Atomfall

Immersive Sims are incredibly difficult to create, and Atomfall deserves heaps of praise for going against the grain and presenting an open-world format that bucks almost every established trend. But even more so for doing this with aplomb and crafting an immersive, engaging, and breathtaking world. Gunplay is a stone's throw away from Sniper Elite, but thanks to the survival approach, everything feels much more frantic and frenetic. The only glaring issue is that the core narrative flatters to deceive, and the enemy AI retains some run-on issues from the Sniper Elite series. But, all in all, Atomfall is a triumphant immersive sim that takes big swings and hits plenty of homeruns.

Atomfall has style to spare. We are not faced with a simple "British" re-proposal of titles like Fallout and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.. On the contrary, the work by Rebellion has a soul all its own and a strong character, which could lay the foundations for an excellent IP to carry forward alongside Sniper Elite. The jewel in the crown of the game is the very well-crafted narrative section, with a story (and a lore) to reconstruct trying to unravel a tangle of leads, clues and whispers that come from everywhere. The gameplay has been designed to give the player the greatest possible freedom, putting aside the traditional progression systems in favor of a dynamic management of the skill trees and inventory. The only shame is for some uncertainty from a technical point of view, connected to the (controversial) choice of using a proprietary graphics engine that now needs to be modernized.

Atomfall is not a game for the masses, but a motivating search for clues with British charm and a character all of its own.

There isn’t a single aspect where Atomfall couldn’t have been better, but somehow, it grabs you till the end, as long as you’re willing to accept its noticeable flaws.

Rebellion has absorbed its influences well to design a masterful post-apocalyptic adventure in broad strokes. While this survival FPS doesn't revolutionize the genre, it does things seriously. Its main strength lies in its organic approach to missions and its desire to reward exploration. Unfortunately, the survival and combat aspects, which suffer from flawed AI, lag behind the genre's leading lights. Atomfall isn't perfect, far from it, but it's definitely worth a look... especially if you're a fan of this type of offering.