Atomfall Reviews

With its wide-open quest design, Atomfall takes a novel approach to storytelling that helps push through some of its lesser parts.

Atomfall offers a gritty post-nuclear mystery with engaging survival and exploration, but it’s dragged down by bland characters, repetitive visuals, and uninspired gameplay loop.

While Atomfall's ending left some significant questions unanswered, it is immensely fun to play. With multiple avenues to explore in this gorgeously crafted world and a quest system that doesn't hold your hand, it really feels like the story is in the player's hands.

Atomfall is committed to creating friction. It's an open-world survival shooter that wants you to struggle to make success feel sweeter, but it does so with varying levels of effectiveness. When tuned correctly, it's a blast. The survival elements, exploration, and quest structure are positive examples, but poor skill progression and a thin plot hold it back from the greatness it strives for.

Atomfall reminded me why I fell in love with open-world RPGs in the first place, offering the freedom to do what you want, but deal with the consequences of such. It’ll be a struggle to survive, but it is worth it all in the end.

Combat, stealth, and even exploration could have been handled better, sure, but Atomfall’s themes, atmosphere, and story make for a solid game that lets you forgive some of these issues if you let it.

A nuclear disaster has left an area of Britain in tatters. Atomfall, a new survival-action game, will see you explore, scavenge, craft, barter and fight your way through beautifully recreated scenery in search of answers. PC version reviewed.

Atomfall offers a unique exploration-driven experience with strong world-building and a compelling narrative. However, bad combat, a lack of meaningful progression mechanisms, and repetitive gameplay hold it back from being a good one.

Atomfall is an adventurous game that doesn't shy away from its difficulty. It's a compelling survival game steeped in mystery, and despite some unwieldly controls, paints an interesting world to explore around in.

Overall, much like the focus of its story in the depths of the Interchange, Atomfall is a fascinating experiment that definitely has merits for what it’s accomplished in helping push the singleplayer RPG genre forward. It may not grant all of the 2010s nostalgia some of us want, and certain creative choices behind its structure and gameplay may sooner divide its playerbase, but it’s one you may not want to leave the phone ringing on.

Atomfall is a diamond in the rough for survival RPG fans. While it doesn’t hit the emergent heights of its genre contemporaries, Rebellion’s beautifully crafted quarantine zone is a joy to explore, with enough pulp and mystery to propel the player through to the end. If you’re looking for a cozy throwback to classic science fiction, it’s hard to go wrong with this very British sandbox.

Atomfall shines by not telling you anything initially and letting you choose who you trust and betray to get to the ending you feel best suits your survivor.

When I loaded up Atomfall, I started with no weapons or equipment at all. That’s not altogether surprising - it’s a survival game, after all. It’s up to me to go out and collect supplies and weapons. The problem, though, is that everything I needed to get was behind swathes of enemies - enemies that I later had an incredible time fighting against, but that were utterly irredeemably annoying to fight when I had nothing. I died over and over again - and it often didn’t feel like it was ...

While Atomfall should be praised for its accessibility settings and innovative “Lead” system, a plethora of design shortcomings frustrate in this survival-RPG hybrid.

Atomfall is a delightful surprise in a year packed with big game releases. I haven’t felt this amount of joy from discovery, or this level of player agency in a game in quite some time. Wherever it is on your list of games to play in 2025, move it up.

Atomfall tries to incorporate a mix of genre staples but ultimately fails to go in depth into any one aspect save for its investigations.

An alternative to Fallout rather than a homage, with a more freeform approach to open world gaming that offers more meaningful freedom than many other bigger budget titles.

Rebellion’s known for its long-running Sniper Elite franchise, but Atomfall is something entirely different. Equal parts survival shooter, mystery, and sci-fi RPG, it sets out to something unique and, for the most part, accomplishes its goal.

A few weeks ago I went hands-on with a few, curated hours of Atomfall. I felt then the same as I feel now after playing the full game. The world is beautiful and thoroughly convincing, the characters are interesting but the combat lacks polish and finesse. I probably missed a lot of secrets or mishandled some leads, but given the game’s mechanics I’m not enthusiastic about filling in the gaps. Atomfall is one of those rare games that excited and disappointed me in equal measure.

Few games throw you to the wolves as quickly as Atomfall. The latest from Sniper Elite’s Rebellion Developments, Atomfall is a post-apocalyptic survival-action game taking place in Northern England. Unlike Rebellion’s previous titles, Atomfall heavily focuses on narrative—primarily the goal of unearthing the mystery of the disaster at the Windscale Atom Plant.

If you’re looking for something to get lost in for a little bit, Rebellion has offered up a mostly pleasant jaunt. Especially as something to pick up and play on Game Pass, it’s easy to recommend trying. That’s good too, Atomfall works better as a cheap, last-minute package weekend to Cumbria, rather than a two-week vacation. While it’s charming for a short stay, you’re sharing a single-sized bed with your partner, and the B&B owner’s eyes just started to glow blue.

Atomfall is a game that came out of nowhere for me. I was browsing Steam a few weeks ago, having taken a little break after the gaming marathon of Civilization VII and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and there it was: a post-apocalyptic game set in Britain. Considering I'm from Britain and have been to where this is based—that being Windermere—and I love Metro, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Fallout, and other similar games, it was a no-brainer.

In my previews running up to the release of Atomfall, I stressed that it was my most highly-anticipated game of 2025. Now that I’ve had my chance to review the game in full, I can firmly say that Rebellion has delivered on those anticipations by presenting me with a brilliant game.

On the surface, Atomfall looks fantastic and has some really great ideas. In fact, it's one of the best-looking games in recent memory and it's hard not to appreciate the ambition. However, despite its captivating exoskeleton and noble intentions, the glaring problem is that most of Atomfall's best ideas are overshadowed by frustrating game design and needless mechanical roadblocks. At the end of a 30-hour playthrough, the game stands out photographically but isn't ultimately memorable.

Remarkable is one of the most appropriate ways to describe Atomfall. So many triple A games these days are situated in American cities and smother you with their American cultural values, but Atomfall is as British as a Yorkshire Pudding, and thus it's an absolute treat. The array of difficulty options, the elegant scenery, the incentive to discover and go off the beaten path, and all the pleasant sights and sounds of Atomfall make it an unforgettable and outstanding survival game that is irresistibly moreish and well-worth your time.

With a compelling story shrouded in mystery, weighty combat and beautiful environments, Atomfall makes for a wonderfully condensed game that respects its players’ time and provides a welcome challenge throughout.

British horror games are having a moment just now, and Rebellion has served up a witty, fun slice of apocalypse.

Atomfall is a testament to intricate, compact, RPG design. A proof that 'bigger' isn’t always the answer to immersive RPG design. It also shows just how wonderful games can be when they respect player freedom. With a solid gameplay loop, enchanting locales, and some absolutely delicious quest design, Atomfall is a delightful success of the classic ‘Fallout’ RPG formula, despite its flaws.

With a tightly designed world, and a level of player freedom rarely seen, Atomfall already represents some of the best offline adventuring 2025 has to offer. Best of all, it's keen to allow as many people as possible to join the party.

It's a shame that next to the investigating, Atomfall’s shooting, sneaking, and cricket batting don’t deliver the same joys. Still, they’re competent enough not to get in the way, and with a little finesse it’s possible to enjoy extended bouts of that rich, intricate sleuthing without doing a single violence at all. Don’t let those village pub bores get you down: there are far worse places for a forgetful soldier-detective to be.

Atomfall combines a highly original setting and a choice-driven narrative with a commitment to player-led exploration. It’s a compelling mixture. However, lackluster combat and repetitive missions all too often tar the experience.

Atomfall falls flat in its attempts to homage and recreate the magic of other apocalyptic survival games. The storytelling and level design might keep players interested enough to make it through the main story, but the lack of depth in gameplay and role-playing makes it hard to imagine anyone wanting to spend their time playing Atomfall over any other successful title in the genre.

You might be done with it a lot quicker than you'd anticipate, but while it’s got you, Atomfall is a decent, good time.

Atomfall is an exciting new property that doesn't overstay its welcome. It features a unique setting, an interesting premise, and excellent characters

Atomfall is a compelling, post-apocalyptic survival story that satisfyingly bends to your choices and discoveries no matter which direction you take.

For seven years now, British developer Rebellion has honed and enhanced its craft on iterative sequels. A second Evil Genius, a fourth Zombie Army, a fifth Sniper Elite — all perfectly good to great games in their own right, but based on an already fine-tuned formula. Atomfall, then, the studio’s first new IP since Strange Brigade, represents an eye-catching break from that norm.

Atomfall can be a fun diversion, but it really needs to take a gap year so it can find itself.

Atomfall takes you on a journey through the idyllic Lake District, but this is no pleasant ramble through the UK countryside. Expect an intense, gripping survival adventure that, despite some combat issues, is impossible to put down.

If you can get over a difficult start and fancy a lean take on the survival genre, Atomfall delivers an intriguing tale worth discovering.

“Atomfall tries to blow Fallout to pieces with new ideas, but fizzles out instead,”

Atomfall might not get everything right, but by St. George it gets England right - and that might be enough.

Atomfall is best when it’s difficult. While I had a few issues with the story, my main concern is the crashing I experienced on Xbox. If that is smoothed out this one is an easy recommendation for those with patience. It can be brutal, but it’s oddly endearing and full of intrigue that’s well worth downloading via Game Pass and is part of the Xbox Play Anywhere program.

Atomfall concocts an engrossing story in a world full of intrigue and whimsy, while delivering a gameplay experience that is defined by strong world design, rewarding exploration, and an impressive emphasis on player agency. Utterly gorgeous and wonderfully eccentric, Rebellion's post-nuclear dystopia is well worth checking out, even with some issues in combat and stealth.

Atomfall is a small town mystery, monster battle, folk horror, science fiction quadruple feature. A high degree of freedom lets you choose what kind of adventure you want to have. This hands off approach has some small downsides. But it also leads to an incredibly inventive survival game that offers players boundless possibilities.

There came a time in Atomfall when I felt the game had gotten away from itself. I was sitting just outside the perimeter of a prison, staring at dozens of heavily armed soldiers, giant robots, guard towers, and automatic turrets. The entire compound was surrounded by a fence with an alarm that went off any time I got close. There I sat with my bolt action rifle and 12 rounds, bow, pistol, shiv, and a few Molotov cocktails. There was zero chance that I could win this fight without some elite gamer buffoonery, but I had no idea what other options existed and no more patience to wander aimlessly to figure it out. I did the only logical thing that anyone in my position would do; saved my game every time I made a foot of progress and got to work. It wasn’t until a full hour and more than 25 saves later when I was having a conversation with another character that I found my alternative. It was a snitching opportunity that could have presented itself 15 minutes into my Atomfall run had I not balked at the vague offer. I could have walked straight in the front gate. I was both impressed and mildly salty.

While I wouldn’t call Atomfall revolutionary, Rebellion has done a great job of taking a unique setting and putting the right pieces around it. Figuring out where less is more is tantamount to the formula that works for Atomfall, along with offering players a streamlined experience that can be enjoyed for multiple playthroughs. Atomfall is brilliant, and solid in the right places.

If you’re willing to deal with some frustrations, you’ll see that Atomfall is an ambitious game, unlike many other FPS games available on the market. The world feels great to explore, and the firefights are some of the most exciting I’ve ever had in a video game. I just wish that some of the other parts were up to snuff compared to the graphical presentation.

At its best, there are shades of a deeper RPG here, but it doesn’t quite have the mechanical backing to fulfill this proposal. Even so, while the systemic scope of Atomfall isn’t massive, the small world it conjures feels rich and full all the way to its atmospheric finale – or at least the atmospheric finale I chose.

Immersive Sims are incredibly difficult to create, and Atomfall deserves heaps of praise for going against the grain and presenting an open-world format that bucks almost every established trend. But even more so for doing this with aplomb and crafting an immersive, engaging, and breathtaking world. Gunplay is a stone's throw away from Sniper Elite, but thanks to the survival approach, everything feels much more frantic and frenetic. The only glaring issue is that the core narrative flatters to deceive, and the enemy AI retains some run-on issues from the Sniper Elite series. But, all in all, Atomfall is a triumphant immersive sim that takes big swings and hits plenty of homeruns.

Placing you at the centre of a mystery, Atomfall gives you the freedom to achieve your goal in numerous ways via its engaging and rewarding leads system. Captivating from beginning to end, you'll enjoy exploring its various locations, meeting its quirky NPCs and engaging in combat. Then, once you've discovered one ending, you'll likely jump in again to discover another.

Atomfall brings the twee post-apocalypse to rural Britain.

There’s a few quirks and hang ups, but I’m enjoying Atomfall. The world, setting, and story have me very interested in seeing how it pans out, though there’s a little voice in the back of my mind that says I’ve seen these story themes many times before, so maybe the ending won’t be as novel or unique as it wants to be. I still don’t know just yet, but it’s been an enjoyable time so far. Keep an eye out for our finished review, once I’ve finished exploring the deepest, darkest parts of Cumbia.