Atomfall Review (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, & PC)

Gaming has seen an influx of nearly everything possible. From post-apocalyptic adventures to retro-futuristic tales, hardly any radical idea hasn’t been thought of and executed to perfection. It’s unsurprising, therefore, that Atomfall’s premise sounds familiar to Fallout. A nuclear war erupts and leaves a thriving civilization in ruins. Years later, the survivors pick up the pieces and your protagonist is forced to scavenge the surrounding wasteland for resources. 

While Fallout and Atomfall share this similar premise, the latter makes a few notable tweaks. Rather than feature an alternate history of the post-nuclear war between the United States and China, Atomfall takes us to the 1957 Windscale nuclear disaster in Northern England, hence Atomfall being referred to as the “British Fallout.” 

We trek a reimagined world that has seen far more devastating effects than the real-life historical events we know of. From mutated creatures to whispered conspiracies, the world in Atomfall delivers far more than you might expect, culminating in an all-around fresh experience. But how worthwhile is the actual playthrough? Does Rebellion execute its alt-history, retro-futuristic Northern England to near-perfection? Let’s find out in our Atomfall review.

What Kind of Person Are You?

Waking up in a mysterious bunker, you have no idea who or where you are. A wounded scientist stumbles into the bunker carrying a hacked key that he says is your way into an enormous bunker called the Interchange, where the answers to your questions seem to lie. But first, he asks for your help stitching him up. 

Here’s the catch, though: You can choose to stitch him up (and go through an easy tutorial for self-medicating when you’re injured). It’ll take one bottle of alcohol and four pieces of cloth, items you can easily find in the bunker. Once done, he’ll give you the hacked key as a reward. Alternatively, you can go through the entire process of finding the medical supplies, stitching him up, and then killing him and making a break for it with the hacked key. There’s a third option, of course. Kill him and steal both the medical supplies and the hacked key. 

The point here is that Atomfall won’t dictate what to do or where to go. It can be destabilizing at first, especially when coming into the game with the mentality that Atomfall is like Fallout. Instead, you’ll quickly realize that the playthrough fits more in line with The Legend of Zelda or Red Dead Redemption. 

Choose Your Own Path

This is how Atomfall chooses to carve out its own path. Its premise might be familiar to Fallout fans. Even the gameplay will remind you of games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R, where you’re tasked with exploring a quarantine zone cut off from the world. Yet there are unique ways it sets itself apart from the crowd. 

Of course, the concept of free-form gameplay is nothing new. Making your own decisions and seeing them impact your journey and the world around you has been a tried-and-true concept in gaming. Yet Atomfall has a unique way of executing free-form, non-linear gameplay. 

Having been five years since the 1957 Windscale nuclear disaster, the effects too devastating to warrant a quarantine, you emerge from the bunker to uncover the mysteries Atomfall creates. Some are easy-to-solve secrets you can easily track down with a few minutes of exploration. Others, though, will lead you down unknown paths, fumbling around at whatever note you can find, information you can eavesdrop on, or NPC who can point you in the right direction.

As Difficult As You Make It

As you can imagine, Atomfall can lead to plenty of aimless wandering around, hoping to discover a viable clue. However, the map is compact enough to cover within a reasonable playthrough. (You can finish the game in about 15 hours, which is a refreshing change compared to the hundreds of hours you can spend in games like Skyrim). Speaking of Skyrim, the map is significantly smaller here, denser, with actual compelling objects and NPCs to investigate. 

In fact, Atomfall is more of an investigative game than a survival adventure. You’ll spend most of your time tracking down clues and gradually unraveling the mysteries the quarantine zone holds. Atomfall achieves neat interconnectedness, where whichever path you take, your findings will eventually begin to make sense. 

Alternatively, you can always lower the difficulty, which is, thankfully, quite flexible. If you’d like an easier time navigating the map, there’s a difficulty setting specially curated for it. There’s a setting for easier combat and even more resource availability. 

Narrow Escape

Atomfall’s combat can be quite difficult. It’s not necessarily difficult to master. Rather, resources, including ammunition, are often scarce. So, even though guns are handy when taking down enemies (you can take precise headshots), they eventually become useless at the most crucial moments. It leaves you with melee combat. Yet even with melee, your character’s fiddly heart rate often inhibits them from precise hacks and slashes.

Not to mention, the melee combat can be quite clunky and repetitive. Atomfall, sharing the same developer as Sniper Elite, hardly makes sense that the ranged and melee combat would be this shabby. Meanwhile, stealth works just fine. It’s possible to hide in tall grass and sneak up on unsuspecting enemies. However, stealth can be inconsistent, where, at times, enemies spot you from across the map, and other times, you can walk right past them without so much as an eyebrow raise. 

With all the cons mentioned, Atomfall’s combat is, ultimately, a joy. See, the enemies are often persistent and larger in number. And so, every encounter truly feels like a challenge. Mutated creatures can be bullet sponges, which, with low ammunition, often raises the stakes. With your heart rate often spiking up and your guns proving useless after a short while in combat, oh, and your health bar runs out quickly, too, it’s inevitable to be constantly overwhelmed. 

Sneaking Around

It leaves you no choice but to use stealth almost always. Most enemies are none the wiser, provided you don’t trespass into their turf. The survivors in the quarantine zone have formed factions, and you must be strategic in your interactions with them. This is the other joy of playing Atomfall.

The NPCs you meet aren’t just engaging; they provide clever chess pieces to move around your chessboard. You can two-time two rival NPCs at the same time, pretending to be an ally to both of them only to betray them at the last minute. And Atomfall will respond accordingly to your choices, often returning to find they’ve murdered each other. 

As the mysterious voice at the phone booth always reminds you, “Trust no one!” You cannot even trust yourself if your identity and intentions are unknown. Ultimately, storylines merge into the main trajectory and culminate in multiple endings that are each rewarding to track down. Even after the roughly 15-hour playthrough, Atomfall still urges you to return because there’ll certainly be many more stones left unturned. 

Breathtaking Views

This leaves us with the visuals, which are nothing short of breathtaking. Atomfall curates an idyllic countryside that is very much reminiscent of the real-life Northern England. It constantly references British culture in its dialogue and worldbuilding. You truly feel like you’re walking through Cumbria. Despite this being a post-apocalyptic setting, nothing in the lush, green forests or the bright textures and lighting suggest a world riddled with chaos and harm.

Underneath the beauty in the world, though, is a twisted reality. Humans don’t behave like you’d expect, presumably affected by the explosion. Mutated creatures double down on a possible sci-fi anomaly. It’s clear that even though the environment harbors singing birds and peaceful rivers, a darker mystery lies at the heart of it all. And descending into the caves and underground bunkers, well, the mystery becomes clearer. Monsters leap out of the shadows, and you barely make it out alive. 

Verdict

Atomfall has been such a joy to play through in a lot of unexpected ways. The usual reward you draw from a survival adventure game doesn’t exist here. The combat system is wanting. Meanwhile, survival mechanics are hardly the center of attention. Instead, the hunt for clues and investigating what happened in the quarantine zone takes over. Every NPC you meet, and new area you discover reveals a secret that reels you further into a deeper mystery you can’t help chasing. 

Once you start to pull the yarn, Atomfall never stops giving you just a bit more compelling information to keep going. And all of it is free-form. So, you’re free to decide what kind of player you want to be and where you want to go. Granted, the combat system and survival mechanics could have seen a lot more polish. But the satisfying exploration through the mystery-ridden alt-history retro-futuristic world of Atomfall more than makes up for any flaws. Oh, and the visuals, of course, are hands-down a joy to savour. 

Might Rebellion follow it up with a sequel? If they do, and they iron out the flaws, I’m certain Atomfall could be on its way to standing on its own two feet.