Nuclear Union does look quite a bit like somebody took one slice of Fallout 3 and one slice of S.T.A.L.K.E.R., and then made an irradiated sandwich out of them. Holding the post-apocalyptic pastrami together are the binding brains of Men of War developers Best Way. Jim spoke with the team last month to find out about the switch from strategy to RPG and found that the game will have tactical combat, mutants and environmental hazards. At Gamescom I saw a trailer that includes some gameplay and you can now see that same trailer below and you won’t even have to be in a noisy hall the size of an aircraft hangar, unless that’s where you live in which case you should totally apply to be on Grand Designs.

Anomalies, mutants, that bit where emerging from a shelter causes the light of the sun to wash out the player character’s entire vision – what in this wasted world will actually be new? There’s even a system strongly resembling VATS, although fights, whether alone or with a party, will apparently rely on intelligent, tactical use of abilities, equipment and the environment.

In a brief conversation with 1C I was told that the big difference between the setting of Nuclear Union and other post-nuclear environments is the continued presence of a government and other major organisations. Rather than newly formed factions and bandit groups, this world will still have leaders, an army and, horror of horrors, perhaps even actual politicians. It makes sense that they’d survive, with their bunkers and their cockroach genes. What this means for the game and the plot isn’t entirely clear, but it could well give a different sense of scale, with a world perhaps more populated, and groups powerful and sizeable enough that they can’t be overthrown by a single Vault dweller.

Development is still at an early stage but if the world can distinguish itself, despite all of the similarities evident in the video, it may well be through the plot and the journey through the world, which will hopefully reflect Best Way’s desire to show a different side of the dust and debris.