British studio and writer Riot is gearing up for the discharge of Atomfall, an alt-history Stalker-like with a stiff higher lip that CEO Jason Kingsley calls a “dream recreation.” PCG’s intrepid Joshua Wolens lately spent a number of hours within the recreation, and located himself charmed by the countless distractions, a scarcity of issues like quest markers, and the texture of a world the place a rusty revolver is an prompt argument-ender.
Atomfall is a brand new path from a studio that arguably stays best-known for the Sniper Elite collection however, particularly within the UK, Riot is also referred to as the writer and proprietor of the venerable 2000AD. 2000AD is likely one of the world’s best science fiction comics, revealed since 1977, and the quantity of authentic characters and tales it is produced is countless.
It is also one thing that Kingsley acknowledges Riot hasn’t executed sufficient with in the case of videogames. Riot has made a number of Choose Dredd video games over time (although not in current instances), an excellent Rogue Trooper recreation, and… properly, that is more-or-less it.
So it made sense when Kingsley began speaking, method again in 2017 initially, about letting different builders play with Riot’s toys. Riot as a videogame developer has a number of established collection which have little to do with 2000AD, and easily could not tackle the event of a load of comedian ebook properties in addition to these.
“2000 AD has all the time been a problem,” Kingsley instructed PCG in 2018. “I’ve all the time stated I needed to do extra 2000 AD-based licences in video games, however for one cause or one other it is by no means actually occurred for us. And it is all the time barely embarrassing when folks ask me, ‘why have not you executed extra?’ Easy reply is, it hasn’t occurred actually.
“That is after we made the choice to take a look at exterior folks, and say, ‘OK, positive. Right here it’s formally: if you wish to work with 2000 AD licences, sensible, deliver it on, we’ll do a enterprise deal, go away and make one thing actually fascinating’. And there are folks engaged on issues like that, which may be very thrilling.”
You could possibly reel off characters that will make for probably sensible video games with out considering: Slaine, Nemesis the Warlock, the ABC Warriors, hell even one thing like Halo Jones in the precise palms. Once we requested Kingsley what number of video games had been in growth in 2018 he stated “multiple, and fewer than twelve.”
Quick-forward to 2025, and the variety of 2000AD video games in my scorching little palms? Zero. The concept of letting different builders work with 2000AD and maybe discover a number of the extra obscure properties all the time struck me as one thing that might actually work so, when Josh had the chance to take a seat down with Kingsley lately, I questioned if he might discover out simply what had occurred.
“The choice remains to be open to folks,” says Kingsley. “We had 5 – 6 folks begin issues, put demos collectively, try to get funding for them. However then COVID occurred, and I suppose they form of all fizzled a bit.”
It is a chance for the CEO to get slightly philosophical about how the trade itself works. “Some received a way, you realize, we noticed demos and went, ‘yeah, that appears nice. You already know, go for it with our assist,'” says Kingsley.
“However you realize in addition to I do: a number of video games get began and a comparatively small fraction really get completed. It is fairly… it is fairly tragic really the trade. The video games you get to see are a tiny consultant of the quantity that get began. Sadly.”
Atomfall could be Kingsley’s dream recreation, however mine can be some form of ABC Warriors FTL clone, or a Choose Dredd turn-based techniques recreation, or a time-travelling roguelike Strontium Canine, or… OK I will cease. I simply actually love 2000AD, and it is all the time struck me as bizarre that Riot hasn’t made extra use of it than it has.
However you possibly can by no means complain about an trustworthy reply, and this licensing initiative does simply appear to have been waylaid by the small matter of a worldwide pandemic and the pure entropy of recreation growth, the place a dozen tasks are begun for each one which’s completed. The door stays open, no less than, so I will preserve hoping that the Galaxy’s Biggest Comedian can sooner or later assist serve up a number of the Galaxy’s Biggest Video games.
