60 Seconds! Reatomized

Survival games have grown in popularity over the last few years but very few are able to balance darkness and humor in the post-apocalypse quite like 60 Seconds! Reatomized. Initially created back in 2015 this remastered version of the game has you in control of a family of four as the father, Ted, rushes through the house in 60 seconds before the nukes drop searching for supplies to endure the fallout in their shelter. The majority of the game takes place after this initial scramble for supplies and the methods of survival are infinitely customizable, funny, and often times quite dark.

Honey, They Nuked the Kids

Taking the idea of the atomic family and turning it on its head, this game wants to see how well you can manage your inventory and how long you can have Ted, Dolores, Mary Jane, and Timmy survive the apocalypse in their underground bunker.

And, depending on your choices, the outcomes can be vastly different. Perhaps not mentioned enough, in addition to the items around the house you also have to be sure to bring your family into the bunker. If not, well, that can be a painful conversation Ted has to have with Dolores early on. “Honey, I forgot the kids.”

Start with A Bang

Graphically, the opening scenes of 60 Seconds! Reatomized look somewhat akin to an older Simpsons video game. It’s not bad, but it’s nothing spectacular. However, the majority of the game takes place in the bunker where the game switches to 2D images of the family to show progression of their survival. In this case, most of the “visuals” are left up to the imagination. The end result being that the excitement of the opening section tends to wear out fast as you are left scrolling through menus, reading what’s happening outside.

How Are Our Supplies?

Survival games have come in to their own in recent years, developing their own genre, and further, subgenres. Surprisingly, 60 Seconds! Reatomized finds its way somewhere among them, and totally apart. With management similar to Fallout Shelter, and a similar aesthetic of the 1950’s, it shares a lot of the same bones and dark humor. However, some of the decisions can become even darker as Ted could very easily be left alone in later days with food and supplies running scarce. With that, the tension in making it as far as possible and meaningful events in journal entries makes it similar to something like This War of Mine. Additionally, the simple objective of, ‘how long can you survive?’ brings to mind stories in the genre like Don’t starve or The long Dark.

Beyond the inherent interest of the survival genre and lasting as long as you can in dire situations, there are some limitations to the game. With that initial burst of fun at the beginning it feels like the game slows to a near grinding halt afterward as you edge your way through, day after day. Though the writing in the journal entries can be exciting and hints at the events of the larger world, not being able to experience those in person can often leave you wanting.

Pros

• Exciting concept and opening 60 seconds
• Meaningful decisions played out over time
• Clever, dark humor in journal entries

Cons

• Devolves into a bare-bones inventory simulator
• Minimal changes to 2D bunker
• Not too much replay value beyond personal records