It took me almost 90 minutes to reach the village in Atomfall despite having started around the corner. I realize this upon glancing at my map, dotted with investigation leads and crude sketches of various points of interest I'd stumbled into on my fraught journey beyond the town's boundaries. Wyndham Village is fortified, its barbed perimeter patrolled by military foot soldiers and Dr Who-like robots that regard me with apathy rather than bloodthirst. Surely that fact alone makes this quaint town safer than the wild woodland at my back? Then, after a visit to the pub, I find a dead body at the church.
Atomfall is scarily prescient, somehow set to launch at precisely the right time for its genre. High-stakes survival epics are some of 2025's hottest commodities – the tougher, the better – and those looking for a challenging open world experience will drink in Atomfall's quarantined wilderness in all of its inhospitable glory. Ammo is scarce, the natives aren't always friendly, and a dense urban jungle stretches out as far as the overbrush permits sight. But Atomfall's most intriguing challenge, both from a player and developer's point of view, is its non-linear storyline. After experiencing first-hand how this process plays out, I'm left wondering how far us players can be trusted when taken off the leash – and I can tell you right now that it's a much scarier prospect than you might think.
