Atomfall: Nuclear Apocalypse with an Earl Grey Flavor

Atomfall has been a hit with fans of the survival and post-apocalyptic adventure genre since its announcement. Rebellion, the studio known for the Sniper Elite series, has decided to move away from sniper themes and Nazis to immerse players in the atmosphere of an alternative 1960s Great Britain, where the world has changed after the disaster at the Windscale nuclear power plant (if anything, this is a real accident that occurred in 1957).

Expectations were high: an original story, a British flavor, and a serious approach to survival in isolation and radiation threats. Among the avalanche of releases in 2025, Atomfall looks like Rebellion's attempt to go beyond the usual and create something atmospheric, gloomy, and unique in its own way. Did it succeed? Let's figure it out.

Plot and atmosphere

Atomfall takes place in an alternate version of Britain in the early 1960s, where an accident has occurred at the real Windscale nuclear power plant. In this scenario, the government has not only failed to deal with the aftermath of the accident, but has also begun to cover up the extent of the disaster, isolating the region and using emergency measures that have only made the situation worse. All of this creates a depressing, almost paranoid backdrop that sets the tone for the entire game.

The player finds himself in a world that resembles something between rural England and the exclusion zone - with abandoned villages, strange cults, armed patrols and incomprehensible scientific experiments. The world breathes the British flavor of the mid-20th century. There are also bright red telephone boxes, which, by the way, play a significant role in guiding the player and the development of the story. Retro-futuristic elements refer to the classic seasons of Doctor Who and other British science fiction of the 20th century, such as the works of John Wyndham.

The atmosphere of the game is its main trump card. It does not impose itself, but slowly eats into the subconscious: through torn pages of documents, eerie radio broadcasts, the sensations of discovering new corners of each location, and infrequent silent NPCs who are afraid to say too much. And that is why the world of Atomfall makes you want to explore it, despite its dangers.

The plot doesn't lead by the handle, but is explained through small quests-clues. Because of this, the adventure itself looks like a detective story, because the main character woke up without memory in some bunker and from the input data he only had a key card to other bunkers. He needs to solve the causes of the disaster that happened and find a way out of the quarantine zone.

Yes, there is nothing unusual here. As with most of the side stories in the game. However, they are presented through research, lead to various locations and do not let you get bored. The only thing that can get boring is some graphomania of the authors in terms of notes and other documents, which are used to present most of the plot and tasks. The settings here are minimal, and even the dialogues with NPCs are made using the "talking head" technique. However, all these side quests are annoying and constantly distract from the main task. But sometimes they help in its completion, because they lead to places where you can get new clues in the investigation or new means and tools for exploring the world.

Only in the later part of the game does backtracking through old locations appear. This allows you to get to places that were inaccessible at the beginning. However, without fast travel methods, it is better to plan a route to points of interest and tasks in advance. And this may not be so easy, because there are no markers on the map. Only marks of places that have information in notes, or where the player has already been himself. Fortunately, you can put your own notes on the map - this greatly simplifies navigation.

Gameplay and mechanics

The core of Atomfall gameplay is world exploration. There are several locations in the game that you can theoretically get to right from the start of the game, but it's not that simple. This is primarily a game about exploration and survival, which means the world will actively oppose the player, and the objectives of the investigations and new locations still need to be found and a way to get inside. There are several factions of locals in the game who have remained locked in the quarantine zone, and most of them are hostile to the hero. In addition to people, the danger is posed by hostile fauna, zones infected with radiation, poison or spores, and a bunch of other factors.

Survival is another gameplay pillar of Atomfall, but it is not as hardcore as in more complex representatives of the genre. There are no mechanics of hunger, cold, and the like. However, you should not neglect food, because it restores health after another fight with enemy creatures. And before each exit to a new unexplored area, you need to prepare by stocking up on weapons, ammunition, various medicines and tonics. The looting system helps a lot in this, where you have to get everything from fallen enemies and rummage through the nooks and crannies of rooms and caves. You can craft what you can't pick up. Crafting items here is also not too hardcore, but it requires finding and studying the appropriate recipes - you can't do without them.

For crafting, there is a set of ingredients, from different combinations of which, if you have a recipe, you can get various explosives, healing items and weapons. Another survival mechanic is character leveling. Here, instead of experience, leveling stimulators are used, which are also loot items. They are often found in closed bunkers, as they will come across on the way by chance, or on some quest. They can also, like recipes, be a reward for completing tasks.

A metal detector will come in handy when searching for valuables. It occupies a dedicated slot in your inventory and is activated near a cache in the ground. You can take it out and walk around the area to find a stash, which can contain simple ingredients, as well as important components or recipes for crafting.

Leveling is non-linear, which means that certain skills can only be obtained after studying a manual that opens the corresponding branch. Because the game does not lead by the hand and allows you to freely explore the world, these same recipes, manuals and stimulants can be found in different places, not just in the selected one. So, even if you miss a Molotov cocktail recipe or a potion somewhere, there is still a chance to find the same one in another location.

And although survival does not turn into an endless rummaging through the inventory, the balance between the atmosphere and the mechanics is maintained quite well. However, it is not ideal - the inventory is very limited, it cannot be expanded. What to keep, what to throw away, or not to take at all are regular dilemmas of Atomfall. So the player always feels vulnerable, but not helpless.

Combat system

But what really makes Atomfall feel helpless and frustrating is the local combat system. If you remember the great shooting from the Sniper Elite series, forget it, it's not here. Instead of deadly weapons, there are powder sticks. Yes, after a while, the rusty single-shot rifle and shotgun can be replaced first with a double-barreled and a "bolt", and then with more deadly specimens. However, the whole experience leaves an unpleasant aftertaste.

There are different types of weapons in Atomfall: pistols, shotguns, rifles, bows and machine guns. At first, the player finds them in poor condition and rusty, so you shouldn't expect them to be effective. But even with the improvement in the quality of the found weapons, shooting them doesn't become more enjoyable. They do very little damage. Aiming from the first person is inconvenient. And the animation of reloading or drawing the bowstring is interrupted by any unnecessary movement. And when a crowd of aggressive bandits with bats runs at you, the first thing that comes to mind is to run and hide, because open combat doesn't promise anything pleasant.

Enemies often come in groups. There are grotesque bandits patrolling their territories. There is a faction of druids who worship the earth and use only melee weapons and bows. They often set up ambushes. There are also soldiers who are neutral to the hero if left alone. It happens that bandits can clash with soldiers and start a firefight, or druids can attack a bandit patrol.

There are also mysterious zombie-like creatures that emerged after the disaster. They attack in melee, but they deal a lot of damage and absorb a fair amount of hits.

The bad guys have bats, knives, axes of various sizes, and other more unusual weapons for hand-to-hand combat. The player can pick them up and use them as well. But here everything is no better than with firearms, because everything happens very slowly and the damage to enemies is not much. Also, the local endurance system does not allow you to roam around. Instead of a stamina scale, there is a heartbeat, as its growth slows down the character's movements, blows, aiming, and so on. And endurance is spent very quickly and with any action - from jumping and running to pulling a bowstring.

The intelligence of the opponents is primitive to the point of absurdity. When they see the player, they simply run towards him and stop in an open space at the distance needed to attack. If it is a rifle or bow, then further, if a shotgun, then at a medium distance, and if a melee weapon, then they run up point blank. Most of them, of course, run with various types of crowbars and knives, so obviously they will just run up and crowd beat the player without the opportunity to fight back.

This, of course, can be avoided. After all, Atomfall has stealth, but it could also be better. Added to the previous problems with enemy AI is their X-ray vision and super hearing. If there were more cover for stealth in the location, and not just grass, it might not have been so scary. However, not this time. Light melee weapons can be thrown at enemies, but they don't do much damage and rather give away the player's position and destroy stealth. The bow is also a problem. It is, of course, silent and kills ordinary enemies with two shots, but it is simply inconvenient to use. After the excellent implementations of such weapons in the Far Cry series, or the same Skyrim, the local system with stamina and animations that are constantly interrupted, does not allow you to feel comfortable and open the bow to the fullest.

This is not a shooter or a pure-blooded action game to delve so deeply into the combat system. However, it seems that it is incomplete here, or is designed not to help with the exploration of the world, but rather to limit the player, forcing them into a framework.

The elephant in the room

Let's notice the elephant in the room: Atomfall resembles S.T.A.L.K.E.R. in many aspects. Yes, there are many parallels here, because this is an immersion in a strange, but at the same time familiar world, where everything went wrong, and it is unclear what the real threat is: nature, the government, or the inhabitants themselves, who have divided into factions "according to interests". However, in Atomfall everything is permeated with British restraint, phlegmaticity and the style of post-war Europe, which gives the project its own face. And the more empty world sometimes catches up with a meditative mood. The unique atmosphere is also contributed by the visual and sound part of the game.

And if you turn on your imagination a little, you can feel the Fallout vibes with an unexplored wasteland. Moreover, there is even a Fallout London mod that immerses players in a nuclear post-apocalypse with a British flavor.

Audiovisual

Everything is more than in order here. Technically, the seemingly simple, but beautifully stylized picture emphasizes the atmosphere very well and conveys the spirit of the place and era. The green-gray landscapes of northern England serve as a wonderful backdrop for contrasting telephone booths, the bizarre appearance of painted bandits or strict and brutal industrial buildings. And the dark leaden sky hangs as if it is about to explode with a downpour.

Sound takes a special place in the immersion into the atmosphere. There is no background music here that will be remembered or remain in the playlist. But the ambient in the background and the sounds of the "zone" nicely complement the picture and orientate in space.

Atomfall's technical side is at its best. The game runs great on a mid-range PC with an RTX 3070 at high settings and still delivers 90 FPS at 1440p. It also looks great and runs smoothly on Xbox Series X. The few bugs from the release were quickly patched.

Conclusion

Let's be honest, it won't become a cult game like STALKER or Fallout. However, Atomfall doesn't try to jump above its head. The game promises an interesting exploration of a unique world full of mysteries and secrets. And it does this perfectly and even more. It does it unobtrusively, doesn't lead the player by the hand and lets him decide for himself how to play. Which task to take and do and which not. Despite the problems with the combat system and enemy behavior, Atomfall is a convincing, atmospheric game with survival elements that is definitely worth trying for STALKER fans who have already gone through the second part, and everyone else who is interested in exploration and an unusual setting. Especially when you can play it as part of a Game Pass subscription on PC or Xbox.