Atomfall Review – Rebellion Unleashed
While Rebellion Developments is know for churning out shooters like the Sniper Resistance franchise, the studio is diving into uncharted territory with Atomfall, an alternate history survival action game set in fictionalized version of Northern England.
This alternate reality has mutants, giant robots and all sorts of perils that await. Has Rebellion succeeded in crafting a new franchise or should Rebellion stick to sniping from afar?
We’re glad to say, Rebellion’s continuous build-up of Atomfall is not for naught, as the game is actually fun — as long as you can tolerate some of the baggage that comes with the game.
A Player-Driven Sandbox With Meaningful Cause and Effect
Set in the 1960s, Atomfall sees players enter a sealed location. You have no idea who you are, how you got there, or what you are doing, though from the introductory video that plays eerily similar to a Fallout game, you learn the place you’re in has been locked away from the outside world. Before the game’s events, it was explained that a nuclear disaster occurred in Windscale in Northern England. To keep the surrounding regions protected from radioactive exposure, it was decided to seal the place off, and though life went on usually on the outside, inside, for the last five years, things have gotten dire, as individual factions have sprung up. Some of them are peaceful, but most are desperate as resources within the zone have begun to dwindle, with many of the factions now warring with one another for what little control they have.
Under all the war and conflict in the zone, there’s a mystery unraveling, with red telephone booths springing up all over the place with an ominous voice calling for you. You have no idea who it is or what it wants, and ultimately, that’s the big mystery for you to solve in Atomfall, as you’re tasked with finding a place called “The Interchange,” a massive underground bunker that holds many secrets.
However, this isn’t just some cut-and-dry quest where you get an objective marker and go on your way. I mean, it could be if you dial the difficulty and accessibility options down, in which case, Atomfall can be enjoyed like a traditional RPG. But that would be doing the game a disservice, as it’s intended to be a player-driven survival sandbox where your choices have real meaning.
The game establishes this very early, as when you first awake in Atomfall, you’re immediately given choices that set the stage for your grand adventure. It’s up to you to decide what kind of person you want to be in Atomfall, though don’t be surprised when an NPC calls you out, questioning whether or not you want to be the type of person you’re trying to be. In my case, I chose to be more “evil,” killing whenever I could. To no surprise, the more peaceful settlements didn’t take too kindly to me, killing off members of their community, which eventually was met with retaliation and going up against giant robots.
I severely underestimated their forces, which prompted me to reload my save and go for a much nicer approach. But I loved that I could do something like that and not get a game over screen or anything because I killed an important NPC. The world continued, whether or not that specific character was alive, and if I wanted, I could continue with the story, finding alternative paths to reach my objective. I played around with the start of the game, reloading my save to see which paths I could take and couldn’t, and as far as I can tell, the game is truly open for you to do anything you want.
There’s a town nearby where you start that I didn’t even run into my first playthrough, at least not until much later, after exploring a network of underground tunnels and sneaking through bandit bases. It’s pretty neat because nowadays, games give you a set path to go, and even if you did other content, you’d eventually have to make your way through those paths. Not in Atomfall, as the moment you step out into its lush and stunning world, you can be whoever you want and go wherever you please.
Now, I will say that for those expecting some big single-player narrative, you may want to temper expectations. There’s a story in Atomfall, but it’s completely dependent on how you approach the game. It also relies on you reading up on things from notes and talking to the various NPCs scattered around the open zones to get the most out of the lore. There’s a lot, but you have to look for it yourself, almost like a Souls-life kind of experience regarding the story. I’m personally a fan of that kind of storytelling, and I think Rebellion knocks it out for what is their first real take on it.
There’s a lot in the world of Atomfall to explore, too, and the maps are filled with secrets in every nook and cranny. What I love is how different my experience was from one of our other staffers who played through the game at the same time. Their journey through Atomfall was very different from mine, from how they started to even their ending. It made me go back and play around the different paths in the game, which all led to different outcomes.
Building a Foundation for the Future
While I enjoyed Rebellion’s approach to Atomfall, I will say that it’s also not entirely perfect. It’s close, but what it lacks makes for much to desire.
The overall gameplay, at least combat, is generally solid. I don’t have much to really complain about it, as it feels like what you’d expect from a Fallout-esque first-person game. The melee is heavy but packs a punch, and the overall gunplay feels smooth and responsive. I do wish there was more variety in weaponry. especially with the game’s setting and how weird things can get, I was a little surprised I didn’t encounter a unique gun not from the WW2 era but engineered within the zone with unique properties that could only exist there. The game can get weird, and I wish the guns would too.
The survival aspect is also pretty light, though that’s not always a bad thing. You don’t have to worry about general character maintenance, and I’m fine with that because so few games get that right. You can search for items such as ammunition and food, but food is not all that big because you never starve. It’s used for heals, which sort of is pointless when you can craft far better healing items like bandages. I know the game sort of markets itself as a survival game, but it’s light when it comes to those features. I don’t mind that because, considering how much else the game has going for it, having hardcore survival features probably would have made me not appreciate the sandbox mechanics with the gameplay and choices you make.
There’s also stealth, which I feel is probably one of the weakest parts of the gameplay. More specifically, the AI behavior around it. You can tweak it so it’s better (or worse), but I found that no matter the setting, AI could easily spot you from afar, even if you were hiding in tall grass and out of view. I’m at least glad there’s a bow that you can use to pick them off more efficiently, but even being at a distance of about five miles (exaggerated), they still managed to spot me.
The biggest room for improvement is in the dialogue options—not the choices you get to pick, which I feel play is more on the safe side of role-playing, I mean that the system is non-existent outside of quest givers. There are a ton of NPCs in the game, but a majority of them you can’t even interact with or talk to. That extends to even the enemies. Despite plenty of moments where they’re addressing you, you have no means of communicating back to them other than with a round of bullets. It threw me off because there would be countless times when it would seem like you should be able to interact with or respond to them, but no dialogue option ever comes up. I would have loved to see this, as it would have allowed us to learn more about the hostile factions and even an opportunity to side with them in their unwinnable cause.
The NPCs, in general, could have used more interactions. It might be because I’m so used to being in the mindset of an open-world (this is more like zones) RPG where you can talk to everyone, even if they don’t offer anything useful. Mind, It doesn’t detract from the overall experience, but it’s one of those things where you see the potential of something much bigger.
As I said, the game is close to being the “perfect” sandbox experience because aside from those things, everything else is fantastic about Atomfall. At the same time, though, you can see how much potential there is for so much more. It’s not a bad thing, and for this being Rebellion’s first real dive into the genre, I think they knocked it out of the park. I’m certainly left surprised, so much that I’ve already put in well over 20 hours exploring every part of the world I can and seeing where every string of story goes.
There’s a strong foundation to build off with Atomfall, and with a much bigger budget, I firmly believe this can turn into a massive franchise.
A Refreshing Location That Looks Beautiful
It’s hard to ignore the comparisons between Atomfall and Fallout, and although they play entirely differently from one another, they do offer somewhat of a similar setting. Granted, Fallout is quite literally a post-apocalypse, whereas Atomfall follows similarly to S.T.A.L.K.E.R., with it centered around a sealed-off zone. But all these games have inspired one another in some ways, though Atomfall also proves that a wartorn, radioactive zone could also be filled with beauty.
Its Cumbrian setting feels refreshing, as we don’t typically see games set around Northern England. Let’s get more of that setting because if Atomfall is anything to go by, there’s a wealth of variety that also blends influences from The Quatermass Experiment and Doctor Who, British folklore, and ancient myths of the region. There’s a lot to learn, not just about the game but also the real-world culture and influences the game takes from. That’s not to say I’ve grown tired of Fallout’s American setting. Never, I’ll always love those games. It’s just, as I said, feels refreshing, a place we’re not used to seeing in games.
Even though it is set in a radiative zone, unlike S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Fallout, Atomfall is vibrant, making aspects of the environment pop and stand out.
I grew fond of how the setting looked and how Rebellion used lighting, shadows, colors, and structure designs, taking 1960s Northern England and mixing it with Atom Punk aesthetics. You’ll see things like giant robots roaming around, a high glow from mysterious technology activating in the distance, factories, and secret bases that look like those of the era and yet are not. It’s taking something familiar and putting a spin on it, something that Fallout has managed to nail when it comes to the feel of its world. Atomfall knows what it wants to be and expresses that perfectly with its visual and art direction.
I think many players will go into this feeling the sense of the unknown, as the world of Atomfall has such a welcoming look to it that it also feels like it has a story and mystery to unravel. And it does because there’s so much for you to go around and explore.
Final Thoughts From the Wasteland
For a studio that has been mostly known for the Sniper Elite franchise for the last decade, Atomfall is a drastic departure from anything Rebellion Games has done. It’s unfamiliar territory for the studio, and yet they manage to show that sometimes taking risks can lead to something truly exceptional. With Atomfall, Rebellion has proven that their creative ambitions extend far beyond the tactical shooter genre, delivering a fresh and captivating experience that pushes the boundaries of what fans expect from the studio.
Score: 8.5/10
Pros
- The gameplay and world exploration, and how you approach the main quest, truly feel like a real sandbox experience.
- There’s a good sense of cause and effect for your actions and what choices you can make during quests.
- Refreshing setting. We need more games like this set in Northern England.
- Gorgeous visuals that capture the atompunk look.
- Overall, combat is solid, even if some things are left to be desired.
Cons
- There is a lack of weapon variety, especially considering how fun the game is with its setting; it doesn’t get fun with its weapons.
- The lack of dialogue outside quests leaves much to desire, such as negotiating with an enemy, bartering, etc. There are plenty of NPCs you can’t interact with, too.
- Stealth play is probably the weakest part of the gameplay. The AI can be pretty inconsistent.
Atomfall will be released on March 27, 2025, on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC. A review code was provided by the publisher for review purposes. You can check our review of the game here.
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