Atomfall

With its lack of hand-holding and middling combat, Atomfall isn’t for everyone. But if you’re craving an adventure that supplies plenty of autonomy and challenges your sense of trust, Rebellion’s latest might be looking into.

Ultimately, Atomfall is a game that respects the player's intelligence and rewards curiosity. It doesn't hold your hand with a deluge of mandatory objectives, instead offering the freedom to pursue Leads at your own pace and explore the ravaged landscape as you see fit. This player-driven approach ensures that each playthrough feels distinct, shaped by the individual's willingness to delve into the mysteries and dangers of post-nuclear Cumberland. If you're a player who appreciates atmosphere, emergent gameplay, and the satisfaction of uncovering secrets through your own initiative, Atomfall is a journey into a hauntingly beautiful and intellectually engaging world.

Is Atomfall a game worth trying? If you like games that don't hold your hand - absolutely, but if you have a hard time with shaky combat systems and lacking character development it's important to remember that Atomfall unfortunately fails to rise to the occasion here.

Atomfall is ultimately what I call a “chimera” game — it incorporates elements from different genres, but keeps their influence on a surface level. It has resource management and crafting mechanics of classic survival titles, multiple endings and choice-related story and gameplay outcomes akin to classic RPGs, and an emphasis on exploration usually seen in action-adventure counterparts. These are all good things at first glance, but the lack of depth in most regards makes it hard to recommend to dedicated genre fans while also making it relevant to any discussion on traditional boundaries of defining genre.

Atomfall is a really fun time that suffers from several flaws. They’re not quite enough to hurt the experience too much, but they’re noticeable. If what you want is a new survival experience, and you’re willing to put up with them, though, then I think you’ll be very satisfied, especially with the upcoming DLC.

Atomfall is a likeable game, managing to offer an interesting adventure despite a few clumsinesses and flaws stemming from its limited resources, such as combat and an infiltration system with superficial mechanisms. Exploring every nook and cranny of the zone is at the heart of the experience, and is unquestionably the most successful and engaging aspect. The possibility of finding multiple ways of progressing to complete the story is also appreciated. This is a game worth discovering, if you're waiting for a sale or a price reduction. Waiting for future DLC and updates, which should enrich the gaming experience, might also be wise.

Atomfall is a thoroughly solid survival shooter that shines brightest between the lines. It has tons of mysteries to unravel thanks to its non-linear, hands-off mission structure and makes you feel clever when you’ve explored enough to piece it all together. The secrets at the heart of it all are far from new if you’ve played Stalker or Fallout before and the easily exploited enemy AI makes combat largely uninteresting, but this is still an entertaining and very British nuclear romp that’s well worth a playthrough or two.

Despite its charming setting, witty NPCs, and solid voice acting, the game suffers from weak combat, questionable AI, and immersion-breaking load times. It’s a decent Game Pass title for genre fans, but its short length and shallow depth make it hard to recommend at full price.

While the story and exploration in Atomfall feel refreshing and rewarding, the action and gameplay often feel like filler holding the experience back. It’s a promising mix of ingredients, but one that struggles to keep up with modern titles.

The good news is that the developers of Sniper Elite have finally tried something new - Atomfall is intriguing with its setting and its form of narrative direction. The bad news is that in many other aspects the game is average at best. Perhaps the full potential of these ideas will be realized in a possible sequel.

Atomfall can be a fun diversion, but it really needs to take a gap year so it can find itself.

Atomfall leans really heavily on Britishness. The atmosphere, the turns of phrase, and there are nods to several British media products, such as Doctor Who. If this is not your cup of tea, it will certainly affect your enthusiasm for the game. The title just failed to hook me. Atomfall is not a bad game, but it doesn't really resonate in any way. I was never really immersed in the world, but I constantly felt like I was playing a game, a kind of broader escape room experience.

Atomfall isn't always a brilliant game, then, but it's often a surprisingly comforting one. [Issue#410, p.102]

A pleasant, controlled single-player FPS experience, but without the means to push its ideas to the limit.

Inspired by the 1967 Windscale fire, Rebellion’s open-world adventure features an interesting mystery, but suffers from middling combat, poor stealth and an underutilised setting.

Atomfall, which spins an alternative history around the worst nuclear event in British annals, is hampered by questionable design choices that made me wonder if I’d fallen into a time warp and was playing a spiffy-looking game from 15 years ago. There are narrative tropes, flat characters and unimaginative enemies everywhere.

Even though Atomfall didn’t fully click for me, I believe its unique approach to the survival genre will attract a passionate community. I applaud Rebellion for its extensive accessibility settings and innovative “Lead” system, which I hope they refine in future games. However, for every aspect I enjoyed, there were two or three strange omissions or design choices that held the game back. I hope Rebellion revisits this IP in the future, but next time, I’d like to see Atomfall feel more cohesive and fully realized.

Atomfall combines English provincial idyll and open gameplay with a solid, if not necessarily exciting, first-person action RPG. However, the combat, stealth and progression are not incredibly elegant and there's issues with player guidance that should be worked on urgently.

Its environmental storytelling and commitment to a haunting, folk-horror-inspired world set it apart from other post-apocalyptic titles. It's clear that Rebellion had a vision — one that, with a bit more refinement, could have resulted in something special. However, in its current state, Atomfall is a game that often feels like it's fighting against itself, offering players a world they may admire but struggle to fully enjoy in the end.