ATOM RPG Console Review

ATOM RPG – developed by AtomTeam and published by AtentGame – has arrived on console and proudly declares its inspirations in the marketing spiel. Fallout 1 and 2, of course, but also Baldur’s Gate and Deus Ex. It aims to, and succeeds, in providing that classic, isometric, turn-based Fallout CRPG experience, full of choices and consequences. ATOM RPG is packed with attribute- and skill-driven interactions and (almost) always gives the player a choice in how quests are resolved. However, the transition to consoles is not entirely smooth and the nuclear-apocalypse setting is starting to feel tired.

No matter your starting gender, characteristics, skills, abilities (don’t forget these exist!), and distinctions, your character starts as a member of “ATOM” – a secretive Russian military unit created to operate in the aftermath of a nuclear war, helping society access old or new technology, and reestablish society. In ATOM RPG’s alternate timeline, that war was triggered during the Cold War, along the Berlin wall, in 1968.

In practice, however, ATOM RPG is happy to give you considerable freedom once you’re off the leash. Helping the remnants of civilisation is not an obligation and the player can decide to be a noble hero, neutral gun-for-hire, or sadistic bandit (though being purposefully evil and triggering combat in the early game is often unwise). Regardless of your preference, you’re given the task of discovering the fate of another ATOM expedition, you’re mugged on arrival, and left to fend for yourself with no gear and no allies.

There are only a few opportunities to bolster your starting characteristics – and often only by a single point – so your early choices will strongly influence interactions for the entire game.

It doesn’t take long to realise the wasteland is full of horrible people – bandit mobs, secretive cults, and pseudo-governments – all exploiting those beneath them through violence or bureaucracy. If you’re used to playing good or lawful roles, the urge to take them on directly is strong. But you start as one under-skilled and under-resourced agent, so you need to play the long game and hold your tongue. To complete the main quest, you’ll need to engage with several factions with their own set of quests and potential outcomes. This expanding narrative structure keeps pace with the gear and levelling system, giving you more options the stronger you and your team get, rather than just taking you through the same motions for the entire game (just with bigger numbers).

There’s no voice acting outside of rare cutscenes, so the writing has to do the heavy lifting. It typically ranges in quality from entertaining to perfunctory, but there are questionable moments when it comes to sensitive topics. Given the post-apocalyptic scenario, many characters bring up substance, sexual, and physical abuse; along with discussions around murder, mutations, sexuality, and disabilities. ATOM RPG sticks closely to a “who, what, where, rumour” template for generic dialogue and, as a consequence, you can often yourself with only a dismissive or flippant response that can feel intentionally mean spirited and – if that doesn’t bother you – simply goes against the role-playing principle.

There’s also the fact you’re exploring another post-nuclear apocalypse, with many familiar character archetypes and scenarios encountered during the lengthy story. ATOM RPG does try to spice things up with an assortment of quirky characters and unexpected outcomes, but even as a fan of the genre, the setting feels increasingly overused.

Between the NPC portrait, writing, and the player’s available responses, it’s hard not to feel this sort of interaction would be better stripped entirely from the game.

When it comes to gameplay, fans of the genre will know the drill. You start your adventure with only a few specialised skills and engaging in combat with anything tougher than irradiated rats or small insects is suicide. There are innumerable locations that look tempting to explore early on, but these are best avoided until you have gear and teammates. Just like the classic CRPGs, attempting to immediately solve all the quests in one area – assuming you can even survive the encounters through a mix of cunning and luck – will likely leave you low on ammunition and healing items.

You can try to be a jack-of-all-trades, but this means most skill-checks are a coin toss (fine if you’re happy to save and reload repeatedly) but some options are outright inaccessible. The upside is you might at least be half-competent and durable in a fight. That said, role-playing a specialist of some sort – think a smooth-talking gunslinger or skilled hunter and survivalist – then watching how events play out across your adventure is most satisfying. If you’re someone who wants to see every outcome in a single playthrough, ATOM RPG is not for you. For your sanity – and to find decent gear and gain early XP – you’ll want to follow the initial quests for a short while as it provides a smooth difficulty curve and an early companion.

Each hub area you visit – which could do with the ability to highlight NPC names – is packed with potential quest givers that dole out tasks that reward rubles for buying gear and XP towards levelling. You’ll want to keep an eye out for side quests as they might reward unique distinctions that can make life considerably easier. However, an early lack of skills and resources can often push you along morally dubious paths or force you to consider unconventional combat tactics (starting a fight with several explosives is a good example). On the upside – and as would be expected from a good CRPG – ATOM RPG almost always offers a way forward.

**ATOM RPG** may not have the largest wasteland to explore but it feels dense and quest outcomes can change the environments and character within them over time (and there are also two lengthy excursions to smaller maps).

Combat is always a potential outcome and seems unavoidable the further you progress. It also becomes the most efficient way to gain XP for levelling and quality gear for your party (or trade fodder). ATOM RPG follows a simple logic: if you can kill someone, you can claim the gear they were using. As such, scraping through a tough encounter early on might set you up for future battles. However, while the combat system is easy to understand, turn-based, and tactical, it lacks the complexity we’ve seen in other recent CRPGs.

Stealth and cover are rarely a consideration once the turn-based round has started; at best, you might get an early shot in from afar or shuffle back and forth from behind a tree. It primarily boils down to how you allocate your AP points to movement, attack types, and reloading; then hoping your armour keeps incoming damage low and critical hits are rare. Your companions act autonomously – their behaviours based on a dialogue tree – and they’re not that bright, especially if you’ve given them a melee weapon. Thankfully, and unlike the player character, they don’t need to be fed and are resistant to poison and radiation! My biggest issue is that no matter how carefully you plan, random encounters and several mission scenarios drop you into potentially unwinnable situations. Save frequently and don’t be afraid to back out and return later if the option exists.

Ultimately, the gameplay doesn’t stray far from the CRPG template and rewards those willing to carefully navigate the early- to mid-game. You push out from the starting location, test the waters to see which quests you can resolve, carefully plan your upgrade path, return to towns and caravaners frequently to sell off your loot and acquire new gear, and slowly but surely become a powerhouse that can dictate quest outcomes in the late-game.

Unfortunately, far too many fights start with both parties on top of one another, slugging it out blow for blow. In these scenarios, tactics are far less important than the quality of gear you’ve amassed.

Now ATOM RPG, for an indie title priced at a quarter of your typical “AAA” game, does a decent job with the presentation. The visuals are crisp and look surprisingly detailed when zoomed in. If you engage the free camera during combat, you can easily identify weapon and armour types. These visuals are backed up by great ambient audio and a moody soundtrack that ensures each location feels suitably atmospheric – be that a lively town or ominous cave system. Combat sounds great too, with loud gunshots and meaty impacts emphasising the brutality of it all. Some of the larger maps look and feel highly detailed and lifelike, but the smaller areas feel like elaborate dioramas when you can see the map boundary and transition zones.

Unfortunately, the longer you play, the more you’ll notice each location is constructed using limited assets – particularly when it comes to random encounters or camping locations. ATOM RPG gets a lot of mileage out of those assets – with ramshackle villages and forts, ancient bunkers and cave systems, and sprawling urban ruins – but the more you explore, the more you’ll realise many parts of the wasteland map “feel” familiar. You’ll begin to spot the same structure interiors and prop arrangements the longer you play. As a budget indie RPG, it’s not unexpected but worth mentioning (and, you could argue, no worse than the original Fallout or Baldur’s Gate games).

Some areas look great, packed with small details and lifelike shadows – albeit with limited dynamic light sources. That said, the obvious boundaries and transitions zones can make it feel like you’re controlling actions figures on a diorama.

A final issue, and one inherent to all PC-to-console ports, is the gamepad implementation. For general exploration, dialogue, and turn-based combat, it feels simple and intuitive. However, despite offering a free camera mode to look around, there’s no emulated cursor for selecting tightly-packed containers (you just have to wriggle around until it’s highlighted), you can’t just “click” on a location to move your party there, and contextual actions require imprecise press-and-hold commands. It’s something you get used to quickly but there are times it feels imprecise.

However, despite any gripes, ATOM RPG still follows a classic formula that’ll appeal to its niche fanbase (and you know who you are). It’s also easy to recommend given the budget pricing and overall quality. There’s the slow and methodical progression through a large world, warring factions to deal with, dozens of quest givers, plenty of solutions, quirky characters, and dangerous mutants (and even worse humans). It’s very much classic Fallout, in a modern indie skin, with several refinements. If you’re a fan of the CRPGs and a console gamer, ATOM RPG should be on your radar.