(Image credit: Rebellion)
In the opening moments of Atomfall, you quickly understand what kind of experience awaits. Awakening with no memory of your identity or location, you’re confronted by an injured scientist. He offers a keycard necessary for escaping the bunker and gaining access to The Interchange, but there’s a catch—you must trade a bandage for it. Will you gather materials to craft a bandage and make the exchange? Perhaps you’ll choose a darker path, seizing the keycard through force. Or maybe you’ll play both sides, crafting the bandage only to betray him later. The choice is genuinely yours.
This freedom to decide is the very essence of Atomfall. Upon leaving the bunker, whether leaving behind a grateful or lifeless scientist, you’re cast into a world devoid of explicit directions. No guiding text, waypoints, or insistent NPCs show you the way. Set in an alternate-reality 1960s England, this world reeled from the catastrophic 1957 Windscale nuclear accident, far more devastating in this scenario. It’s unclear what exactly transpired; for now, exploration is your primary goal.
The game hit shelves on March 27, available on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, and Xbox One, crafted by an in-house team and published by Rebellion. Some describe Atomfall as a brutally unforgiving experience, which is true—if you choose it to be. With a wealth of accessibility options, the game welcomes modifications to its gameplay, allowing players to adjust difficulty and resource availability as they see fit. Finding a balance that suits your style, such as employing waypoints to assist with quest locations, is encouraged.
Lacking a linear quest line means the player must seize opportunities as they arise. That quirky NPC, a cryptic note, or a paper pinned to a tree may lead you on a quest—though ‘quest’ might seem too rigid a term. Atomfall blurs the line between game and reality. Curious souls who explore beyond the beaten path will find a world rich with discovery. Their curiosity, which may have once doomed the cat, propels them forward with an arsenal unmatched by our feline companions.
The interconnected maps of Atomfall provide a tighter, more meaningful experience than sprawling open worlds. Each area lacking discovery is offset by the proximity to new adventures, and the infrequent encounters with mutated ‘ferals’ ensure each engagement is impactful. You might be tempted to label the game as a British version of Fallout, but such comparisons fall short, as Atomfall diverges sharply from familiar tropes. Experience points and skill trees give way to Training Stimulants, collectibles that necessitate active discovery rather than quest rewards.
The sprawling freedom across its landscapes offers each player a personal journey, contrasting sharply with more common linear narratives. Humor, though rare, peppers the game, from cheeky signs to NPC dialogue, adding a layer of levity to the discovery of the game’s secrets and your own imagined narratives. The opening village offers rich pockets of this humor—a toilet paper heist, or a morally tangled murder investigation. Choices abound, often leading to rewarding duplicity and strategic alliances.
The absence of currency echoes the themes of isolation—trade relies on bartering, values shifting with regions and trades. My first of multiple endings came at the 15-hour mark. With save files offering a route to various outcomes, 22 hours in, I had uncovered five of six endings. Despite its seemingly short span for an open world game, this brevity is a strength, keeping the experience from becoming tiresome. Hardcore elements of the game promise to extend playtime significantly for those seeking a challenge.
As my adventure stretched into double digits, the wish for fast travel arose, paired with a unique heartbeat management system that penalizes excessive exertion. This mechanic impacts combat readiness without significantly hampering enjoyment, aside from a few minor travel inconveniences. While Atomfall‘s marketing points to survival elements, its lack of traditional survival metrics like hunger or weapon durability emphasizes exploration over grueling survivalism, perfectly balancing tension and enjoyment.
With its review conducted on PS5 using a publisher-provided code, Atomfall stands as a genre-defying experience. Its developers proudly describe it as akin to ‘X-Files in the Cold War Lake District,’ inviting players into a world of unbridled freedom and layered storytelling.