Isn’t it amazing when a game studio bases Atomfall in the country you call home? My favourites to date are Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Syndicate, but Rebellion Developments have brought a new contender to the block with their Northern England first-person action survival game, Atomfall. I’m a fan of the Fallout series and do love a good survival game so Atomfall seems like a match made in heaven when you throw in a trip to the Lake District in an alternate history set in 1957.
After reaching out to the talented team over at Rebellion Developments I was graced with a review copy of the game on PC. At first, I was a little bit worried, as I’m not going to lie; my PC has seen better days, and I would say it is stuck in the year 201,8, which was when it was built.
I know that’s only 7 years old, but with computers, it’s like dog years. So, 7 x 1,0 which makes it 70 years old, but less of that because to my amazement it ran Atomfall on Ultra setting without any issues and performed as if the PC was straight out of a box. So, with everything set, I grabbed myself a delicious cup of Yorkshire Tea and began my journey in yet another post-nuclear setting.
Atomfall is a first-person action survival inspired by real-life events, set five years after the Windscale nuclear disaster in Northan England. You will explore a fictional quarantine zone where you will scavenge, craft, barter, and fight/talk your way through the gorgeous, lush British countryside. This quarantine zone is packed full of bizarre characters, mysticism, cults, and rouge government agencies, which one of the higher-ups kind of reminds me of Basil Fawlty (if you know, you know).
You’ll quickly learn from the get-go that not everything in the quarantine zone is as it seems. Not everyone can be trusted, and who knows what people are hiding in their homes? cough, cough, check the bakery. Through freedom of exploration, conversation choices, and investigation, you’ll uncover leads which ultimately will help you get to the bottom of what really happened at Windscale.
As soon as you leave the first bunker, you are welcomed by this picturesque Lake District landscape that is filled with mutated creatures, members of doomsday cultists, and rouge military agents, oh and don’t forget the British robots. The world is made up of a series of interconnected areas that you, the player, can freely explore at your leisure. There are plenty of NPC characters to come across that offer more insight into the story of having something to trade. There are plenty of caves, hidden bunkers, and secret locations that are packed full of lore, resources, and, of course, hostile Brits.
The way that Atomfall tells a story is one that I think other games should take a look at. It doesn’t train you down a set track but offers you snippets of stories that you then go off and unravel. It makes the player want to explore and find all the hidden mysteries rather than point-to-point quest lines that make you miss out on a lot of the world.
The ranged combat is a lot better than the melee, and I love the guns of the era. Even though bullets are slim on the ground when you use them, they are so much fun. There is a good mix of weapons for players to come across, but you don’t get a lot of storage, so at times, it can get frustrating if you come across a weapon you want to use but have to get rid of another to do so.
The takedowns you can perform on enemies are useful,l but I don’t think it allows for much of a stealth element as when the enemies die, they don’t go quietly and alert everyone in a 5-mile radius but then you get to engage in some epic gun/melee fights, so can’t complain. The crafting system is super useful and the skills tree is simple and not too overly complicated to help you make your character that bit better. For example, you can unlock the ability to disarm traps, which is super useful as there are plenty of them littered around the countryside.
One thing I will warn you about is if you are looking for a fight, make sure you are well-equipped, as some of the enemies won’t go easy on you. The robots are a massive challenge to bring down, and the protocol soldiers are very gun-heavy if you get on their wrong side. The only enemies I feel sorry for are the Cultists, as you don’t bring an axe to a gunfight. All in all, Atomfall does everything right from the get-go and has plenty of British humor and nods that make me very happy.
If you are low on health, you can eat a Cornish paste to recover it, which is super funny, and when your heart rate gets a bit too high why not calm down with a cup of tea? It’s the little things that make Atomfall my second-favourite game of 2025, the first being Monster Hunter Wilds.
The way that the different zones are intricately linked together allows you to traverse the world with ease. There are plenty of bunkers in Skettermore for you to stumble across, a massive castle in Casterfell, and a myriad of other locations that are just as awesome as the last. With Atomfall, you’ll want to spend your time taking everything in and exploring as you never know what you’re going to find next.
Graphically, Atomfall is amazing, It has a completely different feel to what I’m normally used to when it comes to post-nuclear landscapes as the areas are lush and green rather than baron and dull. It would have been nice to have a day and night cycle along with some different weather systems as we all know the UK is far from the sun all year round and Atomfall kind of paints the picture that it’s always sunny in Windscale but in reality, it probably would have been pissing it down at least four times a day with the added high winds and slither of sunlight.
Though it still is a gorgeous game and I love all the little details that have gone into making this game world. The voice acting is incredible as well and there are many funny characters and dialogue snippets that you stumble across that just make me laugh to myself. Atomfall truly captures the northwest coast of Cumberland and is a joy to explore and take in. I was so happy that my PC was able to run it on max settings as I was able to see the game run and perform at its best.
Plenty is going on in Atomfall to keep you playing for hours. There are multiple endings and different outcomes to quest lines, depending on how you go about them and plenty of areas to explore. I didn’t feel the need to rush with Atomfall and felt I enjoyed the game more when I explored every area and uncovered all its mysteries and secrets and just used the leads as a way to guide me toward the different areas.
Atomfall could probably be completed rather quickly if you did just streamline certain quest lines but I do urge you to take in the British countryside, have a cuppa and pasty, and above all kick some butt.
Conclusion
Even though your main goal in Atomfall is to find the Interchange, this was put on the back burner multiple times due to my curiosity. I’d find myself getting lost in the world, seeing what all the NPC had to say, searching for buried caches, reading all the notes, and uncovering the secrets behind the world. I love how you can go about Atomfall in whatever way you see fit, There isn’t much of a path to follow; more that you make your own. Even the notes telling you to go to locations are vague, so you have to do some searching, which I like.
It doesn’t spoon-feed you but gives you enough to steer you in the right direction. My only negatives on Atomfall are that the Melee combat feels a bit sluggish and slow, and the AI enemies could use some polish but other than that, the more I played, the more I loved it, and I highly recommend this game to anyone who loves action-survival games and loves a good British tea. For those reasons, I’m giving Atomfall a well-deserved 8 out of 10.
AtomFall Trailer
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The code was provided by the distributor.
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