Atomfall's The Red Strain DLC was like something out of Fallout New Vegas

A new DLC of Atomfall meant a new playthrough of Atomfall and two new endings to explore. 

Ngl, Atomfall feels a lot like a comfort game to me. I enjoy every aspect of it and I still love to explore the world even though I already know it.

Going into this third playthrough I still had one base game ending and one Wicked Isle DLC ending left to explore so I did my best to play through the game in a way that would let me explore all the endings I had left. And I succeeded. 

Gaining access to the new DLC was interesting in and of itself. There was very little hinting towards where you should go. I found a note or two referencing the elevator in Slatten Dale mine, but that was once I had already explored most of the base game lol. 

When you go to the new Test Site Moriah, make sure to bring atomic batteries - you're gonna need them. So the story from Tes Site Moriah is that a strain of fungus, seemingly unrelated to Oberon but still affected by Oberon/Windscale was being researched. They found a lot of useful properties in it, but also discovered that it was full of unpredictable side effects and the site was closed down. However, the Windscale explosion made the Red Strain break free. As the only functional human around it's up to you to decide what to do about it. 

And if you go to Test Site Moriah and start poking around, but then end up doing an ending not related to the DLC... The ending slides got things to tell you about it lmao.

Spoilers after video.

The brain in jars really makes me think of the Robobrains in Fallout and how they behave and interact brings me squarely into New Vegas territory. The ending where you help the brains escape Test Site Moriah to allow them to develop a cure to the Red Strain in peace is very New Vegas coded. Especially with how the brains misinterpreted extraction. I laughed at the monitor when I got that ending. 

Generally, knowing that the Red Strain most likely has escaped I feel like the ending of the world ending is less extreme than it actually is. Having the entire world potentially infected by the Red Strain already means an end to the world. 

All in all I had a good time with The Red Strain, although it felt like a side-step from base game and Wicked Isle. Like a side story that becomes tangentially related due to being affected by the Windscale explosion.