Today's advent calendar, both in design and production, comes from Great Britain, the birthplace of RPS. This means that, like most RPS, he is likely to spend Christmas Day mostly unconscious, in a coma due to a combination of fatigue, over-activity from pigs in blankets and the acute effects of King Charles. Better play earlier, yeah.
His Nuclear energy!
Looking back I think we including medid Atomfall a disservice by abandoning it comparisons to other shooters in free roaming. It has free movement and shooting, but one of its most endearing qualities is that it still feels unique even when surrounded by familiar ones.
All jokes aside, the Lake District area is part of that. There's a delicious, deeply British irony in Atomfall's depiction of grim survival against the backdrop of the hills and twitching curtains of 1960s Cumbrian parish villages. However, its best feature is that it is a detective game, and a pretty good one at that. Atomfall trusts you to unearth its secrets on your own, with progress measured by solving mysteries rather than by bodies falling. There's regular gunplay, slow and low on ammo, and a fair amount of scavenging and crafting. But hooligans with misappropriated cricket bats are really just obstacles that need to be cleared away so you can rummage through their belongings for lost keys or scribbled notes that might give you a clue as to which direction the investigation will take.
And you'll want to know, because Atomfall is equally adept at piquing your curiosity and delivering plenty of surprises. Half the population seems to be hiding terrible secrets: the slips of bored neighbors are enough to set you on their trail, while the other half is willing to lie, plot, and kill to get into the mysterious (and possibly cursed) ruins Windscale Power Plant. You can trust who (if there is one) can deliver on their promise of mutual assistance, and that choice can become easier or harder depending on how deep you dig.
Expect Fallout: Oop North, and Atomfall's focus may be disappointing. Meet him on his own terms, and this is probably an intelligent first-person look at wandering.
Go to RPS Advent Calendar 2025 open another door!
