June’s Xbox Showcase showed off the first look at Atomfall, a first-person survival-action title that seems to have a lot in common with the Fallout franchise. Now, Rebellion Developments’ very British take on the post-apocalypse has a release date: March 27, 2025. A new teaser trailer accompanied that announcement, which sends the viewer into Casterfell Woods, a creepy and bizarre English forest.
If the eerie red telephone box reminds you of Doctor Who, that’s not a coincidence. In a guest post on Xbox’s official site, Rebellion’s associate head of design, Ben Fisher, confirmed that the long-running British sci-fi series was an inspiration for Atomfall. Somewhat like Fallout, this game’s alternate history diverges from our own in the 1950s. It also draws upon the real-life nuclear accident during the Windscale fire in 1957. Within the world of the game, the fallout from that incident charted the course for Atomfall’s dark future.
One of the players’ goals is to discover what really happened at Windscale, but survival is a more immediate concern. As shown in the video, the inhabitants of Casterfell Woods won’t hesitate to put down the player’s character. There’s also an enigmatic voice on the other end of the phone that says, “Oberon must die.” Oberon was the king of the fairies in medieval literature, and he was also a featured character in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. While the Oberon in the Atomfall is probably not the same character, there’s presumably a reason why that name was chosen.
Atomfall will be available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. It will also be on Game Pass on the first day of its release.