Atomfall Review - Nuclear Friction: A Deep Dive into Rebellion’s Ambitious Survival Shooter

At Gaming News, we pride ourselves on delivering the most comprehensive and insightful reviews to help you navigate the vast landscape of modern gaming. Today, we turn our attention to Atomfall, the much-anticipated open-world survival shooter developed by Rebellion. This title boldly promises a challenging experience, aiming to make player success feel earned through demanding gameplay mechanics and a stark, post-apocalyptic vision of Britain. While Atomfall undoubtedly strives for greatness, achieving a delicate balance between its core survival elements, exploration, and narrative ambition, we found that its execution, while often compelling, occasionally falters under the weight of its own design choices. Prepare yourself for a deep dive into the nuclear friction that defines Atomfall.

Unveiling the Grim Reality of Atomfall’s Open World

Atomfall transports players to a chillingly plausible alternate history of the United Kingdom, years after the Second World War. The narrative hook is undeniably potent: a clandestine British discovery, intended to tip the scales of the Cold War, unleashes a catastrophic and uniquely dangerous phenomenon. This leads to the government establishing a heavily guarded quarantine zone, effectively walling off an entire region and its inhabitants. This premise, rich with potential for exploring human resilience, moral ambiguity, and the psychological toll of extreme isolation, forms the bedrock of Atomfall’s setting. We were initially captivated by the lore, envisioning a narrative that would delve into the desperate measures and evolving social structures within such a confined and perilous environment.

However, as we ventured deeper into the desolate landscapes surrounding Wyndham, the game’s primary settlement, it became apparent that this compelling concept was, for the most part, underutilized. The opportunity to truly explore the depths of human nature under duress, a central theme that Atomfall seems to grasp at, is largely squandered. Instead, the game presents us with familiar archetypes that, while functional, lack the distinctive edge needed to elevate them beyond genre conventions. We encountered a standard military organization, a faction of seemingly devout pagan druids, and a collection of anarchistic outlaws. While these groups inhabit the world and offer quests, their motivations and internal complexities are rarely explored beyond their superficial archetypes. This shallowness leaves the world feeling less like a lived-in, desperate community and more like a collection of predictable hostile elements.

A Protagonist Adrift: The Narrative Void in Atomfall

A significant hurdle we encountered in our Atomfall experience was the protagonist’s lack of intrinsic motivation. Upon waking within the quarantine zone, the player character finds themselves with no memories and no pre-existing connections to the world or its inhabitants. While this setup can be a powerful tool for player immersion, allowing players to project themselves onto the character and discover the world anew, in Atomfall, it primarily results in a narrative void. Without any personal stake in the unfolding events, player actions often feel driven by a generalized curiosity rather than genuine investment in the overarching plot. When tasked with rescuing individuals, eliminating threats, or even simply escaping the confines of the quarantine, these objectives are pursued less out of a developed understanding of the stakes and more out of an abstract desire to see what happens next.

This sense of detachment is exacerbated by the game’s primary quest-giver. This elusive entity communicates through a disembodied voice on a telephone, a narrative device that, while adding a layer of mystery, ultimately fails to provide any meaningful emotional anchor. Regardless of the player’s choices or exploration, this voice invariably directs the narrative, maintaining a constant presence without ever fostering a genuine connection. The game’s conclusion, which leaves the identity and motivations of this disembodied voice frustratingly unresolved, further amplifies the feeling that the narrative was more of a framework for gameplay than a compelling story in its own right. We yearned for a deeper narrative thread, something that would truly pull us through the challenging gameplay, but instead, we often felt like passive observers in a world that promised so much more.

World Interaction: Echoes in the Silence of Wyndham

The dearth of meaningful NPC interaction outside of explicit quest-givers also contributes significantly to the feeling of isolation, and not always in a positive way. As we traversed the streets of Wyndham, attempting to absorb the atmosphere and understand the daily lives of its inhabitants, we were met with little more than blank stares and an unnerving silence. The residents of Wyndham, rather than engaging in conversation or displaying any discernible reaction to the player’s presence, seem to exist in a state of suspended animation, their existence primarily serving as potential obstacles or targets. The only interactive option available for most NPCs is to incapacitate them, mirroring the gameplay mechanics typically reserved for hostile guards. This limited interaction model makes it difficult to truly feel connected to the world or its people, turning what should be vibrant communities into inert backdrops for combat.

When venturing beyond the relative safety of designated areas, the hostility escalates dramatically. Enemies from various factions are quick to engage, their aggression dictating the pace of exploration. Much of the game’s lore and environmental storytelling is conveyed through scavenged scraps of paper, found on the remains of deceased individuals. While this method of delivering narrative tidbits can be effective in certain contexts, in Atomfall, it often feels like a substitute for genuine interaction. Piecing together fragmented notes and diaries can be a rewarding experience, but it’s a poor replacement for dynamic character encounters and meaningful dialogue that could have brought the world and its plight to life. We found ourselves struggling to forge any real connection with the individuals whose stories were being told through these scattered documents, making the world feel distant and the struggles within it less impactful.

The Allure of Exploration: Atomfall’s Sectioned Open Areas

Where Atomfall truly begins to shine is in its gameplay, particularly when it comes to exploration. The game eschews a single, sprawling open world for a series of interconnected, sectioned-off open areas. This design choice, while not a true open-world experience in the traditional sense, fits Atomfall’s more modest scope exceptionally well. Each distinct area is crafted with care, presenting unique environmental challenges and opportunities for discovery. Quests often direct players towards significant landmarks within these zones, prompting a critical engagement with the surroundings. Even when the map clearly indicates a destination, players are encouraged to meticulously scan their environment, relying on visual cues and environmental details as much as the in-game map. This approach fosters a genuine sense of exploration, where the journey to a waypoint is as important as reaching it.

The mission structure itself reinforces this focus on player engagement. Objectives are frequently presented in a non-linear fashion, requiring players to piece together clues from conversations, discovered documents, and environmental observations to fully understand their tasks. This encourages a deeper immersion in the world, forcing players to pay attention to the details and think critically about how to proceed. We found this aspect of Atomfall to be consistently rewarding. The game trusts the player to uncover information and make their own way, a refreshing approach in an era often dominated by overly guided experiences. The feeling of successfully deciphering a complex objective through careful exploration and information gathering is a significant highlight.

Survival’s Grasp: Resource Management and Real-Time Threats

The survival elements woven into Atomfall’s gameplay are another area where the game demonstrates considerable strength, keeping players deeply invested in their immediate surroundings. Resources are intentionally scarce, forcing a constant and often desperate search for essential supplies. Everything found in the game world is either scavenged from fallen enemies, carefully crafted from gathered ingredients, or acquired through limited bartering with the few wary traders scattered throughout the zones. We cannot overstate the number of times we found ourselves frantically rummaging through abandoned structures, driven by the urgent need for just one more piece of cloth to craft a vital bandage. This scarcity breeds a palpable sense of tension and urgency, making every discovered item feel like a small victory.

The real-time nature of crafting, healing, and weapon management adds another layer of intensity. The game does not pause for you to take a breath, apply a medkit, or reload your weapon. This necessitates finding safe corners, moments of relative quiet, to frantically prepare for the next encounter. The thrill of hiding in a dilapidated building, desperately crafting a handful of grenades while the distant sounds of combat grow closer, is a consistent source of adrenaline. This design choice effectively amplifies the stakes and forces players to make split-second decisions under pressure, further immersing them in the harsh reality of Atomfall’s world.

The Brutality of Combat: Precision, Power, and Peril

Atomfall’s firearms feel remarkably satisfying to handle. The feedback and impact of each shot contribute to a visceral combat experience. We particularly appreciated the deliberate reloading mechanics of many weapons, such as the rifle and the shotgun, which require individual chambering of each new round. This forces players to be mindful of their ammunition count, making every bullet a precious commodity. The scarcity of ammunition enhances the power of each shot, and the game brilliantly reinforces this by making missed shots a moment of potential despair that must be overcome in pursuit of a satisfying headshot.

The minimal HUD further contributes to the immersion. To check the remaining ammunition in your firearm, the player character must physically look into the gun’s chamber, observing the rounds left. These small, nuanced touches are instrumental in maintaining player immersion and grounding the experience in a sense of gritty realism. However, this commitment to realism also means that combat is exceptionally unforgiving. A mere handful of well-placed shots can prove fatal, a design choice that can be particularly frustrating when facing off against larger groups of enemies, especially in the early stages of the game. Thankfully, Atomfall does offer robust difficulty customization options, allowing players to tune the experience to their specific needs and tolerance for challenge.

Stealth’s Shortcomings: A Flawed Foundation

Given the unforgiving nature of direct combat, stealth presents itself as an appealing alternative for players who wish to maintain a more measured approach to Atomfall. Unfortunately, the game’s stealth mechanics are noticeably underdeveloped and ultimately fail to provide a reliable or consistently enjoyable option. The player’s primary tool for avoiding detection is the simple act of crouching, a mechanic that is significantly hampered by the infrequent and often inadequate patches of tall grass, which rarely provide sufficient cover. Compounding this issue are the enemies’ remarkably long lines of sight. We frequently found ourselves detected by opponents who were still unseen by us, making proactive engagement and avoidance incredibly difficult.

To compensate for these shortcomings, we found ourselves resorting to the game’s accessibility settings, activating detection markers that display floating red skulls above enemy heads. While this did allow us to better react to incoming threats, it undermined the intended stealth experience. Furthermore, almost any action taken in proximity to enemies, even the seemingly discreet takedown of an unsuspecting foe, immediately alerts nearby combatants. This design choice effectively negates the tactical advantage of stealth, forcing players into reactive combat scenarios regardless of their intentions.

The Skill Progression Conundrum: Unlocking Potential

Our attempts at a subtle approach were ultimately abandoned, leading us to adopt a more aggressive, guns-blazing strategy. However, even this proved to be ill-advised in many scenarios. Charging headlong into enemy encampments often resulted in swift and repeated deaths, necessitating a cycle of risky maneuvers and frequent reloads. The alternative, a functional stealth system, simply did not exist in a viable form.

The progression system in Atomfall, specifically the way skills are unlocked and upgraded, is another area that proved to be a significant frustration. Skills are not unlocked through a traditional experience-point-based system. Instead, players must discover “training manuals” scattered throughout the world. These manuals, upon discovery, add new abilities to an upgrade menu that can then be purchased using a scarce resource known as “Training Stimulants.” While the act of discovering these hidden manuals can be an exciting moment, the absence of a clear, experience-driven progression path makes it incredibly easy to miss entire skill trees. This can lead to frustrating roadblocks and a less enjoyable overall experience. We found ourselves lamenting the inability to even see the categories of skills we hadn’t unlocked, such as the stealth tree, which could have guided our exploration and made the game more manageable. It is difficult to imagine an experience where we hadn’t stumbled upon the crucial manuals for weapon upgrades or increased crafting supply capacity.

The Verdict: A Flawed Gem with Lingering Potential

Despite our criticisms, we want to be clear that our time with Atomfall was not a regretful one. The game possesses a clear vision of what it aims to be, and it largely succeeds in delivering a reasonable scope with solid shooting mechanics. The core gameplay loop of exploration, resource management, and tense combat is, at its best, incredibly compelling. However, the significant issues we encountered with the skill system, the underdeveloped stealth mechanics, and an ultimately unengaging narrative cast a shadow over the game’s considerable strengths. These problems are not minor inconveniences; they are substantial asterisks that cannot be easily ignored.

Like the desolate world it so meticulously depicts, a core of something exciting and unique lies within Atomfall. We believe that Rebellion has the foundations for a truly remarkable survival shooter. However, it is currently walled off by a frustrating array of design choices that hinder the player’s ability to fully appreciate its potential. For players seeking a challenging survival experience with satisfying gunplay and a world that rewards meticulous exploration, Atomfall may still offer an engaging, albeit occasionally infuriating, journey. We hope that future updates or sequels might address some of these shortcomings and allow the true brilliance of Atomfall’s concept to fully emerge from the nuclear friction.

Score: 7/10

Reviewed on: PlayStation 5 Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC Publisher: Rebellion Developments Developer: Rebellion