Preview: Atomfall is Gearing Up to Be Rebellion’s Most Remarkable Game to Date

Most days in the United Kingdom tend to feel like living in a post-apocalyptic nightmare, so it’s surprising that few studios have considered it as a setting for their action survival RPGs. Rebellion, however, saw an opportunity with Atomfall, dropping players into an alternate history 1950s where the Windscale nuclear disaster turned Northern England largely into a radioactive quarantine zone. So, not too different, just a few more feral creatures than usual. 

Given its setting and general mechanics, early glances at Atomfall have drawn a lot of comparisons to the Fallout series, which was enough to pique my interest. I’d enjoyed the recent famed mod Fallout London, with it having really captured the perils of navigating the UK capital once the sun sets. Debris, traps, and ghouls included. Atomfall, however, swaps London iconography for rolling hills and Cumbrian cottages, accurately offering up a slice of England outside of the M25, now with more nuclear fallout. 

I had roughly an hour and a half with Atomfall, glued to a computer set up in a side room of a North London pub. It was renamed the Grendell’s Head for the purpose of this preview, a replica of the in-game village of Wyndham’s own watering hole. Through the pub’s speakers came snippets of the game’s tense soundtrack intercut with old-timey radio announcements and static, appropriately setting the tone that would carry through my gameplay session.

I was dropped into Atomfall at an unspecified point in its story, waking in what seemed to be a large draining tunnel opening out into a thick wood. A single objective served as my metaphorical pat on the back to send me on my way: Find Mother Jago, who apparently resided at the Old Mine in Casterfell Woods.

So off I went trekking into the leafy lands of the Lake District, unsure of where exactly I should be heading or who else I should be seeking out. Within minutes, I encountered a few NPCs who, before I could even gauge their friendliness, shouted threats and warnings at me to back off. So far, so Brit. I’d wandered into their ruins, apparently, and despite my shouts about the right to roam it seemed conflict was inevitable. 

I was thrust into a combat encounter before I’d even gotten my bearings. A bewildering, trial by fire, and exactly how I wanted to be welcomed into Atomfall. A few different types of weapons had been conveniently placed in my inventory for the purpose of the preview, including a cricket bat which I thought would be a nice, mid-weight melee option. I later switched to the handaxe which had a faster swing and caused Bleed damage. One-on-one combat is your best case scenario in Atomfall. Human enemies are fragile and can usually be taken down in a few swings, but so are you. Enemies with knives or axes can quickly deal Bleed damage, which you’ll need to plug with Bandages which, as you might’ve guessed, must be crafted from cloth often dropped by said enemies. You have limited inventory space, too, so you can’t just stock up on Bandages and food as you’ll need space for a variety of weapons.

Melee weapons were the most common tool I found during my exploration through Atomfall’s Casterfell Woods zone. Guns were available, a rusted pistol, shotgun and rifle, but ammo was scarce in the countryside, as expected. Most of the enemies I ran into also carried melee weapons, which could be looted from their bodies once defeated. Those that didn’t typically had bows and arrows, and occasionally a rifle. 

Melee combat is tricky, and encountering more than one enemy at a time proves to be especially precarious. These encounters beg for a more strategic approach. Crouch in the grass to get the jump on an unsuspecting enemy, thinning the numbers from the shadows. Or, after finding a bow and some arrows, pick them off from afar. The latter proved to be effective, and satisfying, during my session. A well-placed headshot drops most opponents pretty quickly, but only if you can master your aim. 

Despite my initial bewilderment, it didn’t take me too long to stumble across Mother Jago. Atomfall utilizes open zones rather than a full open world, offering a bit more structure to your exploration and making it easier to learn your way around. That’s not to say the zones are small, however. Even once my session was up I felt I hadn’t discovered half of what the Casterfell Woods had to offer, and I left itching to uncover more. There’s plenty to catch your attention, pull you off the beaten path, and additional leads to follow.

Atomfall is as much a survival game as it is a mystery, with the protagonist uncovering and following leads to get to the bottom of the disaster. These leads that you find are your reward for exploration; the more NPCs you speak to, locations you find, the more you become entangled in Atomfall’s world and mysteries. You have a choice in how you speak to NPCs; your responses and questions can be Curious, Wary, or Confused, as a few examples, giving players a choice in how they procure information and leads. 

Mother Jago eventually tasked me with finding a herbalism book of hers that had been taken by the Druids I’d encountered earlier. She suspected that it had been taken to their castle in the woods, thus giving me a new lead to follow and a rumoured location to check out. The castle and the surrounding Druid Camp was a quick lesson in why taking on multiple enemies at once is a bad idea, and that you really can’t rush in axe swingin’ or guns blazin’. It was also where I first encountered one of Atomfall’s more mutated enemies: a giant, long-stalked plant creature that hisses and spits poison at you. I was later jumped by a Ghoul-like creature called a “Feral.” Essentially, there’s a lot that’s trying to kill you in Casterfell Woods that the National Trust should be a bit more upfront about. 

The detail and variety of POIs in the Casterfell Woods was surprising. From bunkers and boatyards, manor grounds and village outskirts — there was even a garden center. The zone felt dense but structured enough that it all came together organically. It avoids Fallout’s problem of too much empty wasteland and instead offers plenty to keep you interested. I can only hope that the game’s other zones are just as immersive.

I only spent a very brief time with Atomfall, rushing about trying to see and experience as much variety as I could in a limited time slot. I’m incredibly eager to get back in and explore at a more relaxed pace, follow each lead to completion, and see just where the mystery takes me. While it shares similarities with Fallout and S.T.A.L.K.E.R, it seems to be carving its own path just as successfully. The Northern England setting is a breath of fresh, countryside (if a little radiated) air. The environments look fantastic, detailed and idyllic, yet juxtaposed with the chaos that comes with surviving a nuclear disaster. A lot of care has gone into ensuring the look and feel of Atomfall is authentic and memorable. I certainly haven’t stopped thinking about it. 

Atomfall launches on March 27, 2025 on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC.