A mysterious voice calls you and it sounds like Count Orlok.
Credit: Rebellion Studios

All of this takes place in the beautiful and spooky rural county of Cumbria. 🌳

Unlike most RPGs, Atomfall abandons the mission structure based on objectives in favor of its only system from "Leads. Instead of waypoints and a list telling you exactly where to go, you piece together your next steps through conversations with NPCs, scattered letters, and old cassette tapes found around the quarantine zone. There's no marker on the map holding your hand—just the clues you've collected and the notes you choose to take. That said, you can manually place compass markers to help follow potential points of interest.

It's a refreshingly intuitive approach to immersive storytelling that most games should experience. Elden Ring and Dark Souls employ something similar, but in a deliberately cryptic manner, hiding the story in item descriptions and leaving it up to the players to fill in the blanks. Atomfall, on the other hand, makes its world feel more organic, turning each discovery into a genuine “aha!” moment rather than just another step on a to-do list. 😮

Credit: Rebellion Studios

For example, upon arriving at Wyndham Village—currently under occupation by The Protocol, the initial military quarantine units left behind—I was stopped at the gate and told to speak with Captain Sims, a man with a particular interest in outsiders. Sims, suspicious of anyone who manages to wander into the area, offers me information. Yeah I agree to do a little reconnaissance for him. He wants to know if any of the villagers are up to anything suspicious—because, beyond being a Big Brother, he has reason to be concerned. It turns out that, after the disaster, a significant number of villagers went into the forest and started a cult. 😳

This led me to a round of conversations with the key figures in the village: the innkeeper, the baker, the priest, and the grocery store owner. Each of them had their own own skeletons in the closet — secrets they were hiding of The Protocol. From there, I had a choice. I could either rat them out to Sims or help them in their struggles, playing long term in a town built on paranoia.

It's moments like this that Atomfall does well, but overall, the story is nothing special. While the Leads system is certainly unique in its presentation, at the end of the day, It's still just a standard mission structure — except now you're putting things together on your own instead of following a blinking objective marker.

And when it comes to the game's six possible endings, the setup starts to feel a little formulaic. Each NPC who offers you an escape route from the area follows the same basic pattern: two main quests, then a final choice related to the Exchange—the mysterious BARD facility at the heart of it all. Do you destroy what's inside? Or do you use it to help fulfill someone else's goals? Or you can decide that it doesn't matter and go into mode chaos and eliminate all the NPCs in the game. It's totally possible — and honestly, it's a lot of fun! 😈

Atomfall really wants to emphasize the idea of trust in desperate circumstances, but it's not very subtle about it. Some characters start out friendly, but the moment you gain their trust and follow their direction, it's like a switch is flipped — you can immediately tell you're being steered toward a "bad" ending. During my 25 hours of game on PlayStation 5, I saw four of the six possible endings, and none of them felt particularly satisfying. 🤷‍♂️

Even worse, the game feels strangely disconnected from its own mechanics. Despite its fast-paced, action-packed combat—where almost every enemy attacks on sight—the final reviewers had the audacity to chide me for “choosing a violent path.” Huh? What game were you watching?

At the end of the day, the Leads system of Atomfall It's a great idea with a lot of potential, but its execution leaves a lot to be desired. There's something there, but it just won't land. 🎯

What's it going to be, then?

Credit: Rebellion Studios

Despite Atomfall gives off some serious vibes Fallout, don't be fooled: this isn't a Bethesda-style RPG. It leans much more toward action than survival, with just a hint of RPG elements. Everything from combat to item crafting and NPC interactions feels lighter and less complex compared to games like Fallout either STALKER.

And honestly? It's fine. 🆗

That said, the fight of Atomfall feels very aligned with modern shooters. The weapons are heavy, realistic, and come with a healthy dose of recoil, while the melee combat is slow, ponderous, and brutally visceral. The game also introduces a heart rate (stamina) system, where actions of high energy How running, jumping, or fighting affects your ability to aim or perform heavy melee attacks. Managing this system adds an extra layer of tension, forcing you to think before you jump into combat. 💔

Your arsenal consists of classic "roadman" artillery: knives, police batons, and even a good old cricket bat. You can also use the controller's triggers to kick enemies, keeping them at a comfortable distance when things get really close. But enemy variety is pretty lacking. You basically face four types: ranged enemies, melee enemies, and two types of giant robots: one with a minigun and one with a flamethrower. And that's about it. Oh, and the rats. Screw the rats. 🐭

Credit: Rebellion Studios

For ranged weapons, you have your four standard categories: rifles, pistols, shotguns, and SMGs. Each type has about two or three variations that you can loot from enemies or find in the world. And, of course, there's the trusty bow and arrow, because no survival game is complete without one. 🏹

Oddly, you can't craft arrows or ammunition, which feels like a bit of a letdown in a game that delves into survival elements. However, you'll be scavenging for cloth, herbs, gunpowder, weapon oil, and alcohol to create healing items, potions, and throwable explosives. 💣

Old miser.
Credit: Rebellion Studios

Then there are the consumables, which lean toward the British cuisine known for its excitement. You can sip tea to lower your heart rate, or devour tomatoes, potatoes, cakes, and canned meat—fully immersing yourself in the reality of how boring the British diet can be. 🍽️

Instead of a traditional monetary system, Atomfall Enter full barter mode. Merchants don't exchange cash; instead, they evaluate your trade based on the value of the items, with a simple indicator showing how fair the exchange is. Each merchant has their own priorities—if someone has a pile of bandages, they won't mind you trying to part with more. But if you offer something rarer, like a good weapon or food, they'll be more willing to compromise.

Exploring the Quarantine Zone

A quarantine within a quarantine.
Credit: Rebellion Studios

If the idea of wandering through a radiation-covered wasteland born of a catastrophic scientific failure sounds familiar, that's because isMany games have addressed the concept of a "post-disaster exclusion zone" before, and Atomfall fits perfectly into that tradition. In many ways, it shares many elements with Pacific Drive, he survival game 2024 about navigating an anomalous Pacific Northwest in a barely functional car. But where Pacific Drive had procedurally generated areas, Atomfall swap that for four distinct regions of Cumbria — areas you'll be tediously revisiting again and again.

Players will find themselves searching every corner of Wyndham Village, Slatten Dale, Skettermoor, and Casterfell Woods. Aside from the village (if you're a good boy), each area is controlled by a different faction, and they all attack on sight. The areas themselves aren't particularly large—you can walk from one end to the other in about five to ten minutes—but actually reaching your objectives can feel a bit tedious. Thanks to the Lead system, you'll inevitably find yourself stumbling across locations you aren't supposed to reach yet, which can be exciting or frustrating, depending on how well-equipped you are at the time.

True to its lightweight survivalist approach, Atomfall keeps resources—especially ammo—scarce. You're never fully stocked up to go shooting wildly, which encourages stealth and precise shot placement to avoid being overwhelmed by the game's surprisingly large enemy patrols and encampments. However, the stealth system is basic at best, and the enemy AI is so painfully dumb that you can often wipe out an entire encampment without much effort. 😅

That said, the world of Atomfall It’s genuinely beautiful in that haunting “nature reclaiming civilization” kind of way. Wyndham Village has all the hallmarks of a quaint post-war village now trapped in an eerie limbo. Casterfell Woods is dense and ominous, filled with towering trees and strange creatures lurking in the shadows. Slatten Dale, a hilly industrial landscape, revolves around its abandoned mine and quarry. And then there’s Skettermoor—once a picturesque countryside now reduced to scorched earth, patrolled by eager soldiers looking for an excuse to shoot first and never ask questions. 🌄

Nothing fundamentally changes if you don't improve your skills.
Credit: Rebellion Studios

The RPG elements of Atomfall are about as light as they come. There’s a simple skill tree that gradually unlocks as you find training manuals scattered throughout the world—either purchased from merchants or hidden in specific locations. The placement of these manuals adds great environmental storytelling, such as finding a bow mastery manual at an archery camp in an abandoned castle or a combat training manual from a former soldier turned merchant in Skettermoor. That said, if merchants don’t have them, they can be obscenely hard to find, and really not you need them to complete the game.

You can also collect skill points from BARD boxes found in bunkers across the map. The skills themselves? Basic RPG stuff: damage boosts, poison resistance, and faster loot. Nothing groundbreaking, but enough to give you a slight advantage.

In essence, Atomfall It presents itself as a deep and complex experience, but the more you play, the more you realize it's a rather casual adventure dressed up in a survival horror aesthetic. That said, credit where it's due — technically, the game runs impressively well for a 2025 release, with few visible bugs or performance glitches. And in an era where broken day-one launches are the norm, that alone seems worth celebrating. 🎉

It's worth it Atomfall?

Credit: Rebellion Studios

Atomfall It's one of those games that feels like it's on the cusp of being something special, but never quite pulls it off. It has a strong identity—a post-apocalyptic adventure wrapped in haunting British folklore, with a healthy dose of survival mechanics and a unique quest system—but its execution is often at odds with its ambitions.

The Lead system is an intriguing alternative to traditional quest markers, allowing for organic discovery and player-driven exploration. Ultimately, though, it still boils down to standard RPG quest structures. You're simply assembling objectives through notes and conversations rather than being explicitly told where to go. It's immersive, sure, but also frustrating when you're backtracking through the game's small but tedious world.

Where Atomfall shines It’s in its atmosphere. The environments are beautifully crafted, from the eerie, cultured Casterfell Woods to the scorched earth of Skettermoor. The game draws into its surroundings with immersive environmental storytelling, and it’s refreshing to see a post-apocalyptic world that doesn’t feel like a generic wasteland. It also runs remarkably well, with few technical issues—something that feels increasingly rare in modern game releases.

If you're looking for a light survival RPG experience with immersive exploration, tense combat, and a unique British setting, then Atomfall offers enough to be enjoyable—especially if you go in knowing its limitations. However, if you're expecting deep RPG mechanics, intricate storytelling, or a truly open-ended experience, you may be disappointed. It's a game with a lot of great ideas, but it never fully commits to any of them. As a mid-level survival RPG, it's solid. Is this the next Fallout either STALKER? Don't remove. 🙄

Atomfall will arrive on March 27 for PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X/S, and PC.