Atomfall Review 

Atomfall is quite the change in direction from Rebellion's Golden Goose which is the Sniper Elite series but this exciting and courageous endeavour is certainly a successful one in my book.

Atomfall is like a mix of many games including the player freedom that allows you to tackle quests in any way you want akin to Fallout: New Vegas, a Far Cry-like exploration with beautifully designed environments and many paths you can take. It's also a game with many dungeons to explore and find loot, a strong story with great mystery and a unique British countryside setting that won't stop taking your breath away.

It isn't all great tho as all these combinations mean Atomfall lacks a true identity in terms of gameplay but that certainly isn't a dealbreaker. The clunky combat and annoying survival mechanics would probably be on the top of my list of things that Atomfall doesn't quite get right. 

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Atomfall's has one of the most unique settings in gaming

You play as an unnamed scientist who wakes up in a bunker inside a quarantine zone after a major disaster struck a small town in Cumbria, the North West of England. You have no memory of ever entering this place so from there, you can either start discovering the secrets behind the events that occurred in the nearby power plant or try to leave the quarantine zone as quickly as possible. 

And this is probably the biggest beauty of Atomfall, apart from its gorgeous visuals and art direction. Atomfall will literally allow you to do anything you want. You can skip the traditional main story path entirely and go explore on your own, finding clues about what happened and do things on your own, without the help of anyone. 

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Atomfall doesn't feature traditional quest design, instead, you'll collect clues to figure out your next move

The game does not have a traditional quest design, instead, you'll find leads in the wild and by talking to NPCs and use that knowledge to plan your next move.  It's truly exceptional and it really hit me when I suddenly stumbled upon the most important location for the story by simply exploring. Think of it like when you first entered a random cave in Skyrim, hoping it would be a small dungeon with some chest at the end, only to end up in Blackreach. Similar moments can be found in Atomfall.

The world is populated by different factions and all of them have their own plans for the quarantine zone and how it should be set up. From forest people who think they're communicating with the soil to firm officers patrolling the street alongside their big and scary mechs. Rebellion managed to nail the worldbuilding, making Atomfall's setting feel real and alive at every corner. 

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Atomfall's world feels believable at every corner

Another thing that Atomfall does quite differently is how you level up and get skill points. There's no traditional levelling system here, the game won't reward you with a new skill point every time you collect enough experience points. 

Atomfall doesn't have any of that, instead, it encourages you to explore and find manuals that unlock skills trees.. So for example, there's a Stealth manual you can find which will unlock a Stealth Skill tree with several stealth skills. You can then activate these skills with Training Stimulants, a key item that is also scattered throughout the world. 

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Stealth is a viable option in Atomfall

I found this design to be a breath of fresh air after playing so many games with pretty much identical progression systems. And the best thing about Atomfall's system is that you can beat the game without a single activated skill. To my knowledge and based on my playthrough, I'm also certain you don't have to kill anyone in the game to reach your goal. Who doesn't love it when games do that?

One of the reasons why you might want to skip killing people in this game is the combat, which is not great, to be frank. This is especially true for melee combat which never feels satisfying no matter which weapon you use and there's a handful of these including axes, maces, police batons and so on. Ranged combat is better, offering pistols, shotguns, assault rifles, and bows. 

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Atomfall offers pistols, rifles, bows and many other ranged weapon types

My playstyle usually consisted of stealth with my bow taking care of most of the enemies from the distance. The enemy AI is pretty dumb so you won't have a problem taking them down regardless of your weapon of choice but it's safe to say that ranged is when they are the most desperate, heading into the same cover their buddy had before he got shot. It's the usual bad video game AI stuff you've seen in hundreds of other games. 

Atomfall's level design offers various gameplay possibilities with many paths you can take to reach the objective. For example, I discovered this large castle in one part of the map that one faction used as a base. 

As I explored the castle, I discovered a large underground cave system which opened up a completely new path I could've taken. As I explored more, I discovered even more ways I could've explored this location.

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Atomfall is jam-packed with mysteries to explore

CONCLUSION

I really hope Atomfall becomes a huge success for Rebellion so we get a bigger and better sequel in the coming years. I fell in love with this world and despite some drawbacks in gameplay, Atomfall is full of charm and quality which is why I'll easily recommend this one.

If you have an active Game Pass subscription, I'd say you should definitely check it out, especially if first-person action games are your thing.