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Atomfall review: "This isn't a British Fallout – it's something much better than that"

Confession: When I first played Fallout 3, I couldn't understand the Pip-Boy. As a result, I spent hours trying to escape from Vault 101. Without access to my inventory, I had to fight against security guards and radroaches with just my fists – and with no means of healing (or so I thought), my last vestige of health had to be rationed to last the entire journey to freedom. 💪 Atomfall isn't that difficult, but that rawness is present too. The only weapons I've found are single-use shot and clumsy to reload, which means I once again have to rely on my fists (and later, a cricket bat) to keep the bandits from getting hold of my corpse.

Mechanically, however, these similarities only provoke a flicker of recognition. The real familiarity lies in the euphoric way both Atomfall and Fallout 3 throw you into their worlds. In Fallout 3, it's emerging from Vault 101 to a scene of near-complete destruction, your sole objective being to find your dad. Some of us ventured into Springvale and got our asses kicked by raiders in high school, but eventually, we all made it to Megaton to find shelter from the storm. ⛈️

In Megaton, you really immerse yourself in life on the other side of the apocalypse – and who would have thought it would be so vibrant? The junk settlement is almost overwhelming in the number of connections it offers: do you like Sheriff Lucas Simms's straightforward style and help defuse the living nuclear bomb around which the town was built? Alternatively, do you detonate it because a well-dressed guy offered to pay you more caps than you know what to do with? If you wander into the general store, you'll find yourself involved in helping write a book, while gossiping in Moriarty's Saloon will give you vague clues about where your missing father has gone.

Lost and found

There is so much to do only in Megaton that really the only thing you can do do is let yourself go with the flow before choosing a direction, prioritizing almost exclusively according to vibes. My experience in Atomfall has largely reflected this. The Northern England equivalent of Megaton is Wyndham Village, which is more picturesque and green but equally dense. The village is under military occupation, and its residents are growing restless. The priest is anxious to cover up a murder in his church, a note in a rat-infested cellar implicates the local grocer in a cult that claims to hear voices in the earth, and the baker has locked her husband upstairs because… well, he Yeah is hearing voices. 🤯

Best of all, Atomfall skips a traditional main quest for clues. If you follow a rumor, there’s a good chance you’ll learn something useful later on. Wandering around Wyndham Village feels productive, purely because it’s your first real chance to learn about the new green hell you’ve landed in—though figuring out what’s a rumor and what’s true is a different matter entirely. This approach turns your own curiosity into a tantalizing hook—the same one that made the Capital Wasteland so compelling to explore in its early hours and, more recently, gave it magnetism to The Lands Between in Elden Ring. 🎮

It's rare that I feel so wonderfully lost in a game, which means I'm holding onto Atomfall (see: my cricket bat) with both hands. These past few months have seen an astonishing number of brilliant releases, and if you're anything like me—preferring to be thrown into games rather than be guided towards them – Atomfall is located alongside the best. It's really great! 😍