Atomfall‘s first story DLC is The Red Strain, and it will arrive on Tuesday September 16. The developer isn’t named in the source, but a short teaser and the game’s Steam store listing point to a compact, story-led expansion that seems to involve malfunctioning mechs and strange red growth.
The teaser trailer reveals very little beyond its tone and imagery. It shows a mech breaking its rules and attacking an unseen target, along with a close-up of the robot’s chest logo, which reads ‘CORE’ instead of the BARD emblem from the main game. The trailer doesn’t explain who CORE is or how they connect to the events at Windscale in the base campaign.
It’s unclear whether the red foliage shown in the footage is a new pathogen, a variant of the blue mist that haunted the original game, or something else entirely. Hm, the teaser leaves more questions than answers, which is probably the point.
The narrative appears to be tightly guarded for now. The original piece mentions the DLC as story content rather than a broad expansion, so expect a focused experience rather than a sprawling open-world add-on. That said, Atomfall’s mission design in the base game often avoided handing players direct objectives, so how quests are implemented here matters to how it will feel to return.
If you want to check the store listing or pick it up when it launches, the official Steam page is listed as the purchase option. You can find the release and buy options on the Atomfall on Steam.
Watch the teaser trailer below.
There are a few small clues to chew on: the CORE badge, a lethal deviation from usual robot behavior, and the red plantlike growth. What is the red foliage? I expect fans will start building theories quickly, and a few of them might stick.
X and Bluesky are good places to drop quick takes after you read this.
