ingredients you can gather, so make sure you're using them to craft items so that you can gather more ingredients. Naturally, make sure you have space in your backpack and then store surplus crafted items in the pneumatic tube.
Barter with traders for items
As there is no money in Atomfall, traders use a bartering system. This is also a good way to make use of surplus weapons and crafted items as a form of currency.
The first trader you'll probably come across is Molly Jowett, who you'll find in Slatten Dale in the trader camp to the north (map reference 26.4E, 79.1N). You can get important tools from her: a flashlight that's very helpful for exploring dark spaces and highlighting items, and a metal detector for retrieving buried boxes with useful items.
When bartering, the screen will display the items you have and what you're going to give on the left, while what the trader has and what you want to receive is on the right. Traders will only finalize a trade if the scales are weighted in their favor, and you'll often have to give more than you receive.
Some traders also place higher value on specific items than others, which is indicated by the item text being displayed in yellow, along with an audible sound of excitement from the trader. In Molly's case, she's rather fond of molotov cocktails.
If you have no moral qualms, you can also kill traders and take what you need off their corpses. Be warned that only specific items can be collected this way, and you obviously won't be able to go to them for any other supplies afterwards.
Find all the entrances to the Interchange
Atomfall doesn't have traditional missions, but rather leads that you find and follow from speaking to characters or finding information. Ultimately, your main aim is to find a way to escape the quarantine zone, and while there are many ways to do this—as well as multiple endings—there are a few fundamental things you will have to do.
The first thing is to find a way into the Interchange, a secret government facility that's connected to the Windscale nuclear plant, and get its central processor powered back up.
While the Interchange connects to all the regions in Atomfall, you'll find that the doors to other parts of the Interchange are locked when attempting to open them from the central room. That is why it's important to find all the entrances into the Interchange so that you can also reach the data stores that will each help power up the central processor.
- Slatten Dale entrance (31.0E, 77.8N): Northeast of Slatten Dale and technically the first one you can reach since you start in this region. However, the path to it is guarded by a large patrol of Outlaws, which makes accessing it challenging if you're under-equipped.
- Wyndham Village entrance (33.8E, 78.3N): South of the village and just to the east of St. Katherine's Church. You'll be considered trespassing if caught, but there is fortunately only one Protocol soldier stationed on patrol.
- Casterfell Woods entrance (27.6E, 83.6N): Southeast of Casterfell Woods and near the entrance to Wyndham Village. Easiest to get into, though there are a couple of outlaws who can ambush you when you first enter.
- Skethermoor entrance (39.6E, 73.1N): Just north of the Protocol camp in the south. If you have permission to go to Skethermoor Prison nearby, you should have an easier time getting through the camp, but you'll still be trespassing by entering the Interchange this way. There's not only a turret guarding the entrance but also Protocol soldiers inside who will shoot on sight.
Find atomic batteries
You need at least four atomic batteries in order to power up the four data cores in the Interchange. There are three main methods of obtaining an atomic battery:
- Complete a favor for a character: For instance, solve the mystery of a murder at St. Katherine's Church and the vicar will give you his key, which unlocks a chest upstairs, which contains a battery. Alternatively, you can kill him and get the key that way.
- Barter from a trader: Some traders, including Molly, will have an atomic battery that you can barter for, although it's naturally a high-value item. You can also choose to kill them and take it off them.
- Defeat robots: The patrolling robots are large and intimidating, but they're not invincible. Shoot the glass dome on top and it will temporarily stun them and make their aim less reliable. After dealing more damage this way, they will enter emergency mode and the atomic battery that powers them will be exposed. Run to the back and extract it.
Retrieve the signal redirector
After powering back up the four data cores, you still need to reroute their signals in order to activate the central processor. For this, you will need the signal redirector.
You'll find this in Skethermoor Prison (41.1E, 70.8N) in Skethermoor, which you'll have no issue exploring if you have been given permission by Captain Sims to interrogate Dr. Garrow. Reach the lowest part of the prison to the loading bay where Dr. Garrow is also being held and you'll find the signal redirector in the security room in the storage area to the north.
This tool is for turning on and off machines by redirecting power. Use this to reroute the Interchange's powered-up data cores: You'll see them through the glass floor beneath your feet in the central room and you'll power up the central processor.
This will allow you to access the final area, though how this will play out will depend on your allegiances to other characters, the favors you've done for them, and your own choices.
Atomfall is available now on Epic Games Store.