Review of Atomfall: All Eyes on the Reactor | Games

‘wHats if a Cornoville disaster occurs in the UK? “Atomfall is pretty beautiful, according to the developer rebellion.

Using the 1957 front-scale fire as a launch pad, Atomfall thrusts you into post-war Britain, causing the accident to deteriorate dramatically, urge the government to send troops before it runs through much of the Lake District, sealing off everyone inside. Your character, the typical video game Amnesiac, will wake up in the exclusion zone a few years later. To escape, they must unravel what caused the disaster, who is responsible for it, and the mystery behind how to fix it.

This mystery and how it unfolds is the most interesting part of Atomfall. The story reconstructs traditional quests as “leads.” Here, collecting documents such as text and military reports and talking to surviving locals within the zone reveals points of interest. At the heart of Enigma is a vast underground research facility. It unlocks the entrance, places atomic batteries to power different sectors, and eventually unleashes the heart of the front scale, keeping it in a dark secret.

It’s a story that offers a lot of plot. Characters who support you on your journey, including soldiers, scientists and civil servants, have their own motivations to do so. These are often related to the transformations you see along the way. For example, infiltrate a castle occupied by a man-style druid of Wicker to retrieve special medicine and resolve the typical British murders in the church.

Solving these threads is fun, and the story benefits from harsher focus and pacing than most open-world adventures. Unfortunately, the accompanying game mechanics feel like they do more out of obligation than enthusiasm. With combat you can choose between serviceable but inconspicuous guns and brawl fights that will thank you for all the rusty firearms you have gathered. There is a basic craft system that is mainly used to make bandages and occasionally Molotov cocktails. Stealth systems exist in theory, but perhaps appropriately I have never seen it work in a meaningful way. The enemy can find you from half of the map and appears to be connected to telepathy with nearby allies.

Perhaps it’s rare in any part of the UK that it’s always bright and sunny in the Atom Fall exclusion zone, let alone the Lake District. Overall, there is a possibility that the Cambrian setting could be better utilized. The four maps of Atomfall are gorgeous and fun, including lumpy valleys filled with dry stone shells and the English villages that have been the most detailed reproduction since everyone went to the Rapture, but the world is not particularly atmospheric.

What’s more, enemy factions, druids, and crazy looters feel like crazy looters dressed in cricket gear as vague attempts to chase after strange gangs that have been swept away. Where is the Wild Rambler, a literati roving band over whether Wordsworth and Coleridge were better poets? Why are Pasties so abundant when Kendal Mint Cake and Grasmere Gingerbread absent? This may seem like a flicker, but given that you have recently seen such a great lambhoon in northern life where you are grateful to be here, I feel that the Northern depiction of Atom Fall, and in fact the UK is a superficial, coincidence collection, a confused collection of cultural touch.

To use another example, one of the key inspirations for Atomfall is Stalker. This is a series that specifically has the strengths of Ukrainians. Stalker and its sequels are totally unafraid of being strange, bold, challenging and desolate to completely envelop players in the country’s radioactive trauma. The “what if” scenario of the rebellion can only be in the shadow of Chornovir, as Britain does not share its trauma in the same way.