Game Review: Atomfall (Xbox Series X)

The British equivalent of Fallout, albeit on a smaller and less refined scale, Atomfall is an ambitious first-person survival adventure game developed and published by Rebellion. One that uses the real-life 1957 Windscale fire to tell an alternate history story set in the Lake District, Cumbria area of the UK.

Here, radioactive fallout from the fire resulted in the area around the nuclear power plant being quarantined off. No-one gets in, and no-one gets out, and that is how it HAS remained for five years. Which is just enough time for numerous factions to rise, all with their own goals and desires to escape.

Players take on the role of a faceless and nameless character who wakes up in a bunker with no memory. Immediately meeting a dying scientist, it quickly becomes apparent that you can’t stay here, and with cricket bat in hand, it’s off out to the British countryside for a spot of tea and crumpets. Well, maybe not the last two, although you can scavenge tea for stat boosts, amongst other British delights, and scavenge you must as the world of Atomfall is filled with danger.

So, what’s the goal? Find a way out, and maybe, discover the truth behind the Windscale fire. Who is the mysterious voice on the phone? What is Oberon? How do you power up the ‘Interchange’?

Questions, amongst many more, that will be answered to some satisfaction, even if there is a chance players can miss a ton of content depending on their play style and faction choices. Atomfall leaves a lot up to the player, refusing to offer guidance in anyway. Which on the one hand, really makes the game feel more survival orientated, but on the other, results in a slow first couple of hours.

You see, to begin with you will genuinely have no idea what to do or how to play. You’ve got a cricket bat, a health pack, and a general idea that you should probably be heading in the direction of the power planet in the distance, but that’s about it. Sure, you’ll have an objective, but it’s not clear and the map you have has no markers (and won’t have unless you change the parameters of your play style in the options).

It’s very easy to feel lost, and overwhelmed, especially as the first area feels so large, supplies are really limited, and there are gangs of enemies roaming about. You’ve got your fists, but trust me, you’ll lose. Stealth is key, although it does feel a bit pointless when enemies can see you from so far away.

Get through the first hour or two, persevere, and bit by bit, Atomfall becomes a more fun and compelling experience. While the game never holds your hand even as you explore larger interconnected areas and rack up quest after quest, you’ll find yourself adapting to it and enjoying its charm. Which it really has a lot of, especially as you start to explore the deeper and darker parts of the game, meet a ton of interesting characters, start making decisions that create branching storylines, and start finding better weapons, including guns. Although ammo is in short supply, of course.

Come the latter part of the game, you will have reached such a degree of comfortability, that you’re racing around the maps, swinging your fists at druids, putting a well-placed arrow in the eye of a raider, or confidently downing a hulking robot and stealing its battery. It is fun, but the whole world of Atomfall is fun to explore, especially with so many nooks and crannies to dig into.

That being said, this isn’t Fallout, regardless of the comparisons. The world is relatively small and there are only a handful of hidden non-story related areas to explore in each map. You’re going to want to, not just so you can find supplies, but so you can find upgrades that make you more ‘powerful’. These range from improved stamina, health, stealth, weapon skills, and so much more, and just like everything else, you could play through the entire game and pick very few up. It’s one of the most unique things about Atomfall, and everyone should experience it at least once from a more chaotic perspective. Did you know that you can kill any NPC? Including the main quest giving characters? Don’t you just want to see what happens when you snap the neck of the officer in charge of the defending Windham village? Spoilers: it’s violent.

These are some of the unique aspects of Atomfall, but these unique features are few and far between. Like it or loathe it, the comparisons to Fallout are there and there for a reason, This is not Fallout, it’s Fallout-lite with a distinctly British skin, lovely countryside included. In fact, so Fallout-lite is it, that the game can be completed in around an hour if you’re speed-running it. Although your first play through might range from anywhere between 8 and 15 hours, depending on your proclivities for exploration. My first playthrough came in at around 11 hours, and I explored a lot. My second, a speed run, came in at an hour and a half.

At least this encourages multiple playthroughs, which you will need if you want to experience all the different endings (or a well placed save). Alas, beyond that, there’s little replay value as once you’ve explored all corners of the world, there’s simply nothing more to find.

I like it though. That’s the truth of it. I enjoyed my time in Atomfall, and found it to be nice to look at, decent to play, and fun to finish. Even with some notable bugs like the ‘sound loss’ bug that affected so many, but has since been patched. It’s not going to topple the champ, Fallout, but as an addition to the survival adventure genre, it’s more than welcome. Get the kettle on, eh?