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Have you ever started a game, and immediately felt goosebumps rise on your skin during the opening scene? Atomfall is that type of game. From the second you take on the role of the main character, you are thrown into a world that is captivating and terrifying.
I went into this game prepared to compare it to Skyrim, but doing so wouldn’t be fair. Atomfall is much more than an open-world copycat. It’s a world-building masterpiece.
Key Details
- Publisher: Rebellion
- Developer: Rebellion
- Platforms: PC, Xbox, PlayStation
- Price: $49.99+
- Review Code Provided: Yes
A World Without Boundaries
Atomfall is not a nice little survival game. It is a grueling, brutal grind in which you will constantly be balancing the useability of what is in your limited inventory space against the terrors that lurk in the open-world map.
The story follows the protagonist, who has woken up in the quarantine zone of a disaster. From the start of the game, players are free to choose where they would like to go and what they would like to do.
The gameplay is guided by the discovery of leads. If an area isn’t inspected, these can be missed completely, and they can be tackled in any order after being obtained.
Players will need to pay attention to their health and heart rate as they explore. Your character is fragile, and weapons aren’t easy to come by.
The freedom of Atomfall is deceptive. It gives players a false sense of control as they begin exploring. However, you will quickly find that everything is trying to kill you. Beautiful British woodlands are rife with murderous outlaws and radioactive wasps. Waterways sparkling in the sun house mutated monster fish, and I won’t even tell you what is lurking underneath the town and forests.
Within just a few hours of gameplay, it becomes clear that survival is entirely dependent on making the right choices, and having the right gear to tackle challenges.
Stop Shaking, Everything is Fine
Atomfall‘s intense gameplay and survival requirements make it an addictive challenge to play through, but it’s the writing of the story and characters that really create a world that begs to be explored.
Right from the start of the game, the characters you meet do a fantastic job of conveying that something is deeply wrong. Far too many inhabitants of the quarantine zone seem almost unphased or fully adjusted to the broken life they lead. There is a constant sense of wrongness as you barter for goods and explore Wyndham Village. Everyone seems to accept their fate, and no one is willing to challenge the military presence to keep order.
Meanwhile, in the woods outside the village, outlaws, and druids have formed factions, making even basic exploration and movement a difficult task.
The game is filled with unsettling occurrences, all while the actions and responses of those around the player seem to say “This is fine”. It savors of a Doctor Who or Twilight Zone episode, creating a sense of building urgency as you continue to explore.
Atomfall’s Story Is In Your Hands
Atomfall does very little to control the player’s movement and exploration through the world. There are no required checkpoints and no absolutes that have to be met as you explore. Everything is done at the speed and in the order you choose.
After attending the Q&A with Rebellion for the game ahead of release, I decided to test the boundaries of what the player can control in Atomfall. I did my very best not to attack a single person as I moved from lead to lead.
This is an extremely difficult style of play, but it is more than possible to achieve. Players can choose to attack every person they see, only be violent when someone is unwelcoming, or simply avoid as much violence as possible. There are no punishments for what you do, creating a surprising amount of freedom.
Because I opted to avoid violence, I found myself bartering away weapons. This gave me more room for treasures and healing items. As I got deeper into the story, I became something of a merchant myself, bringing interesting items and snacks to those who would buy them. I also found myself working on my stealth skills and became quite a sneaky nuclear fallout trash goblin.
Final Score – 9/10
Atomfall is a terrifying, rewarding, and heart-pounding survival game. It is perfect for fans of interesting cultural elements in games and will test all your skills and each of your nerves are you discover the secrets and horrors of the world.
Atomfall is like stepping into an old-school sci-fi adventure. If you were a fan of Star Trek, Doctor Who, or other classic shows with an element of unsettling horror elements, this is definitely a game you won’t want to miss.
The game is visually stunning and will leave you hungry to find and learn every secret that is tucked away in the open-world map.
**Bonus Action was provided with a Steam PC code of Atomfall for the purpose of this review**
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