“Kill everyone” or “pacifist” playthroughs are possible inAtomfall. Research has long suggested that most players choose the “good” options in any game, so it’s unlikely everyone goes intoAtomfallwith the intent of killing every NPC they meet. However, for the players that do,Atomfallneeded a way to make sure they could still beat the game.
The same is true of a pacifist playthrough inAtomfall: killing no one still needs to have an ending. To accomplish this,head of design at Rebellion Ben Fishertold Game Rant thatAtomfallneeded a “narrative trap door.” What this means is that, regardless of what choices players make, there needed to be some way to ensure everyone gets an ending. And that narrative trap door is one of the most iconic images associated with the game: the classic red British telephone box.
In fact, the ability to kill everyone is one of the reasons whyAtomfallfeatures this British iconography. Fisher explained that there were ultimately two reasons: solving the creative problem that arises when players can kill everyone and an experience that Jason Kinglsey, one of Rebellion’s founders, had in real life. Fisher explained that Kingsley was “walking in the Lake District and heard a phone box ring as he walked past. It was weird. Why is this thing ringing in the middle of nowhere?” Then, this unusual moment in time combined with this creative problem led to the one person that cannot be killed inAtomfall:
“We wanted to use that motif because it’s a compelling, unsettling moment, so we combined those two things. If you kill absolutely everyone, there’s still a mysterious voice on the phone line that will guide you some way through the game world. Might not be the best route, certainly not the only route, but you can’t shoot a guy in a phone, right? That’s the trap door for players that like to kill everyone.”
As players make their way throughAtomfall, these phone booths will occasionally ring. Answering it will get players a disguised voice, giving players some sort of direction or commenting on their choices/key items. There’s a lot of mystery and intrigue wrapped up inthisAtomfallfeaturebecause it’s an unsettling moment, if perhaps a little less than Kingsley’s real-life encounter. Still, nothing is known about this voice: who they are, what they want, or how they know so much about the player’s actions. Either way, players can kill everyone—and the voice remains.
If there’s a character inAtomfallproviding this voice, perhaps tied to the ending, maybe players will be able to kill them too. Maybe players never meet this person, or maybe they are never even revealed. That feels unlikely, but given thatAtomfall’s gameplay prioritizes freedom, it seems possible some players go their entire playthroughs ignoring the phone booth too. For now, fans will just have to wait for its release to learn more about the voice.
