If you were to wake up tomorrow and had no memory of how you got where you were, what would you do? Would you look for clues to understand your location, stay in place until someone found you, or would you look for information about who you are? Earlier this month, we had the opportunity to meet with Rebellion to preview their upcoming game, Atomfall; during this meeting, we got a sneak peek at the world we would be exploring and told what we could expect from the game. Since the game’s announcement, many have compared it to the beloved franchise Fallout. So does the game live up to that comparison? Find out in Atomfall review.

Atomfall
Developer: Rebellion
Publisher: Rebellion
Platforms: PC (Steam), Epic Games Store, PlayStation4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, & Xbox Series X|S 
Release Date: March 27th, 2025
Players: 1
Price: $49.99, Available on Gamepass

When you first look at Atomfall it is easy to see why many would compare it to Fallout. The game’s character models are similar, you wake up in a bunker in an older apocalyptic world, and the different dialog options indicate how your character is feeling.

Beyond those factors, that is where the major similarities really end; yes, you can find small nuances to compare but then that comes down to nitpicking. 

Atomfall is the story of an individual who wakes up in a bunker with no clue what’s going on and how they got there. With a stranger in a hazmat suit bleeding out in front of you, you quickly realize that the world you are about is a dangerous place and that anything and everything might try to kill you.

As you explore you quickly realize that groups have divided into factions and depending on how you interact with these groups, they might try to kill you. Yes, there are groups that won’t try to kill you, but those are rather rare.  

Once you have explored the area a little, you will uncover a little information about the Interchange; it is your goal to uncover what happened at the interchange to cause the lockdown. Depending on who you side with, your goal with the interchange varies.

Do you trust the military leader who believes all should cave to Martial Law, the Scientist who returned to help those in the quarantine zone, or a mysterious voice on a phone that keeps calling you at random moments? 

Unlike other RPGs, Atomfall does not give you a clear indication of where you need to go. Instead, the game uses a lead system that will point you in a direction, but it is up to you if you want to pursue it.

Around the map, there are notes that the player can pick up that share information about the area to characters, where to potentially find more resources, or indicate where you should go for a certain lead. You can track a lead in game and it will show you a general area, but it is up to you to search that area for what you are looking for. 

Atomfall does not follow the typical RPG system. Instead of leveling up after killing enemies or finding locations, the player can only improve skills by finding Combat Stimulants. Combat stimulants can be found when searching B.A.R.D caches or in random chests.

These stimulants help you upgrade your skills, however, only the first row of each skill type is available. In order to unlock new skills, you will need to find training manuals; these manuals can be found throughout the quarantine zone or purchased from merchants. 

The game also does not use a currency system. If you want an item from a merchant, you will need to trade items with them. Depending on the merchant, this can mean trading anything from food, medical aid, weapons, ammunition, and even recipes.

Each merchant’s wants and demands will differ, so you will need to see what items they are stocking in order to potentially secure a good trade. There is a skill in the game called Charisma that makes your items worth more when bartering. 

Although you can kill everyone in the game, doing so will not give you all of their supplies. Killing someone can also mean being locked out of certain leads which can make the game increasingly more difficult.

Depending on who you decide to partner can also make your life more difficult. Choosing to partner with the doctor will make a whole region of the game hostile to you and potentially means facing repeated deaths.

With Atomfall being an action-adventure RPG, there are different play times you can expect. The timetable to complete the story can differ based on which leads you choose to follow, who you side with, and what difficulty you decide to play on. The game features five difficulties ranging from Sightseer, Investigator, Brawler, Survivor, and Veteran; Survivor is the developer’s recommended difficulty. 

Depending on which difficulty you choose, it will impact Combat, Survival, and exploration. Players can also customize their game experience with the ability to alter a ton of gameplay options. With Combat and Survival, these adjustments range from Assisted, Casual, Challenging, and Intense.

You will need to read each setting that you are modifying to see how the difficulty affects it. With Exploration, you can choose to turn on Infinite Sprint, Waypoint Markers, Navigational Hints, and more. Both the Infinite Sprint and the Waypoint Markers do not seem to be working properly at the time of this review. 

In addition to being able to customize your gameplay experience, the game features a decent array of accessibility options. These options include the ability to modify visual options such as changing colors for help, warnings, interactions, crosshair, and NPC indicators.

The HUD can also be modified to show a permanent Health Bar, enemy icons, and traversal indicators; additionally, you can increase the size of the Health Bar. 

With Camera, you can change how often it shakes, the Field of View, motion blur, and how often you see full-screen effects. Atomfall also features different audio and control assistance.  The game can help players with Auto-Centering the view, moving forward automatically, and giving audio cues when interacting with someone or aiming at someone. 

Although Atomfall might be a survival RPG, Rebellion has used what they have learned from Zombie Army and Sniper Elite to create an enjoyable survival experience. Yes, the lead system may be a bit difficult to use at first, but like any other game, after a little bit of hands-on experience, you do start to understand.

If you are playing on higher difficulties or have a certain setting set to intense, finding supplies in the game can be extremely difficult leading to some frustration. If you find yourself needing help or want to change the experience, you can modify the game in the game menu by selecting PlayStyle; this makes it so you don’t have to create a new save or get tied to a certain difficulty.

Atomfall gives the indication that there are a variety of story paths but at the end of the day, it feels like there are only a few options. If you are playing on higher difficulties, it goes from multiple paths down to just three. The story of what happened in the Quarantine Zone isn’t genre-changing or defining but it is still an enjoyable story.

Gamers who are looking for a Survival Shooter RPG can have a good time with the game but will need to adapt to understand the game’s mechanics. If you are a fan of Dark Souls, Fallout, Ark, or Sniper Elite, then you will probably enjoy this game. Even if you don’t like those games and like the survival genre, you will still be able to enjoy Atomfall.

The customizable experience makes it a game that almost anyone can play or enjoy. Our biggest complaints with the game are that inventory space is extremely limited and that you can only hold so much ammo; you can not store it in the backup storage system. The fact that it is on Game Pass Day 1 makes it something that you should check out for at least an hour or two and then go from there. 

Atomfall was reviewed on PC using a code provided by Rebellion. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. Atomfall will be released on March 27th, 2025 on PC (Steam), Epic Games Store, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, & Xbox Series X|S.