In the wake of various post-apocalyptic RPGs like Fallout, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., or even the Metro series, Atomfall feels like it has plenty going against it. After all, it comes in the wake of a fully realised Fallout 4 DLC known as Fallout London, which echoes much of what we see here. But through it all, Atomall rises to the occasion as yet another post-apocalyptic RPG worth checking out.
While the gameplay falters in parts, primarily due to awkward combat, it still manages to present a unique and engaging story based on true events, all while giving players the freedom of choice and exploration at every opportunity.
A Nuclear Blunder
Atomfall is set 5 years after the events of the real-life Windscale nuclear disaster that almost destroyed Northen England in 1957. In this reality, England is now in pieces, as your character emerges from a bunker to find that things have generally descended into chaos. Gangs and outlaws now rule the admittly gorgeous British countryside, and nobody can be trusted.
To make matters worse, a mysterious voice calls you at all times on every public phone you encounter, warning you that things are about to get much worse. While that’s a fantastic backdrop in its own right, the game essentially sees you trekking across Northern England to uncover the secrets behind this nuclear disaster.
While the story only lasts around 14-15 hours, it’s certainly full of mystery and intrigue, with multiple ways to progress through the story. The game grants you virtually unlimited freedom to pursue various objectives across five of its large, interconnected maps. These areas range from countryside and farmland areas to caves and mines, abandoned nuclear reactors, army bases and even secret gang hideouts.
The game also presents a decent amount of lore through notes and journal entries collected, while most characters you meet will generally explain more about the world. Most missions also follow that same sort of structure. Along the way, you’ll pick up various notes and collectively items in the world that become leads, which give details about various locations in a certain part of the map, that will give clues to your required task. Most tasks generally latch onto the next, but there is a fair amount of backtracking required, particularly within the missions I completed.
Either way, the game gives you a fair chance to explore the nooks and crannies of each of the five interconnected hub worlds to your liking. Progression is generally well-paced, even if you’ll have to read a little deeper into your notes and leads to find out which locations and landmarks to look for to progress. It’s also worth noting here that there are plenty of British easter eggs to uncover, from the likes of Mr. Bean to Doctor Who. While I would rather not spoil them, they’re all just so incredibly charming.
Overall, Atomfall’s core story is engaging enough to stick with and relatively well-paced, given how much isn’t necessarily spelled out for you. While there’s a little too much backtracking for my liking, I can appreciate the game’s lean length, allowing its core mystery to land most of its punches before things get stale.
Survival of the Fittest
Gampelay is generally broken up into combat, stealth and exploration. Along the way, you’ll mostly take on human enemies in the form of large groups or gangs, with the occasional larger enemy like a flamethrowing robot or a murder of crows or mischief of rats, which you must stomp out.
You’ll find an assortment of melee and ranged weapons out in the wild, either by looting areas or gathering them from fallen enemies. There’s also a bunch of loot and scraps to keep in mind, which can be used to craft important items like bandages or even throwable weapons. Melee combat feels okay in parts, and you’ll be able to switch between light and heavy attacks with a dedicated kick button to throw enemies off balance. It’s fun to whack enemies about with a cricket bat, but there’s not much depth to it.
Ranged combat feels a little clunkier at times and never really gets easier. With an assortment of handguns, shotguns, rifles and even automatic weapons to use, aiming generally feels stiff and awkward.
I do like, however, that semi automatic weapons like rifles have to be manually reloaded with each shot, while you can also check on the remaining rounds in weapons like handguns and shotguns by pressing the reload button. It’s generally functional but rarely satisfying.
Weapons don’t hold any numerical statistical value either and generally come in 3 tiers: rusty, normal and pristine. The worse the condition, the less damage it will do. But at the same time, Atomfall doesn’t place a numerical value on things like damage or firing rates. Instead, a weapon will have a high, medium or low damage level and attack speed.
This applies to both melee and ranged weapons, while firearms can have their condition improved by mapping items like gun oil. You’ll normally find duplicates of most melee weapons, but ranged weapons are a little harder to come by, regardless of their condition.
Stealth is also a mixed bag. You’ll only ever need to sneak up behind an enemy to get the stealth kill, but the enemy AI has a funny way of either knowing you’re there or spotting you from a country mile away. Being spotted from further away isn’t so much a bad thing, as they can sometimes tell you to back away or turn around to avoid trouble, but it holds the stealth experience back when you can barely get close enough to do anything exciting.
Given you can rarely take on enemies in crowds, I found it easier to run around and isolate enemies to pick them off, one by one.
You’ll also be able to boost skills and progress through a relatively streamlined skill tree that offers upgrades in ranged combat, melee combat, survival, and conditioning. You’ll tick most of these off in a single playthrough, but I recommend beefing up your ranged and melee combat abilities to get the edge in sticky situations.
Overall, while combat is far from terrible, it’s just not that satisfying, mainly due to clunky gunplay and shallow melee combat. Stealth could also benefit from some better AI, should you stick with it beyond a couple of hours.
Look the Part
Atomfall, for the most part, looks fantastic. The British countryside is littered with gorgeous textures, lighting effects and vibrant colours, while the majority of the game’s five maps feel varied and fresh.
The game also runs quite well, punching out a solid 60 FPS at pretty much every turn. Even when things got chaotic, I could barely spot any meaningful frame rate drops that pulled me out of the action.
Final Thoughts
Atomfall does a great job at creating an engine mystery while balancing an impressive amount of player choice and agency. While some missions and paths feel more exciting than others, the lean 15-hour story allows things to land way before they ever feel stale.
While combat ranged from awkward to acceptable, it’s generally functional and allows you to at least get the job done. But with its visual flare and solid performance, there’s certainly enough here to justify delving deep into this nuclear North England countryside for some chaotic fun.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Highlights: Cool mystery to uncover in a multitude of ways; Gorgeous British countryside, and solid performance
Lowlights: Clunky gunplay and frustrating stealth mechanics; A little too much backtracking
Developer: Rebellion Developments
Publisher: Rebellion Developments
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows PC
Available: Now
Review conducted on PlayStation 5 with a pre-release code provided by the publisher.
