Getting started in Atomfall is as confusing as all hell. You have no equipment, no clue of where you are, who you are, and with a man bleeding from his gut in a hazmat suit dumping his woes on your lap.
It's only natural to feel overwhelmed, especially since Rebellion's 1960s immersive sim goes out of its way to give you full freedom to approach different problems.
To help you navigate the wonderful yet dangerous Cumberland countryside, this is a list of nine things you should do right away in Atomfall.
This list is by no means exhaustive, but it gives you valuable pointers on activities or areas that you should hit up early on to make the start of your journey smoother.
As you start finding your feet and unravel the story of the quarantine zone, you'll be ready to explore its mysteries without much hand-holding.
9 Help The Scientist
Use One Bandage, Learn to Make Dozens
First things first, one of the golden rules for lengthening your survival in the quarantine zone is to be nice.
Your first opportunity to put that to practice is immediately after waking up in the bunker.
The wounded scientist asking for your help requires bandages, and obliging is the quickest way to learn your way around the crafting system and how to pick up important recipes.
If you search all rooms immediately available to you, then you'll have most of the supplies needed to put an extra set of bandages for yourself shortly after exiting the bunker.
8 Pick Up The Phone
Maybe it's Lionel Richie, or Maybe it's a New Lead
In case the big red phone box adorning everything vaguely related to Atomfall, these are a big deal in your journey around Wyndham.
Unlike other games where you typically have quests or important information pop up either automatically or only when prompted, Atomfall likes to keep you on your toes.
If you see a phone box near you, even if you are just on a leisurely stroll, make sure to walk by it to see if it rings.
The voice on the other end will often have messages for you that can turn into new leads or help solve current ones.
7 Don't Try To Die
Surviving By A Thread Sets Up New Deaths
"Well thank you, I hadn't thought of that," you probably groaned. That doesn't make it any less true though.
Much like going on a brisk walk in the middle of the night after the pubs are closed, rowdy locals in and around Wyndham are less likely to entertain a fight if you keep your distance and don't pull a knife on them.
During your first hour and change of Atomfall, focus on staying alive and collecting information. You can survive a scrap or three if you play your cards right, but at this point you will be fairly low on health, ammo, and healing items.
These things are scarce and particularly expensive to source from traders.
If you feel the red mist rising before you are well-equipped, think of your sixth form headmaster's disappointed voice asking you "was it worth it" after a courtyard scrap. Step back from that group of outlaws, don't smack that Protocol soldier on the nose even though he deserves it, and most definitely steer clear of B.A.R.D. robots for now.
Or go ahead and kill that outlaw for looking at you funny, I'm not your father.
6 Collect Early Weapons
Embrace Rusty Violence
If that last bit resonated with you, then read this carefully.
The quarantine zone has plenty of weapons whose owners are no longer around to use, and it would be a shame to let them go to waste.
Explore buildings with hard-to-access areas, even if it means sneaking by a hostile sentry, as they tend to have guns, throwables or ammunition around. They are also known to have traps ready to blow your noggin off, so watch your step.
Typically, weapons you find in Atomfall are a little short of mint condition, and may have you wondering if you've taken your tetanus jab before handling any of them.
Beggars can't be choosers though, and a rusty gun will still beat a cricket bat in a firefight.
Even if you are of a pacifist inclination, it's worth picking up anything you come across. Some fights are avoidable, but other times you don't get a choice.
If you aren't keen to dig around for boomsticks, at least get yourself the Hi-Power pistol in the Interchange, and the JM-3 assault rifle in Casterfell Woods. These will keep you safe for as long as ammunition lasts.
5 Talk To Molly
Good Gossip, Great Wares
Most citizens of the quarantine zone are sketchy, weary, or angry. Some of them are all three, and it doesn't make for good conversation. Not Molly though.
Molly is the first trader you can meet in Atomfall, and you will find her in Slatten Dale by the wall around the village of Wyndham.
She stocks the all-important metal detector which you can use to dig up supplies anywhere you go, and is happy to make it a fair trade. You only understand how generous Molly is after you go around and meet other traders in the quarantine zone.
Trading with Molly gets her right chatty, and she'll give you your first concrete bit of information about the Interchange's whereabouts in Slatten Dale.
4 Find The Interchange Entrances
A Brave New World
Your first opportunity to access the Interchange is in Slatten Dale, but that is not the only way to do it.
As the name implies, the Interchange serves as a junction between the areas of the Cumbrian countryside. The catch is that you can only open a new passage from the outside.
Each section of the Interchange has some supplies, potential leads, and the occasional hazard waiting for you. Most importantly, though, after you activate the entrances, the interchange works as a poor man's fast travel between zones.
If you mind your step, finding all the doors to the Interchange is easy and relatively safe (well, as safe as it gets around Wyndham anyway). If you are not the exploring kind, we have a list of all Interchange entrances here.
3 Offload Supplies At The Pneumatic Tube
Unleash Your Inner Hoarder
Some survival-themed games like to put the burden of self-control on the player. Sure, you can pick up everything under the sun, until you hit overencumbrance and cannot walk in the middle of a hot zone.
Atomfall does not trust you to control yourself, and tries to keep your journey vaguely believable since you woke up without your oversized camping backpack.
By the time you've reached the Interchange, you'll most likely have a full inventory with four large weapons and assorted small things in every spot. You're also unlikely to have plentiful ammunition for all the guns you have.
That's where the pneumatic tube comes in. This is your personal locker in Atomfall, allowing you to store your goods anywhere you find a station.
Once you reach the first one, probably in the control room of an Interchange entrance of choice, dump virtually everything besides two curatives and two weapons.
I recommend keeping the gun you have the most ammunition for with you, while having a melee weapon on the side. Everything else will still be useful later, but this allows you to scavenge for more goods when you're out.
2 Speak To The Baker
Hot Buns & Cracking Leads
Like most villages in northern England, Wyndham does not have an awful lot to do, but you can find some lovely small businesses. For you, novice traveler, the finest establishment will be the bakery.
Speaking to the baker allows you to pick up The Bakery lead, which is daisy-chained to Hearing Voices.
Wyndham's finest cook will explain everything for you in detail, but in short, talking to Iris sets you off on the path to finding the Strange Tonic recipe.
This little beverage allows you to enter areas affected by the mystical blue growth without dying a painful death. It is also useful against ferals when they decide to very rudely spit on you.
That said, even if you are in no rush to pick up another lead, the bakery is a great spot to visit early in the game as you'll frequently find bread, cakes, and pasties lying about. A perfect way to recharge your health and pack a few to spare for an expedition into dodgy territory.
1 Mind Your Manners
Ask First, Shoot Later
You know how things are in the country: everybody knows each other, and people talk. Most importantly though, people cannot talk to you if they are dead.
None of Atomfall's NPCs are immortal deities, and the game is designed in a way that it can be completed even if you somehow manage to kill every single character in the quarantine zone. This is merely an observation, not a suggestion.
Although the phones around you will ring regardless of who you kill, your path around the quarantine zone and the mysteries inside the Windscale plant will be significantly easier (and arguably more interesting) if you give diplomacy a chance before pulling the trigger.
Sure, some of the characters in Atomfall are scheming bastards, and you might think the world would be better without them, but try to not let your emotions get the best of you.
So yes, my parting advice about what to do in Cumberland is "don't kill people before you know you really want to kill them." That'll get you through a stag weekend in Cumbria alive today, and it goes a long way toward surviving in 1962 as well.
- Released
- March 27, 2025
- ESRB
- Teen // Blood, Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Rebellion Developments
- Publisher(s)
- Rebellion Developments
- Number of Players
- 1
WHERE TO PLAY
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unknown
- PC Release Date
- March 27, 2025
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- March 27, 2025
- PS5 Release Date
- March 27, 2025
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
