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Never before has a cricket bat spanked so many Cold War robots. Never before have I hunted Wicker Man cultists with a stunstick and grenades. I’m not surprised Atomfall is great. After all, it’s from Rebellion, the team behind Sniper Elite. Excellence is what I expected. What I didn’t expect were subtle, often brilliant ways in which Atomfall is great. A sandbox survival action game inspired by Dr. Who and a real nuclear disaster, Atomfall is one of the biggest surprises of 2025. Despite rough spots, it’s also one of the best.
Atomfall Review
Improving on history isn’t easy, but Atomfall does just that. It builds on the sandbox action of Sniper Elite, but you’re no super soldier. Death comes easy to the careless. You’ll need to be cautious as you roam the British countryside, scavenging, crafting, and ambushing patrols. There are British soldiers, flamethrower-wielding robots, blue-glowing ghouls, masked druids, and worse afoot. Most of Atomfall is spent pinballing from one POI to the next as you clear quests across several large, interconnected maps. When the serotonin drip is so sweet, that’s fine with me.
Story: Windscale Woes and Phone Box Calls
Atomfall offers a far different setting than the historic Europe of Sniper Elite. Though the green hills, valleys, and pastoral villages may ooze English charm, things aren’t so simple. It’s been five years since a nuclear disaster at Windscale threw the world into disarray. Competing factions arose in the wake of the disaster. Now, a traveler is as likely to stumble upon towering B.A.R.D. robots in a nuclear bunker as they are hatchet-wielding cultists in the woods. That’s good news for players at least.
Variety is one of the game’s biggest strengths. Atomfall fuses Wicker Man-style folk horror, Cold War paranoia, and 20th-century British science fiction. It works wonders. The unusual mash-up allowed the writers to keep things twisting in unexpected directions without the whole plot feeling cheap. While the story isn’t the strongest thing about Atomfall, there’s a lot to like about it. It’s paced so well that the transitions between areas and factions feel both inevitable and exciting. I flat-out love the direction Rebellion took, and I’d love to see a sequel take things even further.
I’m also a fan of Atomfall‘s writing and acting. While a few actors ham it up, everyone plays their part for whatever humor or horror the situation demands. Traders and major characters like Mother Jago and Billy Gorse are always fun encounters, and not just because they let me refresh my bandages. Even minor characters have a great deal of life to them. More than once, I found myself crouched in the bushes, watching as the patrol I planned to ambush disappeared down the road, all because I got distracted listening to them talk. Atomfall‘s world feels as rich to me as those of Sniper Elite and Zombie Army.
Gameplay: Shiv and Shoot
Games like Sniper Elite: Resistance, Hitman, and Dishonored give players three things: cool weapons, a more or less open map, and lots of warm bodies to make cold. That’s a recipe Atomfall follows, too. There’s a central plot, but the game gives you that “stepping out of Vault 111” moment early on. I didn’t intend to ignore the main mission for as long as I did, but Atomfall lured me. Rebellion places POIs like Family Guy candy, and I’m James Woods following the trail into every trap. Why, yes, I will traipse into that nuclear bunker / druid grotto / secret prison, thank you for asking.
Exploring caves and discovering secret caches is great, but combat is the gameplay’s glue. Knives, cricket bats, stun batons, explosives, a bow and arrow, and plentiful guns give you various options. Alternating between melee and ranged is a must on most difficulties. It’s a survival action game, so ammo and bandages are often scarce. Your foes, on the other hand, are plentiful. Even taking down a random patrol of two or three soldiers requires coordination and the careful use of resources. Sure, you can Rambo your way through if you want, but it’s less effective and fun than taking a more creative route.
The skill tree isn’t huge, but everything it offers feels impactful. I also love that you gain skill points by exploring and incentivizing players to dive into the world if they want to get stronger. It’s a fantastic design choice that has been my biggest motivator. I wanted to venture into new and dangerous corners of Atomfall‘s world to unravel its mysteries and so I could afford that melee damage perk I wanted. If you’re the type who enjoys devising clever kills in Dishonored, Atomfall feels like an old friend.
There aren’t many gameplay issues, but the few there are can be frustrating. The first-person perspective makes the handful of platforming sequences annoying. Crafting is also okay; it is never too obnoxious or demanding but never earns its place. The biggest issue is the enemy AI. Sometimes it’s great and will send a coordinated band of hunters to flank you. Other times you can cheese a dozen enemies to death by repeatedly vaulting a stone wall, then shooting your pursuers in their silly faces when they vault after you. None of it ruins the game, but those edges need smoothing.
Graphics & Audio: An Elegant Mosaic
There wasn’t a B.A.R.D. sentry bot outside when you entered the secret bunker, but there sure is when you emerge. Its steel carapace gleams in the English sunlight like some atomic beetle. You’d marvel at the engineering if you weren’t busy sprinting around the chainlink fence and diving for cover. Its flamethrower lashes the bushes behind you like a Balrog’s whip. Your revolver is out of bullets, so you draw your bow. Exhaling, you nock an arrow and aim for the canister of flamethrower fuel on the robot’s back. Time to pray to whatever wicker god the forest cultists revere.
With Atomfall, Rebellion did something that many devs lack the courage to do, establishing a unique visual style. The scarlet phone boxes, emerald hills, blue fungus zombie things, stompy robots, and Cold War drip? It’s a hodge-podge of ideas and aesthetics that maybe shouldn’t work but does. One of my favorite things about Atomfall during my playthrough was its ability to keep surprising me with new and interesting environments. From a corpse posed under the stained glass of a church to the moldering nuclear bunkers of a bygone war, the images are startling and profound.
I enjoyed the music and SFX, in particular the gun audio, but the voice acting steals the show. Occasional scenery-chewing aside, the performers do a great job of capturing their characters without needing buckets of exposition. Though you won’t find the sprawling dialogue trees of Baldur’s Gate 3, conversations in Atomfall are almost always interesting. The accents not only ground the setting but also give the dialogue a pleasing tune. I particularly like eavesdropping on patrols before my Enfield LMG has the last word.
Conclusion: A Worthy Rebellion
I experienced occasional pathfinding issues and minor visual glitches but no crashes during my time with the game. In many ways, Atomfall is Rebellion’s most ambitious project yet. In many ways, it’s also the most successful. If you long to discover lost secrets, help eccentric locals, and practice your bow skills on British soldiers, Atomfall‘s for you. You don’t need an X-ray kill cam to see what’s fun about this game.
Review copy received from Publisher.
Atomfall (PC Reviewed)
Atomfall builds on the sandbox action that Rebellion does best while establishing an exciting new world inspired by Dr. Who, folk horror, and nuclear history.
Pros
- Satisfying weapons and combat
- Excellent world-building
- Unique visual design
Cons
- Enemy AI is hit-or-miss
- Traversal can be unintuitive
- Crafting is just okay
