Atomfall - Steam Review

I haven't finished the game yet, but I think I've seen enough where I can say... yeah, the game deserves an up vote. I saw some of the game's preview materials before it came out and it actually caught my eye as a sort of Fallout3/New Vegas RPG alternative and I've been wanting to scratch that itch again so hey why not, right? It actually ended up being more like a Bioshockvania game (see what I did there? I just coined a new phrase... probably) with maybe a bit of Far Cry 3/4 in there somewhere and I thought it was pretty cool overall.

The thing I like the most about Atomfall is the way the quests and the story work. It's very open ended and there are many different ways to make progress in the game. It doesn't lead you by the nose or have a quest marker dangling in front of you that shows you down to coordinate level exactly where you need to go and what to interact with. Sometimes you even have to pull up your map, check road signs and read that passage a few more times to figure out what you are looking for and where you are going and that is honestly actually pretty fun. There's an aspect of player engagement through it all and honestly not a lot of newer games have that, I fear. I'm not sure yet how different the endings are, but I'd guess that they will all sorta go in the same direction, just by a different path, in the end and that's honestly fine. I wouldn't have any qualms if that were the case, but maybe I'll be surprised in the end afterall. We'll see.

I kinda love the inventory system. The inventory is very limited in size which is a bummer at first sight, but it really doesn't matter that much since you don't need to loot everything you find. Since there's no concept of money in the game, and instead you just trade the stuff you have for the things you want with the traders, it means that they do away with the whole economy, weight and encumbrance systems that make up a large portion of the traditional grind in other RPGs. I think it's a really fun system and it means I rarely found myself agonizing for ages about what to keep and what to drop in order to make the optimal amount of money to buy the things I want and I don't end up hoarding a bunch of useless crap I don't need because, "It might be useful sometime in the future". For example, if I have a health kit or a grenade or whatever I can just use it guilt free because I don't need to sell it later for a buck and I need the inventory space anyway so yeet~~! And that gun seems worse than what I have so you know what, I'll just leave it on the ground there 'cuz it's whatever and probably worthless anyway. I'll use that bandage now because it's just filling up my inventory anyway. I like that a lot. It really means the game doesn't get bogged down by inventory time and rather by you actually running around, finding things and shooting enemies etc. and that's great!

I also think the combat is pretty salvageable. It's fun, especially early game when you need to weigh whether it makes sense to shoot them with a gun or save the bullets and stab them with the knife instead or maybe avoid combat altogether, but later on I just had too many options and I can charge into battle with reckless abandon without caring if I'll run out of ammo. Still sometimes fun, but not as interesting. I like how the enemies react to you and are sometimes wary or scared of you instead of just charging in with no care for their own lives like in some games. Both the guns and the melee weapons are extremely satisfying to use, and the enemies sorta animate in a way that lend credence to the fact that they were just bonked on the head by a heavy mace rather than seeming like nothing even fazes them during combat. It made the combat at least feel interesting. Unfortunately... the AI is also rather dumb. I've had times where melee enemies would become unsure whether they should do anything when I'm pointing a ranged weapon at them and it made it very easy, though satisfying, to just pick them off one by one with headshots at a short distance, but what!?. Enemies with ranged weapons would also just remain stationary and shoot from a place rather than seeking cover or trying to get the advantage. The only time when the AI really posed a threat was when I was low on resources or if there are just too many of them. Thankfully not a lot of bullet spongy enemies so that's good. I would've liked to see the enemies use better tactics, or sometimes flee and attempt to regroup... that sort of thing. Also, more games should allow you to throw melee weapons. Bonking someone on the head with a yeeted mace at 25 meters. So. much. fun. and a good laugh.

Stealth is completely broken in this game. Enemies either notice you instantly and start attacking or they turn around 180 at awkward moments for no reason and spot you. I basically just completely gave up on it. Also, ironically, one time I was in trouble, but I hid in the tall grass and the rather large group of enemies that were chasing me just amnesia'd the fact that I was right in front of them and I was able to craft some molotovs and kill them without them even noticing. A fun moment, but sorta broken.

The graphics is pretty and it can run on modern-ish potato. I mostly played on my laptop on weekends and got great FPS at medium settings and at 1440p. The game is also quite pretty by my standards, but there's no RT or anything like that. For the record my laptop is a mid-level gaming laptop from 4 or so years ago with an RTX3060 which in desktop terms is roughly equivalent to a desktop GTX1060, I would say. All that to say, unless you're on anything older than like 2016 I don't think you'll have trouble playing this. 

And well, yeah. If you're on the fence over whether or not to pick up this game. I hope that helped. Definitely worth the price and time I would say.