Atomfall Review

For years, Bethesda held a large stake in the sandbox RPG space. I always remember the feeling of stepping out of a vault or the sewers for the first time and realizing that complete feeling of total freedom. However, lately that space has felt a bit empty. There hasn’t been a sandbox game that has truly scratched that itch for a deep, immersive sandbox for quite some time. Starfield came out back in 2023, and for me it felt like the remnants of something great but never fully realized. We're likely not going to see Elder Scrolls 6 for a number of years still, and I'm not even gonna hold my breath on Fallout 5. With these games taking SO MUCH longer in development time to build, I am seeking elsewhere to find a game that scratches that itch.

Recently, I picked up Rebellion’s new title, Atomfall, and I have been having a ton of fun with it. Providing a refreshing take on a genre I enjoy getting lost in. It isn’t just filling a gap; it’s building something new in a space that I miss. It’s an investigative FPS that respects your time, your intelligence, and I think it’s worthy of your attention.

The World & Investigation

Visually, Atomfall is surprisingly beautiful. I don't know what I was expecting from the visual department, but I wasn't expecting this. The game is a gorgeous romp along the British countryside broken up into 6 large zones for you to explore. Walking around is immersive. There is always something ready to draw your attention, and plenty of nooks and pocketed areas with secrets and hidden information ready for you to find. It's got a level of calm to it that makes traversal almost peaceful, but also a level of unease that makes you question your surroundings. At the heart of this adventure, I would say this is a game is first and foremost about exploration and investigation, and a shooter second. The game doesn't hold your hand. It relies on your curiosity. You aren't just following a waypoint to go kill a boss; you are piecing together a mystery. Depending on the directions you take, taking on an NPC may be inevitable. Other times, you can talk your way out of a conversation with choices and evidence to move tense moments in your favor. You find clues, you read notes, and you actually have to deduce where to go next. There is often multiple ways to solve the same objectives. It surprised me so much that my decisions didn't break the game in anyway. I'm so used to "jank" messing up quests that are linked together with different outcomes and that never happened once. I make a decision, and have to deal with the outcomes.

The Narrative & Philosophy

In Atomfall, you're a silent protagonist with no recollection of your past and you're given a keycard that is used to access something called the Interchange. That's pretty much it. You venture out, meet people and start asking questions. The NPCs are all genuinely interesting. Each with a reason and a motivation for being. One of the game's strongest points is how it handles player choice. The main NPCs you run into, present different philosophies on how to handle the crisis around you. It’s not as simple as "Good vs. Evil." Ther is a ton of nuance and grey area that will test your morals and ethics. You have to listen, weigh their arguments, and decide who to trust. There is a total of five or six different endings that change depending on you decide to resolve the conflict. It forces you to position yourself for the endgame based on what you believe, and that level of agency is something I would like to see much more of.

The Gameplay Loop: Rusty, Stock, Pristine

Now, if you're a loot goblin like I am, you're going to enjoy this game. From abandoned homes to caves, secret basements and hidden waterfalls, you're going to find material everywhere that can be used to craft items like bombs, knives, molotovs, poisons etc. As long as you pick up everything, you’re always going to have the resources you need to craft. You also get a metal detector used to find hidden collectables with items inside, as a nice extra touch of exploration. Now, with combat you've got pistols, shotguns and rifles at your disposal. Each with varying rates of fire. Some semi-automatic, a few fully automatics, but most that you will find starting out will be single shot or bolt action type weapons that all come in three different tiers. To start out, all your weapons will be RUSTY which provide the lowest stats (DAMAGE, ACCURACY, RANGE, etc.). As you find duplicates of guns laying around, you can eventually combine 2 RUSTY guns of the same type and upgrade it into a STOCK version with improved stats. Do the same thing combining 2 STOCK weapons in the same manner and you can unlock PRISTINE versions which unlock their maximum potential for damage and all that. I thought this was a very streamlined approach to upgrading your gear that wasn't complicated and just felt very straightforward. I was able to unlock PRISTINE versions of all the guns I found, and I could tell a difference in the upgrades, including a nice polished look in appearance.

The Combat: A Fair Critique

The gunplay overall feels fine. The weapons are punchy, and because many of them are single-shot or bolt-action, every trigger pull feels important. Ammo is scarce but always just enough laying around to take care of business. One big downside I found is that your character is very squishy. You have very little health to work with, even with a power up that increases your health. Things amplify when melee enemies start to swarm you. Enemies mix up gunplay with melee and throwables, and man….the melee enemies are brutal. One or two hits by an outlaw or a Feral, and its curtains. Not only do the guns reload slowly, but you've got no way of defending yourself with a shield, a dodge or a sidestep. Something like that would've been so nice. Instead, I have to turn the opposite direction and speed off, since backstepping is not a good option either. Weapon switching and the lack of any real evasive movements made all close quarters encounters very frustrating. Something I hope is addressed in an Atomfall 2.

The Verdict

Overall, nothing about the combat kept me from a good time here. Atomfall was a game I had a hard time putting down. Rebellion clearly knew what kind of a game they wanted to make and they did most of it very well. The immersion is so good here. So many interesting things to discover, decisions to make and it kept my curiosity for 30 hours. There's even DLC if you have more need to explore. Atomfall takes the sandbox formula we know, strips away the bloat, and delivers a very streamlined experience that never overstays its welcome. If you’ve been waiting for a game that lets you truly roleplay in a reactive world, Atomfall is the one to play.