I approached the Woodmans Pub, or what was better known as the Wyndham Pub in Atomfall. Rebellion has taken over a local pub in London and jostled the insides with a unique collection of items that rival the look and feel of its in-game counterpart. I'm greeted with laughter and joy as those gathered around say hi to one another, all eager to get their hands on Rebellion's latest creation.
For the uninitiated, Rebellion is better known for headshot bullet cams and Hitler nut shots in the enduring Sniper Elite series. It's a fantastic lineup of games that always captures my attention with the latest entry. Killing Adolf and the Nazi regime never gets old for me. That's a hint to MachineGames: make another Wolfenstein.
Atomfall is Rebellion's first new IP since Strange Brigade. Launching in 2018, Atomfall has been in the works ever since. Starting its pre-production right around the time Strange Brigade was released, Atomfall has gone through 7 years of development time.
What they've created during that window is a mixture of Fallout meets S.T.A.L.K.E.R. meets Dr. Who. Atomfall is a whimsical, dark tale that captures the imagination in ways only British science fiction can. Bordering on insanity, I was swept into a carefully crafted world that was ready for my chaotic hour-and-a-half play through, where I intended to test the game's open-ended narrative.
Starting my venture
I was loaded in at a point after the opening; the exact time slot is unknown, but it's early after the tutorial. My items feature a degutting shotgun, a profuse cricket bat, and a whomping fireman's axe. Trouble ain't looking for me; I'm looking for it.
I come across a few scattered enemies out on a wooded path and went about testing the stealth mechanics; are these enemies dumb like other stealth games? Well, they spot me rather quickly as I scamper around a corner and accidentally stand myself up out of the tall grass. No slow-loading enemy bar for me. I look stupid as both enemies cock their own axes in their hands, ready to take my head off.
The combat feels weighty and heavy, as moment-to-moment action is crawling but meaningful. Each thwack of a melee weapon is meant to highlight the capability behind the strike. Spamming attacks will lead to your death, punishing your character with stamina loss and easy openings for your opponents to take advantage of.
After my bout that felt nearly endless, thanks to the continuous onslaught of enemies that could hear my shotgun, I was able to settle down and look over the UI. It's plain and simple, nothing overly complex or in need of tooltips to get around. Thanks to the items the developers gave me at the start, I was already faced with the inventory's central dilemma: item space.
Already, I had enough weapons to fill the four dedicated slots that the players will get. Unless it's a small weapon, like a pistol, the main character can only hold four distinct weapons. That goes for both melee and ranged weaponry.
It was a curious feeling to already be dealing with space issues, but it's something everyone will face as each enemy drops their weapon. This isn't Elden Ring or other games where weapons only occasionally drop; no, everything the enemies possess is dropped for the player to acquire (other than armor, it seems).
Navigating a world in lockdown
I made off from the first area with a basic understanding of how not to get my butt handed to me (Don't worry, I died about 6 or 7 times later). I came across a weathered helicopter and was awarded not only some convenient items and a new map icon, but some additional story backed by an audio file.
These are scattered throughout the quarantine zone. In the main village, by side characters, enemy camps, bunkers, you name it. Wherever you go, there's sure to be a bit of side story that the player can browse through at their leisure. These and other story-driven notes will help to slowly draw the curtain surrounding the mysteries in Atomfall.
Another piece of infrastructure you'll see plenty of are the random phone booths strewn about the countryside. Approaching these will generally direct to some dialogue with a rather sinister-sounding operator. For me, all he said was, "Oberon must die!" Sure, bud. Whatever you say!
Attempting to get the lay of the land, I took a look at the one clue I had on my screen that I had gotten from a piece of paper: "A note advertises the services of a herbalist called Mother Jago, who lives at the Old Mine in Casterfell Woods." Off to Casterfell, I go!
I find her parked outside an abandoned mine, sitting amongst some ruins, growing her plants. Definitely not the safest place. She's nothing but pleasant as I approach her, willing to help me out with either supplies or leads to another quest. Better yet, I could murder this garden gnome hobo for all she has if I didn't care a bit about her.
You see, Atomfall is entirely autonomous. You can do literally anything you desire within the confines of the game world.
Ben Fisher, Head of Design at Rebellion, had this to say during my interview with him:
"One of the first things people try in that second playthrough is they start killing people to see what happens. And if they're friends with a faction, if they're all witnesses, you might end up not friends with that faction. But we wanted to lean into that, just give the player that."
Want to go an entire run without killing anyone? You can do that. Desire to finish the job the nuclear disaster should have? You can do that as well! You can kill literally everything or nothing; the choice is yours. This autonomy was the angle I began to explore.
Finding my own autonomous path
In talks with others at the event, each and every one of them had an entirely different experience. One of them even asked me where I was able to grab a bow, a basic weapon I had come across multiple times during my voyage. That's just how divergent these playthroughs were!
The same person spent their event solving a nutty murder mystery that started in a run-down church, and another never actually left the first zone. My own experience was one nobody else shared.
Fisher added more about player autonomy:
"The player has an overall objective and sandbox on how they approach it. That sense of openness and trust in the player to find a way to get through was a big influence. We tried a couple of different models over the course of development, and it felt like we were the new best in our own creative DNA if we gave you complete openness and freedom."
Continuing, he added a much-celebrated series, became a pivotal point in story creation.
"You could argue that Dark Souls is a reference point because of the openness and the ambiguity of the narrative. That helped us to restructure the overall story again.
At one point, we had a more traditional quest system, and we found that it felt a bit too guiding for the player, and we wanted them to have more of a sense of ownership and freedom. So, we removed the quest system and replaced it with leads, so the players uncover bits and pieces of a narrative, like a detective, piecing together the understanding of the game as they are doing so."
One thing I loved was that the game never blatantly rewarded or chastised you for a decision. Killing a character didn't drop the all-ominous "questline failed." Instead, the events that take place from that point on will simply come to pass, whether right or wrong. You won't know until you try playing through that moment again to see how it might have affected something.
"[Players] They're opening and closing options that they might not even know are happening, so we don't say the characters will remember something, we don't say you've failed a quest or anything like that. It's all just choices and consequences. What this means is that players will have drastically different experiences of the game.
All of the little situations you find in the game are morally ambiguous from a certain perspective as well. So, there's not a best choice; there's not a heroic crew and a villainous group. You're always trying to make the best choice with limited knowledge of how this all pieces together, and that that tone resonates through the entire game."
Making my way south, I decided I wanted to see just how far I could go while ignoring my ever-growing pile of leads. How free could I be? Talking with characters, visiting locations, or picking up notes and audio clues will give your character a heads-up on what's happening in the area.
These leads will lead you on unique missions or to areas brimming with supplies necessary to survive your quests. Eventually, you'll find yourself exploring the exponential as leads lead to leads, and those lead to more leads; you get the idea.
Attempting to ignore everything other than what I came across on my own walking path became my calling. Where it piloted me was still somehow where I needed to be. That's just good damn game design.
I made my way down South and almost immediately regretted my decision. After entering an all-too-normal tunnel, I came across my first Ferals. These creatures from the blue lagoon emanate radioactivity and spray it at your character in earnest.
Coming across one is a hazard in itself if you go about blindly swinging; reaching three means you'll require appropriate planning. Spraying their nuclear venom led to the first of many deaths to come. My demise was completely my fault, as I failed to even attempt to take cover.
Trying again, I took the age-old approach of dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodging around their spray. Taking Patrick O'Houlihan's teachings to heart, I made my approach after downing the first two, axe cocked in my hand. Did I mention you could chuck melee weapons?
My throw landed true, straight to the head (check screenshot above). My second attempt was a triumph, and I was on my way to that sweet daylight on the other side of the tunnel, fresh off a well-fought victory.
What inspires this madness?
Like I said before, Atomfall feels like a love letter to Fallout and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. from the perspective of a British Sci-Fi novel.
Fisher could see the influences were striking gold with me.
"I mean, so you've hit on a couple of reference points that were relevant for us there, for sure. So, because it's an interconnected narrative, these are characters that help you tell that larger story. Stalker, Metro, but also Sniper Elite." What about media?
Another source I mentioned was the novel The Day of the Triffids, a 1951 post-apocalyptic novel by John Wyndham that would go on to influence the story of 28 Days Later. Likewise, Fisher sought inspiration for Atomfall from the very same book.
"There are other John Wyndham books that were an influence, also the TV show The Prisoner. But broadly speaking, we looked at 1950s and 1960s British speculative fiction storytelling and then pulled from as many reference points as we could."
The level of British sci-fi influence is quite obvious as well. The entire setting felt somehow comfortable and familiar, yet all the more uncommon with every step I took. More exploring was in order, so I continued my venture forth in search of the unknown.
I finished my pilgrimage south and came across Wyndham Village, where I was greeted with all sorts of British propaganda. Instead of the standard, "See it, say it, sorted," that my English brethren across the pond could meme, I instead hear, "Citizens of Wyndham! Remember that your village is one of the few remaining bastions of normality within the Zone. Keep it that way! Be normal!"
The line was heard comically after I came across dozens of rodents mauling a man with a pistol to death on top of a hill. One where the NPC somehow figured I was the one attacking and opened fire on me before he finally passed from his rodentry party. Sadly, I couldn't find anyone to report it to. Sorry chap!
Enemies will engulf you
I left the village in short order, not wanting to get too distracted by the personas that emitted from the roads and buildings. Inside the village, you can find quite a lot of those pesky leads I was so desperately trying to avoid as I stayed my path.
Immediately after exiting, a sound is blasted my way. It was the familiar propaganda voice warning me the area I've entered is notoriously packed with bandits and thugs. Within the first 10 or so meters, the claim was proven to be true.
Ahead of me were six or so enemies, all sat upon a path. Taking their measure, I drew my bow in hopes of picking off a few unmoving targets. With successful strikes, I managed to wipe out four of them, but the enemies I didn't see were the ones that ended up being the real threat.
See, the enemy AI in this game is rather well-placed. Seemingly similar to that of Sniper Elite, when you alert an enemy group, it's the area at large that becomes aware. Sounds of shouts and gunfire travel well, and Atomfall's systems make good use of that.
With what I thought were two enemies remaining, suddenly, I had several more shooting at me with bows and rifles or charging headfirst with nailed planks, looking to add some decoration to my face. It's this first effort that granted me the sweet relief of death once more.
On my second attempt, I did the same thing. Being completely bullheaded, I wanted to prove to myself I could handle the challenge by having better knowledge of what I was truly facing. While my stupidity didn't get me killed, it did cause me to inevitably retreat.
After picking off quite a few and finding a hidden placement to escape, I attempted to make another move that caused another six or seven enemies to take notice.
Diving and weaving through trains, buildings, and towers, I attempted to take out the mounting threat surrounding me. But, much like Sniper Elite, the enemies won't stop coming until the entire area is wiped out, or you find yourself a safer, more hidden space.
Backed into what I thought was a corner, I held my ground against a wave making their push with Molotovs and ranged weaponry. It was then that I discovered the bunker that lay on my backside. Quickly, I sprinted in, hoping to find refuge.
No matter where you go, you'll find the way
Inside, I waited to see if the AI would follow. For now, it seemed like they wouldn't. I wasn't sure if that was due to a constraint on the game itself or if they knew better than to come inside.
Upon running into four or five more ferals, I realized it could definitely have been either. The bunker lay dormant but stocked with small items, trinkets, ammunition, and, more importantly, another lead. A hint and secret that pointed me to what the latest gameplay trailers have shown: the Interchange.
At the time, I had no idea what the Interchange was. To my knowledge, this place wasn't known to anyone. Or at least, from the gameplay I had seen. Before I left for the mystery-enshrouded facility, I thought I'd check around the bunker a bit more.
I was delighted by what I found. Not necessarily any unique items per se, but the fact that the effort of investigation I put into the bunker was rewarded. Multiple small, very missable routes led to a satisfactory trip of exploration as I found item after item.
The bunker felt built with a purpose behind it. It was carefully crafted in an effort to compensate player engagement, which I sometimes feel many developers miss out on. Rebellion, good job on this one.
Enough of the bunker, though; it's time to head off to the next big thing.
The Interchange and beyond
More exploring lay ahead of me, but what you should be more interested in hearing about is the Interchange. After a quick circumvention of the large open area the Interchance entrance was in, I was face to face with the entrance, or at least the first one.
Entering, I was met with a massive vault door, similar to what you'd find in any Fallout game. I took to the staircase to see if I could open this beastly thing, and immediately found your standard "insert keycard to enter" machine.
Luckily, I had just the keycard for it. Earlier, when I started my session, I noticed a little red chip in my inventory. I took note of it for later, but I hadn't found any use for it until now. It fit perfectly.
What I received was the opposite of that walkout moment you see in a Bethesda creation. Instead, I was burrowing into a vault. One that looked like it had been locked up since the disaster had taken place almost a decade prior.
Walking inside, I was greeted with the only live visitors I would find: bats. I made quick work of them with my trusty cricket bat and looked for a way forward.
Crawling under a stuck door, I came to the main entry point and noticed a familiar name pointed in the forwardmost direction: Oberon. "Ah, crap," I thought. I was in no position for a boss battle; my guns were depleted from my random shenanigans, and I was hurting for meds.
Thankfully, the circular room I entered wasn't a boss arena but an area I think I'll be visiting quite a few more times when the game finally comes out. The windowed room gave a sense of how large this underground lair is.
Massive glass walls encapsulated the space, showing not light but more open rocky zones leading to other underground rooms. Ahead of me was a dimly lit panel and a body that had been blessed with death long before my arrival.
On top of the desk, a telephone rang, and the acquainted shady operator answered on the other end. Again, we talked a bit, but in the end, he told me once more that Oberon must die.
At this point, it was clear to me that Oberon most likely wasn't a person, but something held inside the facility itself. The only question remaining was how I was supposed to reach Oberon.
The body before me was the key. Laying next to an atomic battery, I plugged the sucker into the panel, and viola! Something happened! What it did was open a pathway that led to two more areas for me to explore, but first, there was some sort of tube in front of me.
The pneumatic tube, as it's called, is Atomfall's storage mechanic. Any loot placed in the tube will be accessible at any pneumatic entry point. Find another pneumatic tube, and you can grab or put any item inside that you've placed in another tube. Awesome!
I headed off to check more areas in the Interchange. In either tunnel I had access to, I was met with more leads that looked to eventually direct me to more atomic batteries I'd need to power the Interchange. Where that would pilot me to is unknown, but I'm willing to bet it has something to do with that Oberon sucker.
I needed atomic batteries. That much was clear. I wasn't going to get them sitting around the Interchange. So I hiked myself back to the exit without a care in the world. Big mistake.
Entering the vault from the main door was a nice little entourage of deadly paparazzi. They noticed me almost immediately because I wasn't entirely paying attention, and I paid the ultimate price within moments. Dead as the bodies behind me.
Round two came, and I was ready. I had a few grenades I'd been saving up that raked away most of their health while causing debilitating shock to the rest. Easy pickings from there with my rusty .22 caliber pistol I had found on the body inside the Interchange.
As I exited, I was met with the world once more. Bright and full of possibilities. I had minutes left, but it was definitely on the short end. Minutes later, my time with Atomfall came to a close. An audible "dangit" was heard from myself and multiple others.
After my play session, my interview with Ben Fisher took place. As you've read throughout the article, he was nothing but passionate about Atomfall, and my time spent with the title shows the passion in full effect. I'm eager to get my hands on the definitive product and unravel the secrets of Atomfall when it launches later this month.
Before I ended the interview, I had one final question for Fisher.
"Will there be bullet cams?"
With an audible laughter heard around the room from him and his crew, he responded with a gutting, "no!"
Atomfall is coming to Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation 5. It will also be available on Xbox and PC Game Pass when it launches day one on March 27, 2025. Make sure to come back prior to launch to see our full review of Atomfall.
