Atomfall: How a forgotten nuclear disaster inspired a video game

BBC News

27-03-2025

Fukushima. Three Mile Island. Chernobyl. Places that will forever be remembered as the sites of nuclear disasters.Most people will have heard of them. But fewer are aware of the Windscale fire.It was one of the world's first - and remains the UK's worst - nuclear accident.A nuclear reactor at the site in Cumbria caught fire and burned for three days, releasing radioactive material into the atmosphere.Many details of the event were kept quiet for decades, and it is far less famous than some of the more recent examples.But a new video game has brought the disaster, and the area where it happened, back into the spotlight.
Atomfall is the latest release from Oxford-based Rebellion, best known for its long-running Sniper Elite series.CEO Jason Kingsley tells BBC Newsbeat he was walking in the Lake District when the idea of using the real-life Windscale story "as a trigger point for a fictionalised version of the disaster" began to take shape.Atomfall is set in the rolling green landscapes of the beauty spot, but on an alternative sci-fi inspired timeline where the area surrounding the plant has become a quarantine zone."It went pretty wrong in real life, but it was controlled," says Jason. "It was a proper disaster, but it didn't cause strange glowing plants or mutants or dangerous cults to emerge."
Although the Windscale fire was "very serious", Jason says it's not something that is especially well-remembered, even among locals.It is estimated about 240 cases of thyroid cancer were caused by the radioactive leak and all milk produced within 310 square miles (800 square km) of the site was destroyed for a month after the fire.Windscale was eventually renamed Sellafield and produced nuclear power until 2003. It still employs about 10,000 people in the local area.When Newsbeat visits Cumbria, most young people we speak to say they haven't heard of the disaster.And indie game developers Hannah Roberts and Harry Hawson say that they became more aware of it once the game was announced.For two people like them, who hope to break into the games industry, they're excited to see a game set in the place where they live.Hannah, 26, says it's evident Atomfall's makers have done their research. "The actual environments are spot on, they've got fantastic Morris dancing stuff going on - it really tickled me when I saw that," she says. Hannah says other small details - like black and white Cumbrian signposts - were also pleasing to see.Atomfall's setting and its inspiration have made it an anticipated title since it was first revealed last year, and Harry, 23, says that's been encouraging for him. "Seeing that such a small space like Cumbria can be taken by the games industry and built upon and people are receptive to that, it's exciting for the future and I look forward to seeing what's next for me," he says.
It's fairly unusual for high-profile games set in the UK to be set outside London. While indie games - such as the Shropshire-set Everybody's Gone to the Rapture and last year's Barnsley-based laughfest Thank Goodness You're Here! - have ventured further north, bigger games haven't tended to stray beyond the M25.Jason says the US is about 40% of the video games market, so it's important to appeal to players there, and there's a "natural tendency" to follow the norms.Being an independent company, he feels, allows Rebellion to do things differently, and Britain offers lots of inspiration for new settings - if you're prepared to look for them."The UK, I think, to understand certain aspects of our culture, you've got to dig into it a little bit because we tend to understate things quite a lot."Head designer Ben Fisher says the goal was to create a "slightly theme parkish" version of the Lake District with accurate details."There are things that, as locals, it's easy for us to forget are unique to Britain, that are unusual," he says.The team that worked on the game has members from various countries, Ben says, which helped to highlight things the UK natives might have missed."The lead artist on the project is from Seattle and was mystified by dry stone walls," says Ben.He adds the team spent time recreating the structures - which are constructed without the use of mortar - to "capture those local details".Featuring a local area in a film or TV show can expose a new audience to that place."Ultimately, what's incredibly rewarding about this industry is you can put your ideas down and they can be played by people across the globe," Jason says."And you know, how wonderful is it to sort of talk about the Lake District to people that live in Africa or Southeast Asia or Canada or wherever it might be. "That's a kind of form of soft power that very few types of media have."
Oliver Hodgson, 21, can see Sellafield from his bedroom window.He hopes that the local area will benefit from some of the soft power Jason describes."I think it's just an incredibly powerful thing for young people in west Cumbria," he says. "I think it's really positive to see such a big gaming developer set a story in Cumbria, which is normally just known for its lakes and mountains," he says.Oliver who runs his own PR firm, is working with the creators of a project to create a £4m gaming hub in Whitehaven aimed at boosting digital skills in the area.Oliver says he's glad the game has taken its inspiration from Windscale and is drawing attention to the area, as well as switching locals on to their history."I think we should own it,' he says. 'The story of the Windscale disaster obviously isn't a positive one but we can't rewrite history. "So acknowledging what happened and teaching and letting young people learn about that history, if this is what brings it into the classroom or on to young people's phones or their social media, then so be it."
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