Christmas is right around the corner and shortly after, we’ll be saying goodbye to 2025 and hello to 2026.
There have been a lot of great games released this year and I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about what I’d consider my personal Game of the Year – and no, it’s not Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 or Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Out of all the incredible games I’ve played this year, none held me in their clutches quite like Atomfall, Rebellion Development’s investigative RPG that left me mesmerised by its mystery.
Released early this year, you might recognise Atomfall as the game that was unfairly compared to Bethesda’s Fallout series. While you could absolutely point out a few similarities at its nuclear core, Atomfall is a completely different experience, and a damn good one at that.
Set in Great Britain’s Lake District, Atomfall takes inspiration from the real-life Windscale Power Plant fire, but twists it into something far more sinister than a simple accident. The countryside surrounding Windscale has been infected by a mysterious energy leaving the power plant, and in the underground bunkers and military complexes, you’ll discover what kind of harrowing experiments were going on there, and hopefully how to stop the energy.
While you’ll have to get your hands dirty every now and then, Atomfall is all about the mystery. Chatting with the locals to see what they know and befriending factions residing in the area will get you closer to your goal, but you’ll also discover plenty by yourself when rummaging through the abandoned complexes, one of which serves as a form of hub area for the game.
I don’t recall there being a single moment of my playthrough where I didn’t have a hundred questions going through my head, and each interaction with a former scientist or hastily written confession letter just made me more committed to discovering the truth. Something I personally loved is the foreboding presence of Windscale. In nearly every area, there’s a spot where you can see the power plant off in the distance and even when you can’t, you see the ominous blue glow leaking from the reactor up into the sky.
Telephone boxes are littered throughout the game too with the unsettling Operator constantly spouting, “Oberon … must … die,” at the end of every call. Something or someone lurks at the heart of Windscale and when the power plant’s in full view, you can’t help but ponder what on Earth it could be.
Eventually, you do uncover the truth and then it’s up to you how you deal with the problem. There are a lot of endings to choose from and I had a blast working my way through them all. I couldn’t put the game down until I’d seen every ending. Even more get added through the DLC expansions too, as well as new areas to explore. The most recent expansion, The Red Strain, also dials up the difficulty for veteran players making it an excellent challenge for those who’ve done everything there is to do in the main story.
Is Atomfall the perfect game? No. Combat can be a bit of a slog especially when melee is concerned, and some of the English accents you’ll encounter are scarier than any enemy found in the depths of Windscale… However, despite its flaws, I love Atomfall all the same, and while I’ve played some bangers this year, none of them quite gripped me like Rebellion Entertainment’s did.
I’m hoping for a sequel one day but failing that, I reckon an Atomfall TV show would have legs too.
Atomfall is available on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4 and PC. It’s my personal Game of the Year and I’d implore you to give it a go.
