From the moment Rebellion announced its first-person RPG,Atomfall, people have been calling itFallout Britain. That comparison isn’t totally unfounded, at least from a completely superficial standpoint, as bothAtomfallandFalloutare retro-futuristic sci-fi first-person RPGs - at least Bethesda’sFalloutgames are - with walking talking robots, multiple factions, an apocalyptic setting, and creepy NPCs that one can never be sure whether they’re trustworthy or not. Of course, they also both have the word “fall” in their title. So, there’s that.
However, as much asAtomfalllooks like it’s justFalloutin Britain - a comparison that shamefully disregards the already existing andphenomenalFallout Londonmod- it really has very little to do with that series or its gameplay design.Atomfall’smany intricacies set it apart fromFalloutbeyond the absolute superficial, with several key components making it a completely unique experience. While players will certainly get aFalloutvibe fromAtomfall, they are, fundamentally, two entirely different games.
10It Isn’t Open World
Atomfall Is Open-Area Instead
One of the biggest reasons whyAtomfallisn’t just Rebellion’s Falloutis that it isn’t open-world.Unlike the gargantuan wastelands of Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic epics,Atomfallis open area, with each one being accessed via a loading screen. They’ve been craftily designed so that players can see the landmarks of neighboring areas, but they are nevertheless instanced locations that are seamlessly connected.
While not entirely novel - after all, Xbox’s ownAvoweddid this within a fantasy setting in 2025 as well - it does better suitAtomfall’smystery-orientated narrative. Smaller, diverse areas allow for a more carefully considered approach to exploration and environmental design that a sprawling open world simply doesn’t cater to. However, as a result,those expectingFallout’sworld design inAtomfallmay be a tad disappointed.
9It Is A Much Smaller Game
Atomfall Won’t Take You 100+ Hours
To accompany its smaller, separated areas,Atomfall’sstory and overall runtimeare significantly shorter than the typical BethesdaFalloutexperience.Atomfall will take players about 15 hours to complete the main narrative, with a further 10 or so hours being added on if they want to see and do absolutely everything. That’s not unsubstantial but is definitely far shorter than the average playtime of aFalloutgame.
Fallout 4will take players 82 hours to beat everything it has to offer, according to How Long to Beat, which is more than triple the runtime ofAtomfall.
For example,Fallout 4will take players 82 hours to beat everything it has to offer, according toHow Long to Beat, which is more than triple the runtime ofAtomfall. Similarly, excluding DLC,Fallout 3takes roughly 50 hours to complete all of its content.They’re lengthy games, and rightfully so considering all the side content Bethesda crammed into them, but that isn’t whatAtomfallaspires to be, as it is a very different experience overall.
8Atomfall’s Story Is Non-Linear
You Can Be Cut Off From Certain Endings
While the BethesdaFalloutgames do encourage players to venture off the beaten path and explore the unknown, their stories are largely linear, with players progressing from one story beat to another without much need to explore other avenues. There are various factions players can join, andFalloutgames have multiple endings, but they’re largely iterative, rather than substantially different from one another.
Conversely,Atomfall’snarrative is non-linear, with players attempting to solve a greater mystery, but the ways in which they get to their conclusion, right or wrong, are up to them. The game’s many NPCs have conflicting information, clues may lead to dead ends, and players can kill any character, which can close off potential routes and endings.Atomfallprioritizes player agency above all else, so the ending you end up with will likely be radically different from the many others available.
7It Has A Bigger Focus On Mystery
Uncovering The Truth Is Key
TheFalloutgames always had an air of mystery about them, certainly when it came to the worldbuilding and side content. What was hiding within each vault is one of the series' prevailing mysteries, for example. However, for the most part, while featuring mysterious elements, the overarching mystery of eachFalloutgame never feels like a traditional mystery. Of course, bothFallout 3and4revolve around locating a missing person, but the way in which you go about finding them feels largely straightforward.
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Atomfallputs a much greater emphasis on the solving aspect of its central mystery. Players will actively have to locate clues, which they’ll then have to follow to potential new leads. They’ll need to interrogate suspects, discern the truth from lies, and maybe even make allegiances with certain people, scrupulous or not, to garner more information.Atomfallis, first and foremost, an information-gathering game, which is a far cry from the action-packedFalloutgames.
6There Are Fewer Immersive Elements
You Can Steal In Front Of NPCs
One aspect in whichAtomfallsomewhat lags behind Bethesda’sFalloutgames is immersion. That’s not to say thatAtomfallisn’t an immersive game as its writing, mystery solving, NPCs, and exploration are all incredibly immersive. Rather,Atomfalllacks the Bethesda level of detail when it comes to immersive mechanics, meaning it doesn’t feature the ability to put baskets over people’s heads in order to steal from right under their noses.
In fact,Atomfalldoesn’t feature any stealing mechanics of any kind. You can’t rob people inAtomfall, because they don’t really care if you take their stuff. It’s a small missing feature, one thatAtomfalldoesn’t really need in order to sell its world, nor one that benefits its gameplay loop anyway. However,it is nevertheless a key feature that separates Bethesda’s immersion-drivenFalloutseries fromAtomfall.
5Combat Isn’t A Major Focus
It Is Better To Stay In The Shadows
There is absolutely combat inAtomfall. Players can whack enemy cultists with a cricket bat, blast people’s heads off with a pistol, or grab a two-handed mace and go to town on a Protocol guard. All of these options are readily available and incredibly fun but don’t really make up a large portion of the overall experience. In fact, for the most part,Atomfalldoesn’t really encourage violence, instead preferring the player to stealth their way through challenging encounters, or avoid them altogether.
This is, of course, not the case with Bethesda’sFallout. With each subsequent entry,combat has become increasingly more important in Fallout. In fact,Fallout 4’scombat was detrimentalto the overall experience in a lot of ways, with Bethesda focusing on prioritizing its gunplay and giving players access to powerful weapons early on, thus discouraging them from attempting to charm their way out of encounters, or even approach them stealthily.
4Atomfall Has More Survival Elements
It’s More Of A Survival RPG Than Fallout
TheFalloutgames under Bethesda’s stewardship do feature some survival elements, from ammunition management to a thirst and hunger meter, although they are largely optional. For example, most of the key survival mechanics inFallout 4were relegated to itsgame-changing Survival Mode. So, for the most part,the majority of players will likely experience the coreFalloutexperience without these survival mechanics enabled.
Atomfall, on the other hand, is a survival experience first and foremost. Players have to scavenge for resources to survive, ensuring they do not burn through their ammo too quickly or risk being stranded without it. There isn’t a thirst and hunger meter, butAtomfallnevertheless feels like far more of a survival game than Bethesda’sFalloutgames ever did, which complements its scrappy combat perfectly.
3It Is More Rooted In History
Atomfall Is Based On A Real Event
TheFalloutgames are speculative science fiction, a vision of a retro-futurist world destroyed by nuclear war fueled by corporate greed. Their stories aren’t steeped in any historical truth, nor do they ever really attempt to, instead utilizing their over-the-top sci-fi stories to satirize modern-day politics, capitalism, and social inequality.Atomfallisn’t too dissimilar, with it also sporting a retro-futuristic aesthetic and a nuclear event to elevate its exploration of humanity.
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However, unlikeFallout, its catastrophic inciting incident is based on a real event that occurred in 1957.Atomfall’sstory centers on the very real Windscale fire, which remains the worst nuclear disaster in British history. Of course,Atomfalltwists history a little to make the Windscale fire match its mysterious narrative, but it is nevertheless based on real events, with the development team even visiting Cumbria to learn about its history and architecture.
2There’s A Lot More Greenery
This Isn’t Your Typical Fallout Wasteland
One of the more noticeable differences between theFalloutseries andAtomfallis that the latter isn’t a constant shade of sun-scorched brown. UnlikeFallout’sapocalyptic wastelands that all more or less sport the same gunmetal gray and murky brown color palette,Atomfalloffers a vibrant, lush, and very green world for players to explore, complete with its own picturesque village, pub, and church.
Of course,Fallout 76added a lot more green to its otherwise limited aesthetic, but it never quite reached the colorful heights ofAtomfall’srendition of the British countryside. This is actually one ofAtomfall’sbest improvements overFallout, with its more idyllic environments not only bucking the trend of barren wastelands but also serving as an unsettling reminder of how life always finds a way of going on, even when the worst is happening.
1It’s Not Really An RPG
There’s No Charisma Checks Or Stats
By farthe biggest distinction between Bethesda’sFalloutgames and Rebellion’sAtomfallis that the British-based sci-fi adventure isn’t really an RPG. Of course, it is being sold as one and features some RPG-lite elements, but, especially when compared to theFalloutseries,Atomfallis very much lacking in the traditional RPG mechanics. For example, there are no charisma checks inAtomfall, nor are there experience points or stats for players to worry about.
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Falloutoffers a far more RPG-focused experience overall, which is great for those who prefer that.Atomfalldoesn’t really need a lot of those elements bogging down its narrative, which is likely why Rebellion stripped them from the game completely. It doesn’t makeAtomfalla worse game than Bethesda’sFallouttitles, just a different one, which is, ultimately, the entire point.
