Immersive Sims like Thief, Deus Ex and later Bioshock and Dishonoured used to be some of my very favourites. First person games with non-linear ways to make your way through large, complex levels — often driven by a compelling narrative. Over time these games have become less open and more streamlined, and Rebellion’s Atomfall feels like a return to a more classic experience, one witha ton of depth.
Atomfall takes place in an alt-history Britain. Set in the Lake District following the aftermath of the Windscale Fire, Atomfall works on the premise that “something” was discovered deep in the Earth around the Cumberland power plant, and that — perhaps — it was awakened by the disaster itself. However the story unfolds, what you’ll learn very early in the game is that the main village here, Wyndham, is under the control of a pseudo branch of the British army, whilst the lands surrounding it are host to druids, outlaws and much, much worse.
Our player begins the game with the classic “amnesia setup” with no recollection of who they are or why they are there. A chance meeting with an injured scientist reveals a little bit about the world around us, and before long we’re clambering out of an underground bunker and into the unique, picturesque and undoubtedly beautiful setting of the Lake District. The dramatic hills and vales of Atomfall accurately reflect the real-life beauty and scale of the region, and as a true northerner, I loved features such as signs pointing to familiar places such as Kendal — which are personally familiar to me.
Some of the environments need to be seen to be believed, and having reflected on how well-crafted the world is, it’s a wonder that the Lake District has escaped inclusion in more mainstream video games for so long. The wooded valleys are expansive and interesting — with birds and other wildlife either seen or heard, and then hills climbing far and high into the distance with the region’s trademark grey stone. Rivers cut through most landscapes as they wind their way down from high places to run quietly through the valley floor.
The sound and voice acting in particular is just as authentic, with most characters having authentically British, and often Cumbrian, accents that are well done and rich with unspoken backstory. I met a Scouse trader who had been “affected” by some of the local flora (which you’ll have to discover on your own) and I was amazed by how much was said in so little dialogue — Liverpool isn’t far from the Lakes, and his history prior to the disaster was just as interesting to me as his more recent troubles. Why did he come here? Why did he stay? What will he do now — none of it really matters to the outcome of the game, but it’s great that the script and voice acting evokes these questions at all.
In terms of gameplay, Atomfall is a game where the difficulty level you choose will materially impact the game. There are custom options available for various aspects of the game such as exploration or combat, but broadly speaking, the harder setting you choose — the more varied the experience will be, so let me explain.
On the default difficulty level (which is on the harder side of average) players will receive very few directional hints, and most collectibles in the environment will be hard to spot unless you’re using a flashlight to look for them. Combat will be tough, with enemies able to deal a lot of damage to you and being quite resistant in turn. I can’t remember all the differences, but I seem to recall there being less healing from items like food, whereas specific healing items (like bandages and first aid kits) need to be your go to. Ammo is scarce at all difficulty levels, but much more so on harder levels of challenge.
As you move down the scale, Atomfall introduces the kind of HUD that players will be more familiar with in modern games. This means you’ll be able to track quests with pointers, and you’ll have a lot more hand holding in terms of hints and tips about what to do. There’s more ammo, more healing items and enemies will be easier to kill (albeit still not exactly lacking in threat). I really enjoyed this variety, and I started with the more modern, easier setting and then worked my way up to the more classic settings.
Whatever difficulty setting you go for, Atomfall offers an experience that sits somewhere between walking simulator, survival RPG and first person shooter. There’s conceptually an idea that stealth should play a big part, but I don’t really think it does. This is slightly to Atomfall’s detriment as it “feels” as though you should be able to use stealth more, but once you get over this, there’s a lot here to enjoy. Well, quite a lot, because whilst I enjoyed almost all of it, Atomfall just isn’t that long.
Our character is tasked — broadly speaking — with finding a location called The Interchange, which is linked in some way to the initial Windscale disaster and the scientists (which most people in the game call “Boffins”) that were closest to it. There’s clearly something unusual going on in and around the region, and it’s no spoiler to mention that there’s both an otherworldly glow coming from the epicentre, and a lot of similarly coloured growing flora around the place. Hornet like creatures emerge from purple nests, and other nastier enemies have clearly been affected by the disaster in some way.
I am trying hard here not to spoil anything as I want you to experience it for yourself first hand, but basically you’re going to explore the area, visit the different factions and key locations, and piece together a future leading to one of five or six possible endings. These endings are neither particularly bad or good in terms of outcome, with perhaps me simply saying that they are “open to interpretation” being enough.
In terms of RPG features and immersion within your character, Atomfall offers enough depth without offering anything that massively changes the game. The main two things you’ll “unlock” are crafting elements (such as molotov cocktails or bandages) and skills (such as enhanced kicks, better melee or harvesting skills.) The former are learned via recipes which are considered fairly valuable in the Atomfall world and therefore need to be either found or traded for. Skills are usually obtained by unlocking points as a consequence of making progress in either main or side quests.
Combat is generally enjoyable, with a fairly broad selection of both melee and ranged weaponry that feels good to use. Guns feel powerful and are fairly scarce among the enemies, meaning that a lot of enemies favour melee and can get close to you and deal a lot of damage. Some enemies use bows which deal damage and cause bleeding, whilst other heavy hitting, high health enemies bring two handed axes or fast, lethal sickles to bear. I did enjoy the balance between ammo management and the power of firearms, where sometimes you’ll think “can I deal with this one guy in melee at the cost of some health, or shall I just shoot him.” Obviously this choice changes based on what resources you have, and the number and type of enemies you face.
I also liked that in most cases, enemies will actively try to diffuse fights if they can — as long as you’re not on their turf. Come across a group of outlaws, for example, and as long as you back away and don’t point your gun at them, and you can probably escape. Druids are more aggressive, and both factions will attack aggressively if you’re in a zone marked as trespassing, but it’s nice to see that in a world where survival is hard, nobody is falling over themselves to die easily.
I mentioned stealth earlier and there are a couple of things to touch upon. The only real stealth mechanics here are “hiding in long grass” and being able to take down enemies by creeping up behind them. There’s no stealing mechanic here, so you can freely just take what you want from houses or shops in plain sight, and I found this odd. It’s also strange that whilst knee-height grass will hide you, being in a very dark corner of a very dark house won’t. I am guessing a bit here, but I would say that Atomfall might have been intended to have a more complete stealth system, but time and budget perhaps saw it stripped out.
All told, Atomfall is a very attractive, very polished game that offers a really enjoyable experience for the time you spend with it. The multiple endings and different difficulty settings allow for replayability, but I will also say that once you’ve seen most of the main plot lines, seeing them again and again becomes less appealing. Honestly though, who has time to spend more than 15-20 hours on a game these days anyway?
I’d rather have one complete 15 hour experience that I enjoy than half of a 100 hour long game where I spent most of my time collecting stuff and repeating the same things in different places (I am looking at you, Ubisoft) there. With that said, I strongly recommend Atomfall for its unique setting and worldbuilding, its strong combat and its enjoyable storyline, as well as the strong survival features.
Atomfall is available now for PC, Xbox Series X|S & PS5
