"Survive the Fall: Initial Preview Released"

Long before Bethesda took the reins of the Fallout series and Walton Goggins donned ghoul makeup for his captivating performance in the TV adaptation, Fallout was an isometric action RPG viewed from a bird's eye perspective. It's this classic style of wasteland-wandering that the upcoming Survive the Fall seems to emulate, based on the initial hours I've experienced. This deadly post-apocalyptic survival tale builds upon the original Fallout's framework—literally in the case of its robust camp development system—and its squad-based combat and scavenging create a fresh experience, though the somewhat static story presentation keeps its personality from fully shining through.

*Survive the Fall*'s ruined world diverges from the typical post-apocalyptic narrative, not caused by nuclear fallout but by a catastrophic comet collision. This disaster not only decimated a significant portion of the population but also created a smoldering crater that emits a toxic mist called Stasis. Survivors either steer clear of this interplanetary plague or harness its otherworldly power, mutating into stronger beings at the cost of their humanity. In *Survive the Fall*, your squad of scavengers must forge alliances with various factions across three biomes, from the Stasis-huffing Shroomers to the enigmatic Sighted cult, to survive and thrive.

As I embarked on quests from the numerous task-givers in Survive the Fall, I quickly appreciated its squad-based system. Navigating a sprawling national park at the story's outset, you can manually search for resources like chemical compounds or chop down trees for lumber, or simply delegate these tasks to your team members. This division of labor feels intuitive and accelerates the scavenging process, though occasionally, the screen can become cluttered with too many interactive prompts. Thankfully, such instances are rare.

Combat in Survive the Fall is also team-oriented. Given the scarcity of rifle and shotgun ammunition in the game's early stages, I approached encounters with marauders and ghouls prioritizing stealth. Similar to Commandos: Origins, I infiltrated enemy camps by hiding in tall grass, creating distractions with stones, and stealthily eliminating foes within their vision cones. Environmental hazards, such as explosive barrels and dangling cargo pallets, add satisfying strategic elements to battles.

Survive the Fall - Preview Screens

14 ImagesClearing out clusters of cultists felt rewarding, but when stealth failed, combat with firearms became somewhat fiddly on a controller. Precision might be better with a mouse and keyboard, but using a controller made targeting difficult, often leading me to rely on melee attacks and dodging. However, the ability to pause combat and direct squadmates to focus on specific targets, reminiscent of Wasteland or Mutant Year Zero, was a helpful feature, allowing my team to handle tougher enemies while I dealt with the support crew.

After a day of scavenging and combat in Survive the Fall's deadly badlands, the game transitions into a base-building management sim. Researching documents found in the wild earns knowledge points, which can be spent on a comprehensive tech tree to craft essentials like bunk beds, kitchens, water filtration systems, and even an armory. Resources such as timber can be transformed into planks for constructing new structures like plant boxes or protective gates, while foraged herbs and meat from hunted animals can be turned into meals for your expedition team. The depth of this system suggests I'll spend significant time turning my settlement from a desolate wasteland into a thriving community.

Beyond my base, Survive the Fall offers intriguing areas to explore, from a repurposed crashed passenger plane to a farmstead overrun with Stasis-infected ghouls. These distinct locales showcase impressive detail, though areas like the luminescent Mycorrhiza swamplands suffered from fluctuating framerates and occasional game-breaking bugs, such as getting stuck in menus. With a release date set for May, developer Angry Bulls Studio has time to optimize performance.

Survive the Fall is rich with potential, offering unique locations to discover in every direction. However, the lack of voice-acted dialogue results in interactions with squad members and NPCs feeling somewhat flat, often merely advancing the next quest rather than deepening character connections. While humorous moments, like Blooper's reference to Stasis as "fart wind," provided some levity, more substantial character development might emerge over the course of the full game.

Survive the Fall is poised for release on PC this May and brims with post-apocalyptic potential. If the developers can smooth out the current rough edges in controls and performance, this could be a survival-based action RPG well worth your hard-earned bottlecaps.