There is certainly no shortage of post-apocalyptic survival games, due in large part to the setting’s numerous gameplay and narrative possibilities. As such, each new entry needs to explore those possibilities to the fullest and refrain from being simple scavenger hunts with gritty combat if it hopes to make a name for itself. That’s an area whereindie gamedeveloper Angry Bulls Studios' open-world survival titleSurvive the Fallmay actually rise to prominence, as it combines open-world exploration and tactical combat with settlement management in a world forever changed by a devastating meteor strike. With its eternal autumn setting and focus on community-driven survival,Survive the Fallaims to offer a fresh spin on the post-apocalyptic formula.
Game Rant recently had the chance to previewSurvive the Fall, during which we got an extensive hands-on look at its story and gameplay, and got to form some first impressions of what it aims to bring to the post-apocalyptic gaming space. After spending several hours withSurvive the Fall, traipsing through its different biomes, building an impenetrable and self-sustaining base, and seeing itsrich and immersive narrativeunfold, Angry Bulls Studio’s upcoming post-apocalyptic open-world survival game is primed to make waves when it launches in May.
Survive the Fall’s Premise Offers a Fresh Take on Post-Apocalyptic Settings
While many post-apocalyptic games opt for settings like deserted wastelands or zombie-infested cities,Survive the Fallreimagines theend of the worldwith the quieter, more unsettling backdrop of a world locked in an eternal autumn. This “Stasis,” as the survivors call it, was caused by a mysterious meteor strike, the remnants of which still threaten the world and its inhabitants by corrupting those who touch it with a disease that, if left untreated, has fatal results.
Instead of relying on the tropes that have been somewhat overused inpost-apocalyptic settings,Survive the Fallexplores how the collapse of society didn’t happen overnight but is the result of division, destruction, and distrust. What’s left of humanity in this after-world is scattered, forced into communities where survival doesn’t just require firepower, but also relationships and a keen sense of purpose. Many of these factions have responded to the Fall in different ways, with some wanting control, some trying to restore what was lost, and others simply desiring isolation.
The eternal seasonSurvive the Fallis stuck in ultimately results in a slower, more thoughtful approach to narrative and environmental design, offering players a version of the apocalypse that isn’t as chaotic as what they might be familiar with. Instead,Survive the Fallis more about the long, uncertain road to recovery, since there is seemingly no end — and therefore no hope — in sight for the remaining survivors. In turn, this produces gameplay that isn’t necessarily slow, but isn’t fast-paced, hectic, or haphazard either.
Survive the Fall Blends Action-Adventure With Base-Building
Survive the Fall Alternates Between Isometric Exploration and Methodical Base-Building
Survive the Fall’s most distinctive contribution to the post-apocalypticopen-world survivalspace is its dual gameplay loop, which alternates between isometric exploration and methodical base-building. The game begins by putting players in control of three different characters from an isometric perspective who have set out on a hunt for wildlife, only to eventually find themselves caught in the middle of something they’ll need to work hard to get out of. During these sequences, players have an opportunity to exploreSurvival the Fall’s open-world areas, scavenge for supplies, meet and potentially recruit interesting NPCs, and find out more about what happened with the fall of the world.
Upon returning to camp, the pace slows down, and players are then given a limited amount of time to rebuild and manage their base and the livelihood of its inhabitants. There are over thirty structure types inSurvival the Fall, including farms, workshops, and special places where survivors can get rid of any Stasis corruption they’ve picked up on their travels.Managing resources, assigning roles, researching new technologies, and maintaining morale are therefore a major part of what happens at base, and it all mostly plays out like a typical city management sim, apart from the survival elements that factor in — like keeping everyone fed, healthy, and rested.
Survive the Fall’s most distinctive contribution to the post-apocalyptic open-world survival space is its dual gameplay loop, which alternates between isometric exploration and methodical base-building.
Once night falls at base and the day ends, players will get to choose who sets out on an expedition the next morning, thereby triggering another isometric sequence and starting the loop all over again. This alternating rhythm between isometric exploration andbase managementensures players aren’t overwhelmed by either one by giving them plenty of breathing room between the two, and the way both forms of gameplay complement one another is immensely satisfying. Something else worth noting is that, unlike the base-building sequences, the isometric portions aren’t timed, meaning players can explore and loot to their hearts' content, so long as they have the backpack space for the items they find.
Survive the Fall’s Exploration Is Rewarding and Immersive
WhileSurvive the Falldoes feature combat during its isometric sequences, players are likely to spend most of their time exploring. Rather than dropping players into an open world filled with repetitive fetch quests and empty landscapes,Survive the Fall’sopen world feels incredibly atmosphericand true-to-form when it comes to post-apocalyptic settings, on top of the fact that, apart from some major story beats, exploration is mostly freeform, so players can essentially go anywhere and do anything without feeling pressured to go one way or another.
What makesSurvive the Fall’sexploration feel truly rewardingis how it’s tied directly to survival and narrative progression. Firstly, the ground is littered with loot — whether it’s found on corpses, in containers, or hidden in some brush — and since nothing disappears between each run, managing inventory in a survival game has never felt easier. These supplies range from medicine to crating materials to lost technology, all of which feed back into your base’s development and the well-being of your community. Secondly, exploration is rewarding if not for the world’s design alone.
Survive the Fall’s immersion is brought to new heights by its art direction and atmosphere, with the permanent Fall serving as a unique backdrop for everything that happens during these sequences. There are plenty of survivors to find throughout the world, and yet it simultaneously feels lonely, with a sense of melancholy that hangs over every find and encounter. It’s the kind ofopen-world designthat makes every expedition worth it, regardless of whether players find anything useful during their travels. Making discoveries then becomes more of a bonus than the core reason to go exploring.
Survive the Fall’s Isometric Sequences Are Filled With Branching Choices
InSurvive the Fall, every step into the wilds outside the base is, by design, filled with uncertainty. The game’s isometric sequences aren’t just about looting supplies or clearing as many enemies as possible. Instead, they’re actually carefully constructed scenarioswhere choices truly matter. Whether it’s deciding how to approach an enemy outpost, responding to a cry for help from a stranger, or handling tension within the team, each expedition intoSurvive the Fall’s eternal Autumn is filled with choices that feel like they actually mean something.
These moments often unfold throughbranching dialogueor moral dilemmas that don’t have easy answers, and sometimes, it’s really difficult to discern when a choice needs to be made. For example, during our preview, we came to a location we were directed to during the main story that was filled with human enemies, and we were presented with the option to handle things diplomatically or go in guns blazing. We chose to subdue every enemy in sight, and although it resulted in a bystander’s disapproval, they still joined our company and met us back at base.
That’s actually a significant element of each expedition inSurvive the Fall— getting to the bottom of the story, yes, but also recruiting new NPCs to join your group. These NPCs all specialize in something unique, whether it be something they can contribute towards base-building and resource management or exploration andcombat out in the open world. Some NPCs aren’t recruitable unless players make the right choices, which adds even more weight to each decision.
Survive the Fall’s Isometric Combat Is Gritty, if a Bit Clunky
Combat inSurvive the Fallseems to prefer intensity to polish in some ways, ensuring every encounter pushes players to make split-second decisions, unless they’re able to maintain a stealthy vantage point away from the line of sight of enemies in the area. If players can remain undetected,Survive the Fall’s combat is more about positioning and line of sight. However, upon being detected, a massive fight can break out in no time, with what feels like every enemy in the area closing in rather quickly. Fortunately,Survive the Fall’sreal-time-with-pause combat system— like those found inWastelandorMutant Year Zero— helps give some space to stop the action, assign abilities, and reorient if necessary.
It’s possible to approach open combat from both melee and ranged distances using a wide variety of weapons that can be crafted and improved back at base or found in the wild. However, using guns is a bit of a risky move, since ammo is somewhat scarce in the game. Melee weapons, on the other hand, are a more conservative option, but getting that close to enemies can lead to a quick death and every weapon needs to be repaired in order to maintain its effectiveness. This results in a careful balance between melee and ranged while players explore, encouraging them to use every option available to them.
Fortunately,Survive the Fall’s real-time-with-pause combat system — like those found inWastelandorMutant Year Zero— helps give some space to stop the action, assign abilities, and reorient if necessary.
The system works overall, and it gets increasingly engaging the more you move through the game. That said, it’s not currently without its rough edges. Thecombat can feel rather clunkyat times, with occasional pathfinding hiccups, stiff character animations, and input feedback that feels just a bit too slow sometimes. Attacks largely lack weight, and hit detection doesn’t always feel consistent. These issues don’t outright ruin the combat experience, but they can break immersion during what should be suspenseful encounters.
Survive the Fall Could Still Use Some Polish
Currently, one of the biggest downsides toSurvive the Fallis that it resembles and plays like a mobile game in many ways. The game has some really clean UI overlays, polished character icons, and camera transitions that are akin to those found in a mobile game, and its isometric visuals and bold color grading don’t help that either. Then there’s thetop-down gameplay, which involves clicking to move, looting containers, selecting abilities from icons. Unfortunately, that bears some resemblance to the control patterns used in mobile games as well, but none of this is necessarily a bad thing. It might just be a bit jarring for some players.
Additionally, there were plenty of bugs and technical glitches present during our preview, though Angry Bulls Studio assured us these bugs would be squashed before launch. There were several times we had to restart the game to get rid of bugs that prevented us from progressing, but it didn’t put too much of a damper on the overall experience. Performance-wise,Survive the Fallhad plenty of dips in frame rate during our preview, and there were times characters wouldn’t respond to certain inputs. All of that said, these are things that Angry Bulls Studio should be able to iron out before the game launches in May.
Final Thoughts
Despite some noticeable rough edges,Survive the Fallshows a lot of promise as it heads toward its May release. Its dual gameplay loop, immersive worldbuilding, and emphasis onmeaningful, often morally-challenging decision-makingall help it stand apart from other survival titles that lean too heavily on repetition. And while its combat still needs some refinement, the real-time-with-pause system introduces a strategic layer that makes every fight feel earned. More importantly,Survive the Fallseems to understand that surviving the end of the world isn’t just about gear and guns but also about people, choices, and learning how to build something worth protecting.
If Angry Bulls Studio can use the remaining development time to tighten up its combat mechanics and squash some of the more disruptive bugs,Survive the Fallcould launch as one of the more thoughtfulpost-apocalyptic survival gamesin recent memory. Its quiet, melancholic tone and emphasis on rebuilding over destruction offer a refreshing take on the genre, and its unique gameplay loop already shows the kind of depth and replayability that can make any survival game great. It may not reinvent the genre wholesale, but what it does offer is more than enough to keep it on the radar.
Survive the Falllaunches on PC for Steam and the Epic Games Store in May 2025.
