Atomfall: The Wicked Isle – Mysterious Island
Atomfall lets you explore a small piece of alternate history in late 1950s Britain, and the new Wicked Isle DLC introduces a brand new area that will give you a whole new feel and experience.
As the expansion’s name suggests, it takes you to Wicked Isle, a small island that suffered the same disaster as the main game’s map. You’re tasked with uncovering its secrets in the hopes that it will help you find answers to questions raised by Atomfall’s main narrative. The new region you can explore is roughly the same size as any of the three included in the base game, its questline can be completed in a few hours, there are only a few new NPCs to interact with, and it doesn’t add any significant new gameplay mechanics. It simply gives you a reason to play Atomfall more, and whether that’s a good thing or not depends on how much you enjoyed the base game.
The new location is a joy to explore and is full of hidden secrets to uncover. It’s filled with the same Britishness that makes Atomfall stand out from the competition, and its environments are visually stunning. It also adds a few new skills and weapons to find, all of which can be taken with you into the picturesque English countryside. It also ties in well with the main game, and even lets you uncover a few new bits of information that may help you complete it if you haven’t already.
However, despite its overall enjoyability, the expansion is rather bland. While Atomfall itself has some unique gameplay elements and a cool setting, the DLC has neither. You take a boat to an abandoned island full of hostile NPCs, kill them, acquire new gear, explore abandoned ruins, and before you know it, you’re back on a boat to the main Atomfall map to continue your quest and complete a series of main quests. The DLC has some interesting story moments and intense combat, but there’s no reason to stick around any longer than necessary.
Whether or not The Wicked Isle DLC is worth buying depends entirely on how much you like Atomfall. Given the high price of the expansion, which is almost a third of the price of the base game, it’s hard to recommend it, even if you enjoyed slicing your way through the post-apocalyptic United Kingdom. It doesn’t do anything wrong, but it doesn’t add anything truly unique or interesting either. Instead, it simply offers a little more of the same mix of action, exploration, and episodic storytelling that made its base game playable. It’s a solid enough DLC that has its moments, and ties in well with Atomfall’s main narrative. However, it’s truly unremarkable. For less, it’s a great expansion to the base game that will appeal to any fans of Atomfall’s post-apocalyptic world.
