Let’s get ready to ramble! We’re off to the UK’s Lake District for Rebellion’s new open-world explorative survival game, meaning picturesque sights come abounding. Quaint pubs with outside tables, ivy covered cottages, historic churches, bakeries selling pasties alongside doughy treats, and green fields peppered with cosy riverside farmhouses. An ideal place to visit for a weekend. A five-year military quarantine with minimal outside contact? Not so much.
Employing a long running video game trope, you play as a mute amnesiac involved in an almost fatal accident. This not only serves to help project a persona on a blank slate, but is also used for story purposes, gradually filling in the blanks.
Set in the early ‘60s, the surrounding areas of the Lake District are currently five years into a strict quarantine after a nuclear disaster at a power plant. You have one goal: find a way to escape beyond the perimeter and tell the world the truth about what happened. Only, it isn’t entirely clear initially what that is exactly. That’ll be the amnesia.
After a brief crafting tutorial and an introduction to the stealth mechanics, you’re ushered into the great outdoors. It soon transpires that there is an individual able to assist with your escape, but only if you follow their instructions and kill something known as ‘Oberon’ – the plot’s crux, shrouded in mystery until the final hurdle. This individual’s identity likewise remains a mystery, only communicating by iconic red phone boxes spread across the land. After every key event, they’ll be in touch whenever a phone box is nearby, praising your progress or scorning your actions by conversing with truncated sentences.
The opening also grants freedom to explore a quarry populated with outlaws, in which it’s possible to arm yourself – with a rusty pistol, a single barrel shotgun and various throwables added to the inventory surprisingly early. Bandages and stims can be crafted meanwhile, using gathered resources. It’s your choice how gung-ho to become; even the outlaws will give the benefit of the doubt, only opening fire if provoked. To quote: “Let’s not go having a barney, eh?”
Much of the escape plan hangs on restoring power to a multi-floored, and multi-exited, Interchange that houses four data centres – each requiring an atomic battery, duly spread across the furthest regions of the map, or hidden in the deepest parts of various facilities and bunkers. Alternatively, you can barter with a remote trader for one – with Atomfall using a diverting scale-based bartering system. You’re going to be spending a lot of time within the Interchange, with each atomic battery reinstated unlocking a new wing – eventually opening the path to ‘Oberon’. This also means a typical playthrough will see you spending as much time indoors as outside, with a different kind of danger lurking throughout the Interchange.
You’ll soon learn that the mysterious individual on the end of the telephone isn’t the only person offering an escape route. As you set about exploring the four main locations – the outlaw ridden quarry, a woodland camp populated by deserters, military sanctioned farmland with a prison camp, and a walled off village where citizen patience grows thin – you’ll come across several key named NPCs, each with a handful of quests – or ‘leads’ as they’re known. As you’re seemingly the capable type, they’re happy to trust you with all manner of highly sensitive info, with the army even giving you freedom to explore undeterred. That’s unless you happen to upset a particular faction, either by killing named NPCs or going against their wishes. Upset Captain Sims, head of the occupational force, and you’ll find your main objective far arduous.
The four main locations are far from sprawling, with the map quickly traversed. There is still potential to go off track and explore though, with each area having underground bunkers, indoor facilities, ruined buildings and more. New weapons, first aid kits, crafting recipes, and backstory expanding documents/audio logs can be found. You’re also equipped with a metal detector, used to unearth caches. The village houses a handful of shops and a pub, with the chirpy landlord doling quests, along with a church amidst a coverup. Picking up new leads often sees you heading into an unexplored area. Initially, at least – the small game world makes backtracking inevitable. There’s also the need to backtrack to the Interchange after finding an atomic battery (or two), although not always through the same entrance, with two data centres only accessible from hidden outside locations.
If you’re thinking Atomfall sounds a lot like a British Fallout, with its nuclear disaster premise, various factions, underground bunkers and all, you aren’t too far off the mark. This is a far leaner, more focused, experience, however. It’s mechanically far simpler. Resources are split into just a handful of categories, with only around a dozen items to craft. Stealth essentially boils down to keeping your distance while crouching and hiding in tall grass if discovered, and if you remain neutral to each party then firearms only come into use when exploring the Interchange or other disused facilities. I experienced hour long bouts between firing weapons, and even longer spells simply running cross country errands. The only other plaything is the handheld hacking device, used to disable doors or military equipment. Most jarring is the lack of an XP system, with stats instead improved by finding training manuals.
While many of its mechanics are basic, they’re also serviceable – although a means to distract hostiles would have been appreciated. Rebellion’s expertise from Sniper Elite lends a hand with the weaponry, with the single barrel shotgun packing a punch before needing a few tense seconds to reload. The sniper rifle will make short work of foes if headshots are lined up perfectly, while the SMG is appropriately clunky, fitting the era. Throwable explosives are handy in certain situations, even able to clear a room before setting foot inside. There are swarms of creatures to contend with in addition to hostiles, such as scurrying rats and eye-gouging crows. These can cause havoc with enemies, prompting entertaining unscripted moments.
The world building aspect is robust. Again, not to the standard of Fallout 4 with its ‘50s modern retro aesthetic, but there are numerous things to pick up on, such as the lack of wildlife, ergo fresh meat, and the presence of (genuine) comic books true to the period – of which Rebellion owns the rights. It borrows a lot from British sci-fi, with clunky primitive robots patrolling, and nods to early Doctor Who episodes. Character designs are inspired by largely dated British stereotypes, including the high spirited “tally ho” spouting Captain Sims, and the shopkeeper’s wife who seemingly knows everyone’s business. Exploring the village and meeting the locals was definitely a highlight, even though many properties are nailed shut.
Reviving the Interchange one section at a time gives something to focus on as you set about following leads to other battery locations, and each reestablished wing introduces a new face or temporarily diverts the storyline. The sense of freedom is also pleasing, giving you full rein and a choice of faction to side with. After focusing on faction specific missions, they’ll come a time when escaping the quarantine zone is in reach, forcing you to choose how to wrap up the story. With six possible endings, most players will have a different story to tell, perhaps siding with one character before having a change of heart.
When the time comes to choose a side, however, chances are you’ll be surprised to reach this crucial point so soon. Atomfall isn’t a time-consuming RPG; it’s a laser focused survival adventure intended to be replayed. My first playthrough was just over ten hours, which included faffing around towards the end, and flip-flopping between factions early on. It’s reminiscent of 2021’s open-ended adventure The Forgotten City, in that you can potentially seeing an ending in just a few hours if you know exactly where to go and whom to talk to.
While this may sound discouraging – and it is certainly wise to keep the £54.99 price point in mind – Atomfall is nevertheless well designed, with little in the way of bloat. It has an engaging conspiracy to unravel, a unique setting with an equally underused time period, lively quintessentially British personas, and numerous conclusions to reach. An action game this isn’t; it’s a jolly ol’ ramble in the countryside with scenic views, hills to climb and hurdles to overcome – both figuratively and literally. It’ll leave you breathless, and perhaps a bit weary by the end of it, too.
Rebellion’s Atomfall is out now on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series and PC.