ATOM RPG adds Plague Island, a story DLC set on an island hit by a disease outbreak

Atom Team released the Plague Island DLC for the original ATOM RPG alongside version 1.2.1, with a new world map, a sealed bunker and the Special Armor fans asked for.

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Atom Team, the small studio behind the Soviet post-apocalyptic RPG ATOM RPG, released a story DLC called Plague Island on 15 October 2026. It went out on the same day as version 1.2.1 of the base game, which has now left its beta branch. In a press note sent to Gaming World, the studio ties both to its tenth anniversary.

What Plague Island adds

The DLC belongs to the original ATOM RPG, not the Trudograd sequel. According to the Steam store page, the story starts at a small airfield near Fogelevka and moves to a new world map: an island where a settlement run by the Gwon-Jo is struggling with a mysterious disease outbreak. The store page lists 17 locations, more than 30 new characters and over a dozen new questlines. Some of those are settled through dialogue, others through fighting, and one sends you into a sealed pre-war bunker. The developer's own Steam post puts the character count at 25 or more, so the exact number depends on which page you read.

The island itself is described as a mix of lived-in and abandoned settlements, old Soviet installations, pirate forts and the lairs of what the store calls horrendous beasts. Getting around is part of the pitch too. The DLC has airplane flights, submarine rides and a new ground vehicle, because the car you drive in the base game has to be left behind when you set out for the island.

The feature the studio leads with is armour. Fans of the first game have asked for a suit of Special Armor ever since Trudograd came out, and Plague Island is where you get one, for yourself and for your companions. The press note calls it power armour; the store and the Steam post both use the name Special Armor.

The studio is also clear that this is not a gentle side trip. Its Steam post says the island can be reached as soon as you bribe your way into Krasnoznamenny, but warns that the journey may be hard going for lower-level characters, especially ones travelling with only a few companions.

Version 1.2.1 leaves beta

The free update had been in public beta before this release, and the developer apologised for the trouble that beta caused some players. The changelog covers save loading and location transitions, windowed display settings, better controller and gamepad support, reworked weapon modification screens, and fixes for item tooltips drawn off the edge of the screen. Weapons get new configurations, wider attachment support for crafted guns and drum-fed SMGs, and crafting now keeps installed attachments where it can. Lighting, ambient occlusion and anti-aliasing were improved as well.

One note is worth reading before you load an old save. Some weapons now take different ammunition, and the studio says that if a gun is holding an old or incompatible type, you should unload it first and then reload it with the correct rounds.

Atom Team describes itself as a tiny team and asks for bug reports in the Bugs section of the game's Steam forums, which it says it reads constantly.

Sources

Image: Atom Team

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