Atomfall, A Humble Review

Despite all the dystopian and post-apocalyptic games I've had the chance to play during my decades-long gaming career, I've somehow remained insatiable and still have a soft spot for games centred around the collapse of civilization.

The feral child inside me let out a primal scream of joy when I randomly stumbled upon the trailer for this game, which irresistibly reminded me of my favourite post-apocalyptic franchise, Fallout, and looked incredibly impressive graphically!

For that very reason, when EmuGlx editor Nick mentioned he'd received a code for some Atomfall game resembling Fallout—one he hadn't even heard of before—and asked if I'd like to review it, I immediately shouted: "GIVE IT TO ME! I WANT IT! RIGHT NOW, RIGHT NOW!!!"

Despite all my obligations reviewing other games, I was burning with desire to try out this hidden radioactive gem as soon as possible—one that, based on the trailer's impression, promised a lot!

Atomfall somehow flew under the media radar, appearing without much fanfare or announcement. It comes from the kitchen of Rebellion Studios, known for the Sniper Elite series and their Nazi Zombie Army spin-offs, which I'm also a fan of, so my expectations were high from the start.

Find out our first impressions of the Nintendo Switch 2 after Nintendo Direct!

Atomfall: A British Stalker, English Metro

The game's story takes us to an alternate version of Great Britain in the 1950s, a time of Cold War paranoia and scientific experiments that often went wrong—which was the case here.

It's inspired by actual events that took place in the rural region of Cumbria in northwest England, where a nuclear reactor explosion occurred in 1957, built as part of Britain's postwar atomic bomb project. The truth about what happened remains shrouded in mystery. Official authorities claim it was an accident, but rumours among survivors speak of secret experiments, strange glowing creatures, and conspiratorial organizations trying to hide the truth.

You take on the role of an ordinary civilian who survived the disaster, locked in a bunker. You wake up with no memory, and after stepping out into the freshly contaminated air, you embark on an adventure to uncover how you got there and what you must do.

However, your character is not just a random observer—their identity and past are part of a larger mystery that unravels as you progress through the game. The first mystery you'll encounter is a ringing phone in a red telephone booth, where a cryptic voice will give you guidance and advice throughout the game.

The Windscale Exclusion Zone, where you find yourself, is the site of the disaster, isolated from the rest of the country, with military forces called Protocol controlling who enters and exits. In this area, aside from the military, you'll encounter surviving residents, while the surrounding forests are full of gangs, fugitive scientists, and strange creatures that shouldn't exist. The nuclear explosion didn't just contaminate the land—it caused something even worse: horrific mutations in humans and animals, as well as supernatural phenomena. 

Become An Irradiated Sherlock Holmes

The catastrophe that befell Windscale was no accident. As you progress, you'll find evidence of this, and the story unravels further—it's up to you to piece together what happened. You'll collect numerous documents, diary entries, and clues (listed under the "Leads" tab in the menu) completely nonlinearly. These leads essentially function as missions that can be approached from multiple angles.

This feels refreshing because the game lets you explore on your own. An additional problem is that these leads are poorly organized in the menus, so you can often forget what you were last investigating. And with every new location you explore, you get many new leads to follow, making it easy to get confused and lose track of what connects to what.

The game offers multiple possible endings depending on the choices you make throughout. Very early in the main town, you're presented with several scenarios involving residents that can be resolved in different ways: help someone, pretend to help, gather information and betray them, or—if you want all the answers immediately—just kill them, take their keys, and open the doors.

This isn't an RPG with thousands of dialogue options. Still, if pacifism isn't your strong suit, you can eliminate any NPC, including important characters, and the game will continue—which can be very interesting for branching the story.

Atomfall Is A Post-Apocalyptic Excursion Through Radioactive English Villages

The world of Atomfall is semi-open and envisioned as a sort of Chornobyl Exclusion Zone—a fenced-off area after a major nuclear disaster where the local population is trapped and forced to survive as best they can.

Instead of Chornobyl, we have an English rural setting filled with stone houses, pubs, rivers, fields, and, of course, the iconic British red telephone booths—now in total post-apocalyptic chaos.

The map is divided into multiple regions that unlock as you progress. Each area offers unique locations, such as abandoned villages, houses full of supplies, secret military bases, underground complexes, old nuclear bunkers, laboratories, and hospitals hiding past horrors.

What immediately bothered me was the lack of fast travel—you'll often have to trek from one end of the map to the other, which can take a lot of time, especially since there are no precise markers, only vague hints about where a location might be.

Fans of "soul-like" exploration or survival enthusiasts might enjoy this, but it was a constant annoyance, making me feel like the game was aggressively wasting my time. Also, enemies often respawn in certain areas even after you've cleared them, which further drags out the repetition.

Dystopian Adventuring

Though it has some RPG elements, Atomfall leans more into exploration than traditional RPG mechanics. This is a first-person action RPG where you'll choose which faction to align with, how to react in conversations, and how to approach problems—much like Fallout. For example, if you need a battery to unlock a sizeable mechanical door, there are multiple ways to get it, but the game gives you no guidance. You can help an NPC who knows where it is, find a note pointing to its location, or stumble upon it randomly in the wild.

You'll have the chance to choose whether to cooperate with different groups, including scientists, the military, surviving villagers, and cultists who worship mutations as divine signs.

Early in the game, it's best to avoid bandits—you're too weak at first—until you finally encounter a friendly NPC or reach the main town, where you can start piecing the story together. Enemies come in the form of bandits, military and paramilitary forces, robots, half-mad druids, and mutants—the latter being the toughest.

The Mantra: "Improvise" In A Post-Nuclear Environment

Survival is a key part of the game, so you must carefully manage resources, which are always scarce. Interestingly, the difficulty can be fully customized—from hunger and thirst mechanics to the frequency of finding crafting materials and ammo, the number and toughness of enemies, and even their field of vision. This means that fans of hardcore survival simulation and casual players unwilling to replay sections endlessly can enjoy it.

Where there's post-apocalypse, there's radiation. Once you inevitably get irradiated somewhere, you'll need rare medicine to heal—which can also be crafted if you find the right recipes. Weapons, ammo, improvised armour, and tools can also be crafted from scavenged materials. There's a skill tree with four branches: Ranged, Melee, Survival, and Conditioning, unlocked using training stimulants earned through exploration.

Kill Or Be Killed – Sneak Or Be Spotted, The Reality Of Atomfall

Combat in the game is clunky and awkward, at least on the console, where I was limited to just four hotkeys. To switch to a weapon not assigned to a hotkey or to heal quickly, you must enter the inventory—which doesn't pause the game, meaning enemies can easily overwhelm you while you're rummaging through your bag.

Gunplay isn't the smoothest, and melee combat is painfully slow and stiff. There's no block—instead, you have a shove, which isn't very helpful. The bow and arrow are well-optimized and will likely be your go-to for silent takedowns.

Enemies range from mutants to human experiments, decontamination robots, and deformed animals. Mutants react strongly to noise and light, while human enemies use tactical formations—though they're not the smartest and often rush at you. They can easily be lured into traps, sometimes even getting stuck in place, breaking immersion.

Still, the game is challenging, mainly when enemies attack in groups—which happens often. Ammo is scarce, so you must choose carefully when to fight and when to avoid conflict. Some enemies only threaten you and won't attack you immediately if you back off.

Post-Apocalyptic Management And Economy

Inventory space is minimal and cannot be expanded, so you must carefully choose what to carry. Aside from standard weapons like pistols, shotguns, rifles, and SMGs, you'll also have a metal detector (to find buried resource caches) and a signal redirector (to hack electronic doors or turn off turrets).

There's no currency—trading is entirely based on barter, where you negotiate value by balancing items on a scale in the menu. Want a better gun? You might have to trade three medicinal herbs for it. This further complicates decision-making and resource management.

Atomfall And The Beauty Of Decay

All locations in the game—interiors, fields, forests, and rivers—look absolutely stunning and highly realistic in Rebellion's Asura Engine. On the PS5 (where I played), there are no graphical settings except for brightness and HDR. 

The game ran smoothly and almost flawlessly. Loading times exist between major zones but aren't excessively long. I only noticed frame drops when around 10+ enemy corpses piled up in one spot—something I hope will be fixed in a future patch.

In Conclusion

If you've ever wondered what Fallout would look like in a British village—Atomfall answers that question. Combining exploration, survival, tense combat, and an intriguing story with Cold War paranoia and 1950s British rural aesthetics, the game brings something fresh to the post-apocalyptic genre.

Unfortunately, combat mechanics are far from perfect. Still, my desire to explore kept me going until I finished the game after about 20 hours—and even then, there were still many undiscovered locations and unresolved side quests. The lack of fast travel will likely please hardcore survival sim fans, but for me, it only brought frustration and lowered my score.

Ultimately, Atomfall feels more like a "Fallout Lite". It's unlikely to leave a significant radioactive shadow in post-apocalyptic video games.

Rating: 7.4/10

"A visually stunning and immersive post-apocalyptic adventure held back by clunky combat and tedious traversal mechanics."

Recommended Age: 16+

Due to its dark themes, violence, and survival-horror elements, Atomfall is best suited for older teens and adults who enjoy atmospheric, story-driven experiences. Atomfall has an ESRB rating of M and is intended for players 17+!