Atomfall

A biblically accurate UK simulator. You can drink tea eat cornish pasties and a cricket bat is arguably the best weapon in the game

i had fun with this i have nothing particularly good or bad to say about this game its just decent

7/10

A single player game that requires an internet connection to play, which isn't listed in the store page.

Atomfall isn't good or bad enough to elicit any emotion beyond boredom. This game is just there. It begs me to care and I just can't. Unexceptional in every way imaginable while being confused in its design. It's an open world, survival, detective, stealth, action, RPG-lite, adventure game and it does none of these things well.

The open world is lifeless with constantly respawning enemies and no dynamics to its fairly small and largely empty zones separated by loading screens. The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. comparisons are laughable. The AI doesn't have half the complexity of the original Shadow of Chernobyl from almost 20 years ago. What you see is what you get.

The survival mechanics are nonexistent. Ammo, weapons, healing items, crafting materials, explosives are so plentiful even on the intended difficulty that I found myself having to leave valuable items behind because I either didn't have the space for it thanks to the incredibly stingy inventory system or because I had too much of it. Food might as well not exist. It just gives health, which is pointless given you can craft bandages that heal you for far more. Bartering is a massive waste of time. They have nothing to offer you can't just find yourself and they demand way too much to get it. I wasted so much time grabbing enough expendable crap to trade for a metal detector just to find one lying around in the same zone.

As a detective game, I found tracking leads to be very compelling initially as the game gives no clear direction emphasizing exploration and non-linear story progression. I respect the approach of forcing you to actually read notes and mark your map to find out what to do and where to go. Unfortunately, the many leads you accumulate don't have much depth beyond going to the place mentioned in a letter and looking for an item or person. There's no problem solving involved. It's pretty simple. Some forensics gameplay akin to Condemned or Shadows of Doubt would have made the gameplay more engaging. Perhaps a deduction board like the Sherlock Holmes games would have been cool. That's not what we got here. It's just a more classic way of handling quests.

As a stealth game, I'm shocked and appalled at how poor the stealth mechanics are. This is the same dev behind the excellent Sniper Elite games which I believe to be the best ongoing stealth franchise at the moment. Those games are tense with deep stealth mechanics. This game has less than half of what even the original Sniper Elite had. You can't hide bodies. There's no visibility mechanic. No sound masking. You can't decide between lethal and non lethal takedowns. You can't set traps, but enemies can. You can't even throw distractions despite empty bottles being EVERYWHERE. You can hide in tall grass and the game will mark you hidden, but even taller foliage like shrubs and bushes don't do the same. What kind of sense does that make? The AI is braindead. They can spot you crouched in darkness from half a mile away, but have all the peripheral vision of a telescope. They seemingly hear everything unless you invest heavily in stealth, but why would I want to engage more in this poor stealth system? Even the AVP games had better stealth. Did Rebellion forget how to do this?

The action gameplay was so poorly thought out, it makes me wonder why they even bothered. And don't tell me "this isn't an action game". When the game lets you invest skill points in being better at melee and ranged combat, it's a viable play style encouraged by the devs. It's just badly designed like everything else here. They literally labeled Atomfall "a new survival-ACTION game". The melee combat is literally just kicking and slashing with a charged attack. No dodge. No block. No parry. No grapple. It feels terrible. The guns feel and sound weak. Crazy considering this team made AVP which had awesome gunplay and melee combat. There's very little weapon variety with no unique creative high tech weaponry to reflect the retro sci-fi setting. It's all conventional weaponry. Huge missed opportunity. There's not much enemy variety either and none of them are interesting or unique. They basically copied the leeches from Half Life and the rats from Dishonored. The killer robots walking around feel like they were snatched straight out of Fallout. This game has no real identity to speak of.

The RPG mechanics consist of finding skill points to spend on skills that must be unlocked via magazines you barter for or find. It's serviceable, but it feels tacked on. With how certain playstyles are discouraged like combat, why even have skills for them and not more skills for useful things like expanding the inventory or increasing your painfully slow speed or blocking or dodging? Too many forgettable passive skills you don't really need.

As an adventure game, there are no puzzles. There are no memorable characters. I guess because you're allowed to kill everyone, they figure why bother having a cast of interesting characters. Exploration is unrewarding. You get hit with a lot of the same loot that you probably don't have any space for. Adventure games also thrive in presentation. This game looks unimpressive from an art direction and technical standpoint. The old comics and posters you find feel authentic, but the extremely dated character models, forgettable soundtrack, and flat lighting take away from any atmosphere this game could have. Northern Journey on a technical level is far behind Atomfall, but the art direction makes that game look gorgeous and atmospheric with its lovely soundtrack and ambiance. Also, the blurry textures scattered around the environment had me wondering if they're just not loading properly or it's supposed to look like a ps2 game. The story was at least told in a compelling enough way to hold my attention, but the gameplay made me wanna quit. The tedium is real. I do appreciate the commitment to the UK setting in the voice acting and dialogue. Far more authentic than Watch Dogs Legion's embarrassing attempt at recreating British culture. The thick accents and dialects with region specific slang made for an immersive experience.

Atomfall has the makings of a cult classic, but cult classics are usually polarizing and loved in spite of their issues. I can't say I feel that way here. I just didn't have fun. I would prefer a more focused title with a much more limited scope like Pathologic or the old S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games which largely played to their strengths and left out any unnecessary filler. Atomfall does too much with too little and suffers as a result. Very disappointed. If you want a good investigation game, go play The Darkest Files. It costs much less.

First things first: if you are expecting the depth of STALKER, or the length of Fallout, you won't get it here. This is a AA.5 (is that a thing?) game, made to be a brisk 20 hours or so. And that's a GOOD THING.

STALKER super fans (myself included) won't find Atomfall very hard--select Veteran difficulty for the most fun challenge, and it's still pretty easy--but they will find a lot to love about the world. The voice acting, writing, environmental design, sound design, and everything else are crafted with the utmost care and love--this is a game made by people who love the genre.

Addressing some of the complaints I've seen negative reviews make:

1. If you're complaining that this game is too short, ask yourself what that means in 2025. This is not a $70, big studio game. Do you really need 200+ hours in every game? As an adult, I find that exhausting. A crisp, well-made 20-hour game is far preferable to me. Maybe that's a personal take, but I find it refreshing when a developer doesn't add bloat just to expand the runtime.

2. Yes, the gunplay isn't as good as STALKER. But nothing is--that's why we all love STALKER so much. I still find so much to enjoy here. The gun selection is neat and makes sense diagetically, and it's uber-satisfying to pop Outlaws or Protocol soldiers before they even notice you. And no, the RPG elements aren't Fallout-level. But this is a survival game first and foremost.

3. On that note, yes the stealth is flawed. I'd say it plays far more akin to Far Cry than Fallout, but the AI needs a little work. Still, I found it to be a small aggravation that didn't take away from the game as a whole.

4. I think folks who are disappointed with the endings or story need to read more books. Seriously. Maybe start with Roadside Picnic (the inspiration for STALKER--both the games and the Tarkovsky film). Are things answered clearly there? No! The goal isn't a neat story wrapped up like a Marvel movie. Maybe I sound harsh here, but I'm getting tired of childish critiques of stories that don't hold your hand intellectually. No, this isn't a literary masterpiece like the Strugatsky novel. But it's meant to give your imagination room to breathe. Take a day off to reflect on the story, and fill in the gaps yourself! Also, I detected hints of A Clockwork Orange and Riddley Walker--particularly the latter. I wouldn't be surprised if the devs took inspiration from those books, too!

Okay, that's my spiel. I don't write a lot of reviews, but found myself infuriated by some of the negative ones I saw here. Atomfall is not a perfect game, but its a damn good one, and one that is refreshing in a sea of bloated AAA titles. Plus, the accessibility settings are awesome--more room for different types of gamers is always a good thing!

Cheers, and enjoy exploring the Zone!

Atomfall ultimately is the game equivalent of the snake biting its own tail. It suffers from limited scope - which is understandable for a relatively indie action-RPG - but still doesn't manage to excel at what it did focus on.

I'll explain.

If you play Atomfall expecting it to be a Bethesda (or, more apt, Obsidian) level triple-A RPG, you will not be happy with what you get. Atomfall is, however, a well written story with the trappings of various systems muddled together but none of which really shine. Because of this, it never feels novel anywhere. There's nothing new or refreshing here. It's like someone had a checklist and on it was 'Combat', 'Story', 'Talent Points' and Rebellion just went down the line. What you get is table steaks. Are table steaks bad? Not necessarily, I can smother that A1 if I need to but sadly Atomfall is abundantly lacking in A1 so all we're left with is bland, rote, and familiar.

What I Enjoyed:

- The story was well written and easy to follow. It slow-drips just enough information to keep you interested without drowning you in an overabundance of garbage that doesn't move the plot along.
- The guns in the game are very well done in the sense that they are meaty, loud, and brash. They feel good to use, there's a weight there that I appreciate.
- The landscape and setting with a sort of 'hub' in the Interchange was well thought out and, for the most part, pretty to look at.

What I Didnt Enjoy:

- The ending of the game is terrible. The last 2 hours were just a mind-boggling series of me going 'Why?'. There is no 'end boss'. The decision tree concludes in, literally, a 90second cut scene. Nothing is explained (and I read every bit of lore I could).
- Combat is awful, specifically the AI. Enemies just slowly plod along at you and you can basically just hug a corner and shoot them in the head forever. On the hardest difficulty, nothing posed a challenge. Enemies would get stuck in loops (walk forward then backward), get snagged on the world, stop moving entirely. Like, its bad. It feels like a college level computer science degrees final project...
- Melee combat is similarly jank. All you can do is swing, swing hard, and kick. Thats it. No block, no parry, no melee skills or abilities. So on the off chance you decide to melee, its pretty much a game of whack a mole - its just lifeless and uninspired.
- Graphically the world is pretty but feels overly sharpened, like someone jacked up the contrast to 200%. It gives off this weird sense that everything is out of place or fake. Nothing is soft, the aliasing feels unusually weak and everything feels like a stop-motion picture. Hard to explain.
- There is a serious shortage of enemy types in Atomfall. It basically boils down to about 5 - humanoids (Outlaws, Druids, Protocol, Thralls), Ferals, Bots, Mantraps, and Turrets. That's it. There's not a single animal in the game and 95% of the time you will be killing the same humanoids using the same weapons saying the same voice lines from hour 2 through hour 20. I was honestly shocked at how few enemy types there were, pretty wild.
- All of the talent points feel absolutely worthless. None of them unlock skills, its just 'you have more hp' or 'you have less recoil' or 'you craft things faster'. Absolutely nothing in that tree felt impactful. It was so anti-climatic ... Id be all stoked to get a new talent only to feel like absolutely nothing changed. "Oh yay I take less burn damage from the 4 enemies in the entire game that actually do fire damage..."
- The world itself feels very dead. NPC's rarely move, if they do its very scripted. You can't interact with anything besides crates and doors. Theres no weather or day/night cycle. Despite 25 hours of gametime, it was bright and sunny the entire time. There are no dynamic events to join. The world itself doesn't ever change, you're just a chess piece moving across the board. You'll hear plenty of animals as background noise and never see a one. Outside of the quirky and jovial English NPC's and their voice lines, the world is just....dead.

At the end of the day I fully understand that not every RPG can be the size and scope of a Baldurs Gate or Avowed and I appreciate that. Money doesn't grow on trees, projects take time, resources are limited. But where Atomfall falls short is even accepting this and limiting its scope, what it DID keep off the cutting room floor isn't exciting, new, or, dare I say, fun.

I could recommend getting this at a substantial discount knowing its a roughly 20 hour story driven romp but beyond that I am, unfortunately disappointed with Atomfall and can't, at this time, give it the ole steam thumbs up.

British campy scifi meets the unsettling atmosphere of British horror.

Atomfall is not English Fallout, don't go into it thinking it's like a Bethesda RPG. This is an action mystery investigation game with layers upon layers of conspiracies and 'trustworthy' factions. This is a game for the curious who constantly want to dig deeper to find the truth of a mysterious disaster caused by something that few know about or truly understand.

The world is gorgeous and well thought out. And unlike any of Bethesda's Fallout's, the game isn't a buggy mess which crashes anytime you open a door.

Mechanically, the game has some rough spots, it's far easier to stealth and shoot rather than stealth and melee. The melee combat is rough around the edges, however the game is not reliant on it, with pistols, shotguns, smg's, rifles and grenades being the main source of combat ability players are likely to find in their inventory. Despite how fun it is to use the cricket bat.

Compared to the massive blockbuster movie that is Fallout, Atomfall is much more like a late 1960's British Scifi film that was made on a moderate budget with most of the crew from the old Dr. Who series, yes it's campy, yes it's a little rough, you can see where they've used fishing line to make things fly but the storytelling is engrossing for the more curious player who want to investigate a world that seemingly doesn't want to be investigated.

Really solid game, wish it could have been a little longer. would wait to get it on a sale.

No game breaking bugs, no optimizing issues and no micro transactions. Just a great game.

I would recommend this game on a big sale. Its okay. The world and story are awesome so far. The game play is very bland and boring. Stealth rarely works and the combat is super bare bones. RPG mechanics are very minor. Its the year 2025 and this type of game has been made and done better a decade ago or longer. Hold off for a sale, but this was kind of a let down for me. Online reviews made it seem like a lot more was going on but that is not the case.

6.5/10 - Good art style/interesting setting. Too short, has questionable design choices and lacks mechanical depth or a satisfying conclusion. Get it at a hefty discount or play it on gamepass.

I found core story items despite avoiding major leads, this did not change any dialogue and there were no options to say "I already have that". Most of the game's content is just different paths of the main quest, and it otherwise mostly empty space. After 5 hours I had all but finished the ending mission. The ending slideshows just regurgitate your main ending choice and comment on if you killed a lot of enemies, which is pretty pointless. Major questions are left unanswered, despite there being 6 "different" endings.

There are no real puzzles or difficulty, the game is just a series of "find this location", "find this item" and "find the switch to flip". Melee combat is a stunlock battle and ranged enemies are cheesed by waiting around a corner. In the entire game I only had 2 grenades thrown at me. Gun upgrades are tied to a missable skill book.

Your identity is not explored and never brought up by others, despite your clothes matching a very specific NPC's uniform.

You can tell the game was made with passion, but it has multiple failings which lead me to not being able to recommend at full price. As someone else has said, Prey (2017) is another immersive sim mystery/action game but exceeds at almost everything Atomfall does.

so..... atomfall has a very interesting settings and a unique way of handling "quests". gunplay is solid, enemies react that the way they should when hit... It's said that atomfall is not a role playing game.. and in most ways, i guess it isn't.

However, the many ways you can find and complete 'Leads', along with the dialog options and how your PC is literally the most blank slate protagonist I've ever seen, it's safe to say there can be plenty of role playing to be done in this game. IMO, at least. It really does feel more like an RPG in some areas than most tripple A rpgs of recent memory. Even a dash of immersive sim, albeit a very small dash.

So an intriguing story, a mish mash of already established IPs rolled into one decent sized original setting, satisfying combat, unique ways of handling quests and character progression.. what is the problem?

Well.... I guess there really in't TOO much of a problem overall. OTHER THAN THE FACT THAT YOUR CHARACTER CANT DODGE OR BLOCK. Even when using a melee weapon. Your only option to avoid melee dmg during a cqc fight is to either a) awkwardly move backwards and watch the npc take out their frustration on oxygen. OR b) Use your kick like its going out of style.

Needless to say its very upsetting to have this meaty, satisfying melee combat system in the game but we cant even block, or parry, or dodge. Hell, even enemies can dodge your melee attacks.

Just a foolish and dense design choice, or some kind of major oversight? Either way... Embarrassing.

Stealth is as basic as can be. 1 takedown animation. does'nt matter if you're holding a melee weapon or not, it's always the same. Enemeies normally gaurd/patol in fairly large groups making a full stealth aproach not only verry difficult, and keeping in mind what i just mentioned abot the complete lack and simplicity of stealth mechanics, it becomes stale quite rapidly.


TL;DR
n short, Atomfall is a captivating game marred by frustratingly simplistic mechanics. The immersive world and satisfying gunplay are undeniable assets, but the absence of essential combat features prevents it from reaching its full potential. It's a game that tantalizes with its atmosphere and unique approach, only to be let down by its core mechanics.


P.S before anyone comments on how the kick is supposed to take the place of dodge/block and we don't need them because we can kick... I'll just say this, I'm not opposed to the kick, I actually find it quite a fine addition as well as helpful (most time). I've noticed that when a melee enemy does their lunge attack, the kick often doesn't work and I still receive damage anyways. dodge and block should also be at our disposal. It's called depth. Depth I believe this game could greatly benefit from.

4/10.

The bad far outweighs the good here. So here's a breakdown of just a few of those things.

-----Good-----

The Voice actors genuinely tried, IMO.

Most of the weapons were fun to play with.

The trading and lack of an actual currency was different and cool to see.

Robots are sick.


-----Bad-----

Small Inventory, Item Management, and Item Storage was an immediate turn off. You can store items in certain places, but I never found myself going back for them. It felt pointless

Melee combat is atrocious. Its extremely slow, clunky, and will most likely get you killed.

In a game that emphasizes stealth, why is there only ONE take down animation? I have an Axe. Let me use it.

I almost NEVER found an enemy by themselves. Its Me vs Gang every time. Its tedious and has no reward.

Enemy accuracy is busted. Shotguns clapping me from 100 meters out, when mine is a confetti cannon.

The side missions are all the same, showing you to a place that can be explored for items you can't carry.

You have to FIND ability points in special boxes. The ONLY reason to explore.

Choices feel mostly empty. Most of the NPCs are going to give you the "thing" regardless.

Town feels dead. Any real NPC interactions happen ONLY for you to see it ONCE and never again. They only speak to each other when the story needs them to.

No armor/clothing OR character customization. This one hurt.


Unfortunately, this game is not Fallout, Metro, or Stalker. Its a $50 game that tried it's own spin on the post-apocalyptic genre and fumbled the bag. Disappointing.

Edit- Just learned this game is on game pass. Now I know why it exists. Don't pay $50 for a free game folks. :\

Let me start with the negatives,

The game is short. I took my time and got it done in 17 hours.

There really is not any kind of variety to enemies whatsoever.

the few vendors there are , are basically a waste of time. They don't have anything useful and never restock. This means there is really never any reason to save very much.

The game looks good overall.. but the animations, faces, and enemies really aren't the best to look at.

Fighting your way through just simply isn't an option unless you turn down the difficulty. And even they you will still die very frequently.

Now the positives

It's just a fun game to play with a uniquie atmosphere. The game plays kind of like a mix of bioshock with some "last of us" mechanics built in. With as short as the game is, I think it works.

I explore a lot, and I could see there were many different ways to accomplish the quests in the game. In fact, you could literally just explore, never open the quest menu, and you could still beat the game whichever way you choose.

Overall, I liked it. It shows a lot of potential... but I really don't see how they could make a sequel and improve on the shortcomings.

Love the game so far! It reminds me on good games like Metro & Stalker with a bit of BioShock essence into it.
Also the management system is a mix between The Last of Us and Metro.
It is definitely a unique approach. I love how the game is not linear.
Multiple endings and multiple paths. You decide how you want to play it.

Technical stuff:
The game is very well optimised. It's not a beefy game at all in terms or requirements. So, even on the Steam Deck will run well. I just wish some DLSS - DLAA would be available as well as a sharpen adjustment level option :D
Works very good in SuperUltraWide 32:9 aspect ratios and has a HDR toggle.

If you are a fan of these type of games - immersive, survival, thriller type games, I highly recommend!

Edit: Now that I have fully finished the game, I want to mention that in some aspects, it reminds me of SOMA. I hope this will prove useful for the people that loved that game :)

A little over 8 hours of game play to beat the game is kinda sad. No I'm not going to do the other endings. The mystery was good in the beginning, now there's no reason to go back and do the other endings. I'm just going to watch them.

If you're interested in the game just wait for it to go on sale

Atomfall reminds me most of We Happy Few, The Outer Worlds, and Prey. It's a smaller game than a lot of the overly ambitious open-world releases these days, but for for me and my simple peanut-sized brain that's perfect. It's densely packed, has pretty good writing, and is good fun. Can take between 20-25 hours to fully 100% from what I hear.

It's not a bad game, but somehow very bland. Tries to be Fallout in some places, Stalker in others, poor-mans-Bioshock when it comes to equipment. Weapon variety is okay, but there are no real upgrades to them, just some better visuals and basic stat increases. Story is bland, multiple choices really only matter once you get to the end of the game, you can do all arcs without losing access to others for most of the game. Factions are extremely bland. All roaming factions/enemies are just "Primitive Raiders" (Druids), "Basic Fallout Raiders" (Outlaws), "Enclave but British and with less power" (Protocol) and "Totally not just Feral Ghouls we promise".
Minor spoilers for faction interactions: Of the roaming factions, you can only "ally" with the Protocol and the Druids (though most roaming druids continue to attack you anyways).
Vague spoilers for endings: All other questlines end with "independent" NPCs: "Arrogant scientist lady", "Totally-Not-A-Spy who wants to give the possible WMD to everyone because MAD", and "Voice on the telephone who gives you the most underwhelming ending of all times"
I'm a casual player, did all side quests, puzzles and treasure hunts I found (explored all the maps, which aren't that many), and still finished within 16h (including some reloading to see different quest outcomes).
As I wrote in the beginning, the game isn't bad, it's just disappointingly average. Honestly feels like a story mod someone made for Fallout.
Lastly, the good things: It runs great, the environment is pretty, and the weapon animations are amazing (especially the "check ammo" animation, which is honestly the thing i liked most about the game).

Conclusion: Maybe wait for a sale. The game would've fit better in the 30€ to 35€ range (40€ at most) . Yes, I know making games costs money, but still. This review is just my opinion.

Not till they fix couple problems main problem you kill all people then save then load game they respawn. Then theres a glitch where if you pull up back pack it gets stuck no way to exit backpack have to quit game then you lose progress https://www.youtube.com/live/VdA7T00azo8?si=e3lSDr3Ke82NkEdm 6 min in get stuck on backpack menu

A thinking man's stealth shooter: Some perspective from someone who plays on Veteran difficulty.
-This isn't Skyrim or Fallout--if an enemy can see you, he can actually see you. Stealth in this game involves avoiding line of sight and keeping a low profile.
-Toggle walk/run with V, walking is quieter. Sprinting with shift is really loud, don't use it until you're being shot at.
-Toggle crouch with ctrl, crouching makes you harder to see.
-Crouching in some bushes and grasses makes you nearly invisible (there'll be a UI prompt if it's working) and it's great way to get around enemies without having to wait for them to move on, or to scout them out without risking being spotted.
-The map has a lot of cover and alternate routes. Improvisation and reaction aren't enough to sneak around in this game--you need to plan ahead, plot routes. Get some high ground and see where the grass and buildings and cover is between you and your destination and use it.
-Patrols make a lot of noise, you can hear them and know their general direction from footsteps, whistling, etc. Turn down the volume on your anime soundtracks.
-Enemies do not give XP so there's no real reason to fight them unless you think they have something you want like a weapon or ammo, better to avoid trouble unless you enjoy fighting. Since enemies move around in large patrols, avoiding them is often the smart play.
-Outside of enemy territory, they're not really willing to be hostile with you unless you point a gun at them, get too close, or loiter around them.
-Enemies aren't omniscient, if one spots you, it takes time for the rest to spot you. I've blown a guy's head off with a shotgun from point blank and his team had no idea what happened, ran over and found his body but never spotted me before I slipped away.
-Pointing a gun at an enemy actually does hold them up in some cases, usually if they're unarmed or using a melee weapon, allowing you to line up headshots if you're a particularly ruthless survivor.

I love the game. It runs very well, it looks very good, it sounds very good, and it's compelling. It feels less like some kind of survival shooter and more like an investigative game since a big part of the game is going around looking for leads, reading clues, and figuring out where things are. My only real qualm is that it feels a little too easy to piece together a lot of the mysteries and intrigue but I understand they have to cater to the average gamer audience that wants to be brain-off with their shooty games.
Though I described it as a stealth shooter, it is ultimately a game about exploration and environmental storytelling. The other systems are just spice and flavor but the truth of the matter is, you're here to explore the quarantine zone and figure out what happened and the game gives you a surprising amount of agency about how you do that. The environment design is also quite fantastic, and very detailed. I was talking on a phone in the game and I noticed a notepad and pencil next to the phone. I was at a machine that needed a new battery and I noticed a pile of used up batteries next to it. Little things like that give the game amazing atmosphere and immersive quality.

Having a really good time. The investigation system takes some getting used to, but once you do its really enjoyable. I saw Mortismal 100% the game in 15 hours, but I'm 15 hours in and just entered the second area past the village, so mileage may vary.

Double-edged sword this one...

-Game looks and runs very well, I love the setting and the locations you explore.
-Story is interesting and keeps you invested.
-The game does not hold your hand at all (played on hard difficulty) you have to talk to every NPC and read a lot as you understand more and more.
-Not open world, made up of several locations each with their own charm and are fun to explore. Locations are big, but not too massive to lose yourself.
-Plenty of POI's you can explore/clear/loot
-Solid VA.

The glaring issues I encountered:

- The A.I/Combat is honestly not fun, stealth based game but you get seen a mile off, you can be detected, run for 2 seconds and take cover behind a wall and the A.I will lose you.
The combat features melee which is nice but no block/dodge button? sure you can just take a step back and the A.I will always miss but you need a method of defending yourself. I don't bother with stealth anymore.
- Weapons all behave basically the same apart from the shotguns and bows, stats don't matter. Just take the assault rifle and pop heads easily.
- Skills are bland and boring. "Reduces recoil when shooting" or "You are quieter in stealth" not a single combat perk will enhance or improve the combat in this game.
- I murdered half of Wyndham and there are 0 penalties, nobody cares and everybody forgets what had happened once you get out of sight/leave the area.
- Overly grainy look to things at the highest fidelity but nothing serious.

Good foundation, lovely scenery and interested story with very good optimization but the combat system of a 90's game. I changed the combat settings to be almost the easiest because of how dull and lifeless it is. Focusing strictly on exploration and story.

It's a solid game so far, from the negatives I've seen people expect fallout. Well its not, if I had to make a comparison it would be more like stalker with a dash of bioshock and a sprinkle of fallout and probably some others I'm missing but you get the gist. Exploration is rewarding, there aren't really quest markers just heres the location figure it out. It kinda holds your hand but its more like your dad pushing you on a bike and letting go. I too did come with a fallout mindset, but after about an hour and no hand holding I was like F it I'm gonna do what I want and did and I played for 9 hours straight just doing my thing and really enjoying it.

So far from what i can gleam. it is it's own unique blend of New Vegas and S.T.A.L.K.E.R with a dash of investigative intrigue that doesn't outstay its welcome. highly recommend as an easy going lore treasure hunt on the lower difficulties and on higher difficulties the resident evil inventory and management combine with deadly enemies (albeit a little stupid ones) keep you well enough on your toes for a well rounded experience.

The game is probably best described like something between Prey 2016 and Stalker games. Not as deep mechanically as a true immersive sim, but offers a great deal of exploration akin to Stalker. Absolutely love how every single location is a piece of a spider-web of a bigger story. Practically every single place of interest moves the story in a way. Absolutely brilliant.

Finally, a 'post apocalypse' game with color and life to it.

Atomfall is a great example of 'focus on what you do and do it well' as game design. Is it a sprawling open world with tons of options and side activities and such? Nope, and that's to its credit. The game focuses on having three maps (and a city with things to do in it) that are more compact but more full of life than most of its peers can do with massive single maps. All three are perfectly sized to make walking through them not a schlep but still feel like a bit of a trek you need to keep your head on a swivel during.

Which is good because there's no fast travel. For some this is a con, for me this is a pro, but it is only fair I give a heads up about that! Like I said, the map size keeps this from feeling like a big slog while still giving enough activity in NPC patrols or random little caves or camps to find to make it exciting.

The resource management is also perfectly hit in the sweet spot for me. No hunger or thirst or the like, all food items are just healing, but ammo isn't abundant and the only guns you'll find are crappy rusted, well used, ones. There's a mid game perk to let you upgrade them yourself, but even with a pristine gun firefights become exercises in bullet management. Is it worth likely draining one of your guns to take out this patrol, or should you sneak by? Will that camp you want to raid have enough supplies in it to justify the cost? Everything feels like a real choice you're making even in late game.

Speaking of choices, the story is excellent. Rather than hand holdy quests everything works off a 'leads' system. Find a note, talk to an NPC, find some hints about 'the trader camp by the waterfall' or 'the helicopter crash near the mines'. Maybe you luck out and there's actual coordinates in that note you can add a marker on your map for. Most importantly, though, these leads shape how you interact with the world. That vicar seems a little shady, but everyone seems to like him well enough, nothing to be done there...unless you find an odd note or two, maybe you should confront him about it, or the person who wrote the note to ask what's going on.

The main story is quite interesting as well, with the mysterious 'Oberon' and the feral victims of its poisoning adding to the surreal nature, and forcing you to ask some real questions about if science going too far can be fixed for a greater good.

The atmosphere adds to all of this perfectly. This is an extremely English feeling game, the green, bright, countryside of North England are if anything brought to even more life thanks to Oberon's strange influence, greenery overtaking civilization's ruins add a haunting element to the surroundings that's such a breath of fresh air from the usual gray and brown wastelands.

The game IS rather short, at 7ish hours I'm already well into the middle point of things it feels like but the game encourages replays to see what other leads and paths you can go down, and it seems like the big 'final choice' elements to endgame do provide a few interesting choices to make that's worth seeing. If you want a game to get lost in this is the game for you even if that process of losing yourself may involve a couple replays rather than one epic playthrough.

Very janky.
NPCs are very easy to abuse in stealth, they give up almost instantly as soon as you're out of sight on Veteran Difficulty. Stealth itself exists, but there's not enough mechanics to make it feel good such as throwing rocks/bottles to distract enemies, having throwing knives that kill on a headshot...
Items like bandages are pretty useless when everything can very quickly kill you from full health.
Weapon stats don't match their performance. A Low Damage .22 Terrier and a High Damage Lee No. 4 rifle both deal the same damage. A slow attack speed axe and a fast attack speed knife both feel as if they have very similar swing speeds too.
Melee combat is very unbalanced. Either you dominate entire groups of people, or you get stunlocked to death in a few hits you can't block, dodge or interrupt yourself if the NPC decides to ignore getting kicked or ends their stagger animation earlier than usual.
Telemetry data collection is on by default.

Runs well on max settings, looks good, the layout of the maps are well thought out. The bartering system is a change from the usual trading systems using currency in other games like Caps in Fallout. Weapon models are well done.

It's a pretty game, but the gameplay itself is a mix of boring and irritating. Both Stealth & Combat feel as if they started with an idea, but never finished it. Bare minimum.

In 30 minutes of play, I can say: Atomfall looks promising.
The gameplay doesn't seem innovative at first glance, but it works fine for me. The heart rate insted of the stamina bar is interesting - I saw that in System Shock, but I don't yet know what it does in this game. Speaking of System Shock, I like the fact that Atomfall doesn't give you clear objectives or directly points you towards where you need to go, it makes exploring the world more entertaining. NPCs are good, and I like how the Bri'ish characters talk.
The overall graphics are beatiful, and I adore the British setting. However, you shouldn't expect anything outlandish from an AA game like it's Kingdome Come II. Although I think the game is well-optimized, but I honestly don't know how well it runs on low-end PCs.
In summary, I would recommend giving Atomfall a try if you're just interested or have played something similar before.

A sublime, well written game ... and it has not crashed on day one !?!

Todd Howard, are you taking notes?

I have had a problem for a year now where I repeatedly buy and refund games because they do not hook me in any way as they used to. I can't go back to old favorites either, it feels like some kind of dopamine disconnect, and frankly i miss the therapeutic effects of gaming when i'm not at work or worrying about the world going to absolute shit.

One of my favorite games from a while ago was a source game called Dear Esther. It was mostly for the work on the vegetation of that game and the environment, the wind, the ocean. You could smell it, you could feel the grit of the sand and the caves. This is the first game that feels like that.

This is a well optimized labor of love. The voice acting doesn't feel like a cringe fest. The intuitive quest structure doesn't feel pandering. The environment is beautiful, i feel like i can smell the rivers in this game its so good. Coming out and seeing the land literally gave me goose bumps. I'm sure i'm gushing because i'm partial to green, post apoc environments like this, but so far this is blowing me away. Sound engineering is excellent a la metro and bio shock. Collecting crafting supplies is like ASMR. Really pleased to not be disappointed after so many lackluster debuts.

Best of all IT RUNS EXCELLENT ON A MID TIER RIG. Highly recommend.

Been playing for a few hours and I was really enjoying it up until the point that I reached an old man on the docks with some kind of AI girls voice. At first I thought maybe this was some purposeful part of the game where it's some kind of messed robot, but it was actually just an unfinished, bugged portion of the game. I take the boat ride with him and end up on a druid island that is also unfinished (ie. map markers have no names, notes have no script, etc.) I am guessing maybe this is the DLC that is unfinished that was included with the deluxe edition and it was mistakenly left in the game. I'm not sure. I didn't have any issues until that point, but i did waste a good 30/40 minutes exploring this area only to be locked in a cellar somewhere that I can't get out of. I'm going to assume it is just that and go back and avoid that area. This is pre-release, but it did frustrate me enough to get off after spending 3 hours straight having fun.

The game explained in less time it takes you to finish a beer: https://youtu.be/guXGKhWf6qI

If you don't want to listen.

DON'T BUY IF:
- You expect RPG dept
- Super smooth combat
- A huge open world

DO BUY IF
- You want the freedom similar to stalker
- Have choices on how to play, and on how to approach quests
- Love exploration

This game is all about exploration. It's the core of the game.

If you’re expecting a British take on Fallout, this isn’t it. And if you prefer games that hold your hand, guiding you from one map marker to the next, Atomfall probably won’t be for you either.

But if you crave the thrill of solving in-game problems through your own curiosity and intuition—if you miss that long-lost spark of genuine discovery—then Atomfall might just surprise you. Beneath its stripped-down surface lies a hauntingly immersive and addictive gameplay loop built on exploration and subtle storytelling.

It boldly abandons many conventional features in favor of a minimalist, yet deeply engaging experience. With light RPG elements and a blend of genres, Atomfall manages to synthesize them into something uniquely compelling.

If any of that resonates with you, give it a shot. You may find something truly special here.

Fun but the melee combat early on feels clunky and slow even with average speed weapons. Ammo economy is great cause it really makes it scarce unlike fallout where you get a lot of.

overall 8/10 review

So my mistake was going into this game expecting it to be an RPG like Fallout or The outer Worlds.

It was not. It’s probably closer to Bioshock or Alien: Isolation.

With the similar gameplay, mechanics, crafting, and locked off areas only accessible after you’ve received a unique tool you encounter way over there.

That’s not a bad thing. I mean I gave this game a thumbs up right? But obviously because I went in expecting it to be something else it kinda threw me off.

Overall the game looks great, sounds amazing and plays incredibly well. The stability is great, the gameplay is fun and engaging and the idea is interesting and different too.

The only thing I really didn’t like was how directionless the game is. It gives you no help, barely any hints or vague hints at best and you’ll pretty much have no idea where to go or what to do and even when you progress to something that feels like it’s supposed to be something, you’ll be questioning the entire time whether you’re even supposed to be there yet or not. I legitimately feel like I missed some key story moments because with the games lack of direction I found myself just out and about doing random stuff because I had no idea where to go or what to do. With barely any markers placed to let you know where to go or even which general direction to head towards and you’re gonna be lost almost immediately. I hated this. I hate games with lack of direction.

But that’s really the only negative I have to say about the game. Everything else about the game felt really well designed, it was stable too. I suppose overall this game is definitely worth it’s asking price and worth your time. HOWEVER, don’t go into it expecting an RPG. There’s no leveling system, no persuasion skills, lockpicking, pickpocketing, stuff like that. So…keep that in mind as you make your choice. (If there are things like that in the game I didn’t find any hint of em.)

If you’d like a more in-depth look at the game then feel free to check out the review on my YouTube Channel (link below).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX0XVEVn0-E

Otherwise, thanks so much for reading and I hope I managed to help some of you out there spend your money wisely.

So refreshing to play a game set in Britain rather than Eastern Europe or America. Hits the spot.

I'm 30 minutes into it and love it already... I've been waiting for a game like this for a long time. If you dig Fallout, Metro, Atomic Heart, Stalker, etc this should be right up your alley.

Cool setting, clean UI, and very well optimized. And they have quicksaves!

A biblically accurate UK simulator. You can craft shivs and drink tea.

Finally, a game set in the fictional land of England. They made S.T.A.L.K.E.R. scarier by adding more British people.