Atomfall asks a simple question: What if the Windscale nuclear disaster of 1957 actually turned part of Britain into an irradiated wasteland? In this alternate version of England, Rebellion has traded in its third-person, stealth action games like Sniper Elite, for a first-person, survival action game akin to ‘Fallout’ or ‘Stalker’.

The game takes place five years after the nuclear disaster that occurred in Northern England. A quarantine zone has been placed around the atom plant and its neighbouring areas. You awaken inside a bunker with absolutely zero recollection of who or where you are, so it’s up to you to figure out what is happening within the zone and uncover the many secrets it holds.

The first person you meet after being disturbed from your slumber is a scientist who has been badly injured and needs our help; you must search around the bunker to find some cloth and alcohol to create some bandages to help him, giving us an introduction to the games crafting system which you’ll quickly become familiar with. Upon aiding the injured scientist, he informs us that he still doesn’t have much time left, hands over his keycard, allowing us to escape, and telling us to seek the Interchange. Escaping the bunker, your journey into this world begins.

Atomfall gives you freedom of choice from the very beginning, letting you explore any part of the world as you see fit thanks to its very open and branching narrative that is progressed through its exploration-based quests called the Leads System, promoting investigation into the leads you have discovered, either by discovering locations and items, or chatting with the many characters you’ll come across.

These quests are entirely up to the player in how they approach them and can be solved in different ways – even essential NPCs, like shopkeepers, are not necessarily safe. One lead had me investigating the local bakery owner, Iris, for Captain Sims, the leader of the local Army unit controlling the town of Wyndham, now known as the ‘Protocol.’ The thing is, I had already discovered and bought some bread from her as a healing item, however, upon uncovering a secret she was hiding in the bakery, the quest ended with me being forced to kill her, meaning Iris and her bakery were no longer available as a trader.

These were due to specific choices I’d already made, but if I had acted differently, the quest could’ve been resolved very differently. I ended up really enjoying how the game lets you choose how to approach each quest and doesn’t hold your hand at all, meaning you can accidentally mess up quests or hurt the relationships you have with some characters.

You’ll meet many different faces as you explore, but a few characters are more important than others, all with their own agendas but they will all be crucial to you. One is a mysteriously voiced character who will call you repeatedly through the classic British red telephone boxes scattered around the zone. This character seems to know everything that is happening, regardless of where you are, and he will be sure to give his opinions on you and other characters, all while his motives remain unknown.

Due to the narrative’s branching nature, there are many individual quests that all connect and weave themselves into the main story, which ultimately involves escaping the Zone. The Zone itself is divided into four small regions interconnected via gates.

Wyndham Village is the only major town in the game, while the three other regions are open wilderness. Underneath everything, is the Interchange. A secret underground government facility where the mysteries you are investigating start to unfold one by one.

Exploring them all is as crucial as it is dangerous since this is a survival game at its core which means resources are scarce. Gathering supplies to craft bandages, antidotes, and other items, finding ammunition or finding training manuals, which expand the skills you can unlock with training stimulants. Stumbling into outlaw patrols or taking on druid camps head-on can be difficult, besides some basic enemy AI that is easy to manipulate, but it is worth taking the risk since they are usually full of the supplies you’ll need.

Just as the game freely lets you tackle its quests, this also means it is no stranger to danger. The game is challenging and will punish mistakes with combat that feels weighty and clunky by design, fighting against enemies such as Ferals or Thralls which essentially act as zombies. Limited ammo for your rifles, bows, or other ranged weapons means you have to be careful taking your shots, melee combat is the answer if you do run out of ammo, but watch out for your heart rate. A mechanic brought over from Sniper Elite, if gets too high, it will affect weapon stability or your total stamina.

Skills can be acquired to help with a number of things, including your heart rate, which allows you to recover faster, craft items quicker, or deal more damage to unaware enemies.

I felt like Steve Smith smashing a double century at Lord’s while running around with a cricket bat clobbering foe after foe. Sorry, England. As an Australian, I couldn’t resist throwing in a cricket jab after seeing the cricket bat – we’ll see you at the Ashes.

Banter aside, Rebellion have done a terrific job tying in British inspirations and humour, whether it’s the red telephone boxes, the war-time British music over the radio, Doctor Who-inspired robots, the love of tea, or just the feeling of being in the gorgeous English countryside, it all works to set the game on its own, standing alone in the genre.

Technically speaking, I didn’t escape without a couple of unfortunate bugs, the most major one being that audio would completely disappear, forcing me to save and reload the game on a few different occasions to fix it. Hopefully, it’s something that can be fixed in a day-one patch.

I mentioned the gorgeous countryside previously, and graphically, the game is beautiful. The Asura engine adds another layer to the exploration with a stunning world, even if some of the character models leave much to be desired. The British voice acting is excellent. Different dialects are heard throughout, which is a neat touch when it’s set in Northern England, so it’s natural to hear Scouse accents amongst Midland accents.

Rebellion has taken risks with Atomfall, trying something outside of its regular formula. Yet, it successfully adds its own touch to the survival-action genre by blending immersive exploration and meaningful choices. While its combat can feel clunky by design, and while few technical issues persist, the freedom it offers in storytelling is brilliant. Atomfall is well worth your time.

Written by: Dylan Kocins