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ATOM RPG: Post-apocalyptic indie game
ATOM RPG pairs post-apocalyptic exploration with turn-based combat and quests that allow different solutions. It suits players who value dialogue choices and shaping a character over a strictly linear route. At 
GOG, it costs ≈ $3.74; its Steam reviews offer another point of reference, with 84%% positive from 10,041 reviews. ATOM RPG costs ≈ $3.74 at GOG; on Steam, 84%% of 10,041 reviews are positive.
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Price History
Past 36 months · Updated dailyHistorical Low~ $2.992025-03Current Low Across Stores~ $14.99Steamvs. Historical Low+401%
Prices cover Steam and 39 authorized stores; only legitimate offers are counted. The chart shows weekly market-wide lows and Steam's official price across the past 36 months.
DLC
01About ATOM RPG: Post-apocalyptic indie game
Explore the Soviet Wasteland as a survivor of nuclear devastation, meet its inhabitants and investigate a conspiracy. Create a character whose attributes shape dialogue and quest solutions, then face turn-based combat and encounters with both friendly and dangerous wasteland dwellers. Steam players rate the game 84%% positive from 10,041 reviews. The Steam PC interface includes Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English, Russian, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Ukrainian, Polish, Portuguese-Brazil, Japanese, and Czech. Released December 19, 2018.
Credits
Developer
AtomTeam
Publisher
AtomTeam
Lowest recorded in 36 months
$2.992025-03-25 · SteamBase game · same records as the chart above; USD history, not a regional Steam low.Language support
| Language | Interface | Subtitles | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | Yes | Yes | — |
| Traditional Chinese | Yes | Yes | — |
| English | Yes | Yes | — |
Show 10 more languages
| Language | Interface | Subtitles | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Russian | Yes | Yes | — |
| Spanish | Yes | Yes | — |
| French | Yes | Yes | — |
| Italian | Yes | Yes | — |
| German | Yes | Yes | — |
| Ukrainian | Yes | Yes | — |
| Polish | Yes | Yes | — |
| Portuguese-Brazil | Yes | Yes | — |
| Japanese | Yes | Yes | — |
| Czech | Yes | Yes | — |
Steam PC edition data · 2026-10-20
02Before you buy
Mode and controls
The Steam PC version includes single-player and full controller support.
Language
English is among the interface languages; full English audio is not listed.
03Frequently asked questions
What is the story about?
You explore the Soviet Wasteland and investigate a conspiracy threatening what remains of life on Earth.
Is combat turn-based?
Yes. Combat is turn-based and inspired by Fallout 1 and 2.
Can quests be solved in different ways?
Yes. Quests have alternative solutions, and dialogue offers multiple choices.
Popular Steam reviews
Native-language selection · 10 reviewsSelected helpful reviews in this language show both recommendations and criticisms. This selection does not represent the overall positive rating; opinions reflect the version reviewed.
RecommendedSteam player
The true successor to Fallout Classics Some games just come out of nowhere and suddenly become a topic of conversation in many places. That said, there's barely any report from gaming outlets for Atom RPG, even though it has very positive Steam reviews. After being developed in more than a year in early access, the game has recently released earlier this month. Basically, Atom is a RPG in the style of the old 2D Fallouts, which was made by Russians. Just like Fallout, Atom is set in a post-apocalyptic setting, but this time it sets in Russia instead of the US. Technologically, it's not as advanced as Fallout. It's set in early 2000 after the Third World War apocalypse in 1980s, so most weapons and armors are more modern than futuristic/sci-fi. Everything about gameplay is similar to the older Fallout games, including the top-down view, turn-based combat with AP system, the stats and perks, dialogue choices and checks, thievery, trading, an overworld map with random encounters for enemies & friendlies, lots of locations to visit, and more. Also, just like hardcore mode in Fallout games, this game also has survival elements like hunger, as well as injury and radiation sickness. And just like the classic Fallout games, ATOM doesn't hold your hand at all. At the start of the game, you’re thrown into the wasteland with some clothes and an empty water bottle. You literally have no weapon at all, and you have to think of away to survive while finish the job being given to you. In fact, I think it's a bit on the hardcore side, the game is totally unforgiving and you need to rely on constant saves. The writing is fantastic and the devs didn't shy away from giving lots of references to other games, even other mediums like books and movies. The places feel alive with NPCs that have their own schedule, including sleep & daily activities. Regarding NPCs, there's one thing I notice, there are lots of scammers in the game. You can absolutely get scammed and lose money to some of them because they're so good at bluffing, it's ridiculously that good. The game has several 'factions' but there's no alignment system to them. There are several companions you can recruit, one of which is a bandit gang member. You recruit this companion, but there are consequences to this decision. Speaking of consequences, the game offers you a lot of decisions and its consequences. You can also have a base, upgrade it and recruit people to stay there. Items are also persistent, just like Fallout games. If you sell something to a trader, he'll keep it and you can rebuy many hours later. You can also store something in a cabinet and it'll stay there. Trading is one of my favorite aspects of the game. Each trader has their own pricing policy, so you'll want to trade with the 'good' ones. Out in the overworld, you can encounter caravan traders, and sometimes they have good stuff and bring lots of money. You can trade with them, or you can simply kill them for free stuff. But beware, this act also has its own consequences. Overall, these are the game's traits: * A completely non-linear, living world – every in-game location is available from the start. No invisible walls. * No limits. The game will remain win-able even if the player decides to kill every single person in the game. * 120+ hours of gameplay in a single full playthrough. * Unique NPCs. Every single NPC out of 450+ has his own portrait and a unique branching dialogue. * Many various ways of completing the game – diplomats, brawlers, gunners and grim survivalists will be able to complete the game in a way unique to them. * The world changes depending on the player. And you do not have to wait until the title crawl to see those changes. * More than 250 quests, from epic to fast and snappy. * Around 90 locations – from new cities to old and forgotten high-tech ruins… * 100 types of weapons, that will come in handy when fighting with 30+ mutant species and tens of human gangs, ranging from insane cultists to forest pirates. * Up to 5 followers with unique stories and skills. * A huge spectrum of peaceful activities. Hunt, fish, craft weapons and even drugs! * An atmospheric soundtrack. I followed the game since its early access phase, and I'm pleasantly surprised with the final product. The game is decently polished for a small indie team, well-optimized and no crash whatsoever. There are minor bugs and typos, but nothing gamebreaking. The main issue currently is balance and progression. The game starts very slowly; you can barely fight anything in early game, and you're forced to retreat most of the time. But after you reach the big city to recruit companions and gain better equipment, the game becomes way more manageable then. That said, the game is amazing and managed to secure its place in my top 10 GOTY of 2018. I highly recommend it to all Fallout fans out there, but beware, it's not for the faint-hearted.Show moreShow less
74.8 hours at review522 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
This is going to be a long one, because I was starving for a game like this and it pains me to write this review, but here I go. I am not going to comment on the RPG element of the game that was so "proudly" put into it's name, because due to all the other glaring issue I didn't get to see anything of a decent RPG past the starting settlement. BALANCING: First and foremost the game design and balancing issues are extremely evident, not just after you leave the first settlement, but based on how you handled it, the moment after your character creation. The beginning of the game is a cheap method of ridding you of all you have, which, based on the character you've made, hoping for an RPG, might be a death sentence. DAMAGE: The damage in this game makes absolutely no sense. The kick of an old man and the bite of a rat do as much damage as a stab with a knife or (more often than not) a bullet. SKILL CEILINGS: Absolutely every non-combat interaction in this game is locked behind a skill ceiling, there is no other option that requires more effort or even a roll being made based on your skill, that would get you through with enough scum saving, it's a hard-coded ceiling, and they don't even tell you what the requirement is. Moreover damn near every non-hostile solution involves a single skill - Communication, making it literally a must-have, because unless you've got the right stats from character creation, you might get literally stuck without it. GRINDING: The solution to that problem - GRINDING. The only way you can get passed the skill ceiling is grind enough XP to spend all your points into communication. And EVERYTHING about this game is made so mindbogglingly slow, that grinding becomes an absolute nightmare, since the only way I could find to do it was run around the map in search for encounters, and the speed at which you move across the map is ridiculously slow. GAME MECHANICS AND AI: Most snarky fanboys that supported this game would likely not even reach this section before telling me that I just don't get it, or that I'm doing something wrong. Well too bad the game never tells you... ANYTHING. To the point where it's not that you can't change your key bindings, you can't even check what they ARE!!! Controlling your team boils down to giving them items and telling them how to act in combat (I know that this is a throwback to old-school games) but the AI is absolutely BRAIN-DEAD. To the point where your companion will equip whatever the hell you gave him last even if he can't use it at all, or running around with a shield and fist instead of a knife. Aside from that in combat the AI also has it's bugs as it will at times run around in circles or hide meaninglessly behind a tree. In most cases though it simply acts absolutely primitively and clearly had no work put into it, like target prioritization or positioning. RANDOM ENCOUNTERS: The difficulty of random encounters truly gives credit to it's name, being absolutely RANDOM. You may very well get attacked by 2 villagers with broken knives at one point and 4 armored thugs with pistols the next. You just never know. Gladly due to some stupid mistake at most times you can select attack instead of trying to avoid the encounter as the fight will not begin automatically and you'll have a chance to just walk away, because reasons. MAP LOCATIONS: There are places on the map where you shouldn't go to, because at the start of the game you too weak to do anything about what is happening there, but once they are triggered they are gone forever. Somebody clearly skipped the Game Design 101 class. LEAVING A LOCATION: This might not seem as an issue but becomes increasingly frustrating the more you play. Why is there always just 1 exit that isn't even marked on the map? Are you just trying to be old-school pretentious for the sake of it? COMBAT: I know this is completely out of order, but combat becomes stale very quickly due to the limited range of weapons you have early on and the fact that the only other thing you can do is an aimed shot, which by my experience does NOTHING. I might be wrong but the game doesn't tell you and the damage is always the same no matter if you shoot the pinky or the head, having no additional effect on the enemy, like dropping their weapon. NPCs AND QUESTS: There are far too many quests in this game that revolve around "go there and talk to that guy", which is not only annoying, but frustratingly difficult, since you never actually know who that guy is or exactly where to find them. The game isn't remotely pretty and most NPCs and buildings look very similar. It doesn't help that there are a ton of them and most are useless or that you have no way of highlighting their name for example to know if they might have something aside from banter. The fact that the map can't zoom out further than a normal-size house isn't much help either, leaving you in frustration moving through the map with your tiny camera trying to find that old man you talked to before to no avail. In conclusion it seems to me that the game was either done with complete incompetence to the issues that have long been resolved in the industry, or purposefully done badly to cache in on the people starving for an old Fallout like experience without caring for it's actual quality. PS I wrote this review at 9 hours of game time and I am fully aware that it's very early on in the game, partially because I spent half of it grinding and writing this review, but that is exactly part of my problem. I shouldn't be frustrated and tired of a good RPG this fast, not even close. PSS I know this is a long review, Valve, but that doesn't mean Steam needs to freeze and give me a 403 when I upload itShow moreShow less
16.7 hours at review667 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
Feels like a Russian remake of Fallout 1/2, set in Russia where the war started in the 1980's; a game made by people who really loved Fallout 1/2. I enjoyed it, large world to explore, a stronghold to claim, the most Soviet Union looking car ever made, quests with alternate paths and solutions. I'm not 100% on the idea that vodka cures radiation poisoining. If you ever felt nostalgic about Fallout 2 but played that game to death, this is the game for you. Highly recommended.Show moreShow less
61.7 hours at review438 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
Atom RPG immediately evoked a sense of nostalgia when I saw it on the store. I bought it without giving it a second thought. Being a fan of the genre it pains me to give it such a poor review, specially since it’s my first review ever to a game and one that has so much potential. But, unfortunately some truths have to be said. OVERVIEW Atom RPG is clearly a work of passion. The devs were very attentive to the details, specially regarding the world building (even overdoing it a little bit) and managed to come up with a very organic wasteland, with flawless presentation, beautifully made textures and just the right feel of tension expected in a harsh post-apocalyptic world. WRITING My 60+ hours involve mostly character building and restarting the game consecutively as I am a bit compulsive regarding how to play RPGs and if I cannot relate to the character I create I simply start over to try and do things in a different manner. So I did not advance much plotwise, reaching only as far as Kraznoznamenny (I did talk to everyone in the town, except for the people in the Chamber of Commerce bunker) so I don’t have enough experience to judge the main questline. I did get a good sample though, when it comes to the overall writing. I read a lot of criticism over the writing, specially towards the translation (English) and overuse of humor and references. Honestly, after experiencing the game myself, I found those to be really unfair. True, the syntax is a bit funky sometimes and there are a few grammatical errors, but considering it’s not their native language, I think they made a great job. The text was perfectly understandable to me and English is not my native language as well. The humor and pop-culture references felt always like a welcome break in the narrative. My one beef with the writing is the excess of information on NPCs that offer little to nothing to further the plot or to give me a better understanding of the world. Sure, farmer [InsertNameHere] having a face, a name, a personal view of the current events and his/her own backstory really contributes to making the world feel alive. Thing is… I’m not really interested in knowing [InsertNameHere]. If the NPC can’t add something meaningful to the story, I think that character don’t need that much depth. A character here and there is ok, but when all NPCs have meaningless banter, save for a select few that can add something tangible about the world or reward you with a side quest, things start to become tiresome. Specially when you have no way of knowing which NPC will actually have important things to say amongst the horde of flavor-text avatars, essentially forcing you to read through everything if you are afraid of skipping a quest or valuable information. I did read every bit of dialogue from the tutorial to Otradnoye, the Factory, Maiden Springs Farm, Drunken Lair and Kraznoznamenny. And I really think much of that text could be reduced to one-liners for many of those characters. INTERFACE The game could be a little more informative of what you can do. I for one happened to figure out totally by chance that if I press 1,2,3 or 4 I can do things like get information, open a lock, pickpocket and repair something, rather than hold the mouse button over an interactive object. A more in-depth explanation of gameplay elements would be welcome. Another thing that puzzles me is the lack of map markers in towns. Sure, it’s modelled after CRPGs from old times. But in my opinion, modern games did bring interesting things to the table as well and I see no reason why important structures shouldn’t be marked or even why quest markers are so vehemently disconsidered. In a game as big as this one, those things translate directly into quality of (gaming) life. COMBAT Now, for the main course: the combat. I read many things about Atom RPG’s combat before diving into the game and I do have to agree with one sad fact: it’s completely unbalanced. It almost feels as if the game pushes you to second-guess yourself whenever that urge to shoot or beat the crap of someone arises. It’s not worth it. Because you’ll die. A lot. I understand that can be attractive to some players who enjoy having themselves punished by difficulty. Me? I stick around for the good story. I don’t find pleasure in tearing my hair out on impossible battles and challenges, nor in compulsive reloading. I won’t criticize who does, as I don’t believe you can’t tell someone what is the right way to have fun. But I simply don’t find joy in suffering. And combat feels like a personal hell in this game. Take the journey of my character Tanya for example: a smart atom cadet, who uses her looks and brains to turn men idiocy against themselves and get her way, rather than shooting first and asking questions later. Her physical prowess is also above the average (Str 6, End 6, Dex 6). After doing Otradnoye and infiltrating the bandits, I get to Kraznoznamenny, talking to everyone in my way, earning a hefty sum of experience to put me at lv 5. All the while, the only combat I took part in was against the critters (wasps, spiders, etc..) in the outskirts of Otradnoye. Then, after doing all I can in the town (Kraznoznamenny), I leave to proceed with the main quest. My first combat after over 12h of game was against a bunch of obscurantists burning books (which seem to be part of a side quest) in a random encounter. I have Fidel and the dog with me. I also have a gun. I see myself surrounded by 7 people more or less, armed mainly with spiked clubs. My gun seems to do around 6 damage per shot. I see Fidel being hit by 19HP damage in a single blow (not a critical hit). Each enemy seem to hit twice, each attack hitting for 10HP+. The outcome of this encounter is pretty obvious... I believe this scenario is graphical enough with the presented quantitative elements to make my point and pass my sense of frustration after so many hours of gameplay sunk in the game, unfortunately validating everything that was said regarding combat balance. This isn’t an isolated scenario… all my experiences fighting human characters in the previously abandoned saves with other characters shared this similarity: the main character’s lackluster ability of handling human threats. The game’s combat difficulty really needs to be reworked. CONCLUSION Atom RPG is by no means a bad game. This small team accomplished so much that I think it’s safe to say even some companies behind AAA games should learn a thing or two from these guys here. I don’t regret one bit the money I spent with this product. For all their hard work, the Atom Team very much deserves the support. I am actually interested in buying Trudograd, when it’s out, despite my mixed feelings about this first installment. Reviews will have a larger impact on my expectations, though, since a major issue (for me) with the first game was proved to be true. As I said, I’m in for the story. Still, an entertaining experience in combat plays an important role in CRPGs (again, for me), being a needed and welcome break in the narrative. There’s only so much reading can do and if that was my sole purpose, I think I'm better off with a book. A game needs a proper dose of meaningful reading and enjoyable combat, which unfortunately, in my opinion, Atom RPG fails to deliver. And since I don’t see myself coming back to this game to finish it anytime soon, I simply cannot recommend it at this time, at least for someone who thinks like me. My sincere apologies if I offended in any way. It was definetely not my intention. My best regards to the Atom Team in their future enterprises.Show moreShow less
68.6 hours at review211 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
Russian Fallout iz Good! Start game, robbers approach, attempt to talk my way out of it and fail, get robbed and knocked out, what a way to start the game lol. If you like the old fallout games (FO 1 and 2) then you will like this. It's well made and looks good but the problem I have is that I can't figure out how to do some things and there's nothing telling me how, for instance I found a place where it says I can grow crops so I'm thinking I can plant this potato I just bought but that aint happenin, later on I'm in a bunker injured from fighting rats and bugs and thinking "How the hell do I use my first aid skill?", I've also found several containers that are locked but can't figure out how to use my lockpick skill to unlock them. I'm sure I'll figure these things out later, but it's frustrating not knowing how to use my skills. Edit: If one of the devs sees this, I think it would be really great if you put in some kind of in game tutorials.Show moreShow less
61.6 hours at review288 people found this helpful
Written during Early Access
Not recommendedSteam player
ATOM RPG is touted as the Russian answer to Fallout. While being a native Russian speaker myself I chose to play this in English for better comparision with the iconic franchise. After playing the game for nearly 30 hours I cannot reccomends this game. In short its fallout 2 that lacks any charm or spark of originality coupled with cringy memes and no improved mechanics in the last 20 years.If you are a westerner the Soviet aesthetic may draw you in but for ex-soviet citizen is doesnt really have any allure. Your money is better spent on Wasteland 2, Hard West or Shadowrun if you want a well written isometric post-apoc game. Sound: The soundtrack is bland and forgetable. No iconic tracks or even interesting sound scapes. Very phoned in. Sound EFX: There is no voice acting in the neither English nor Russian. The sound effecs are all stock but of decent quality. Gameplay - Combat: Combat lacks any depth or nuiance. You stand in plain sight whacking each other until someone dies. There is no tactics and every outcome is decided by numbers. If you have the bigger numbers you win as simple as that. 90% of the skills and weapons are useless and serve as false choices as the only optimal way to play is spec for assault rifles as every other weapon statistically loses its advantage by mid game. Weapons dont even have any tactical edge to them. Its basically the bigger the weapon the better it is. Gameplay - RPG: The way you interact with the world is pretty much copy pasted from Fallout 2. Hover your cursor over an object and choose to talk fight or what have you wanna do with it. Its sad that despite so many skills and options you dont really have any meaningful ways to interact with people or the world itself. Every NPC is given stock 4 interaction which are Whats your name, Whats your job? Have you heard any rumours, Quest sensisitve dialogue option and cancel. There is no real space for one to roleplay either. There is a very strict build you have to pursue to be effective and anything will add more hardship and may even prevent you from finishing the game. A lot of skills like gambling tinkering and technology martial arts are downright useless. Quests are very one sided and much like bethesda fallouts dont even have any meaning to them. Your choices dont matter as the outcome will always be the same. Whats a lot of the quests have this russian doll levels of fetch questing. EG Guy X asks you make a delivery for Guy Y. When you talk to Guy Y he cant help you unless you sort his trouble with Guy Z and then guy Z will have other issue for you to deal with. A lot of quests are styled like that and its very annoying. Story and Characters - Much like fallout you are given an overarching mission that thankfully has no time limit and as you get closer to completing it you move from town to town getting friends and gear along the way. The joy of fallout was that every town was truly unique and fun to explore that was populated with quirky characters and gear for you to find. You will find none of that here. Most map markets are empty and barren. The few that are populated have minimal interaction and are not even worth your time and it practicality you will spend most of your time between 3 locations. Most NPCs are either cringy caricatures like an old guy who is a stand in for Revolver Ocelot or recycled memes like the guy who is literally an age regressed photo of Review Brah from Report of the Week. There are no interesting conversations or moral dilemmas. Its a sideshow attraction. Technical: On a technical level the game is fine. I didnt have many crashes or bugs although I did have a pair of quests break on me because I decided to roleplay a little. There is a mission where you have to rescue the statue of lenin from a bunch of recyclers. Its a giant tedious battle but I decided to turn on the mercs who join you for hte battle to get their loot. Funilly enough after you wipe the map the npc who gave you quest doesnt turn hostile and instead insist that you still have people to kill in that instance. The second is a quest where a time traveler wants you to end a union between a pair of teens so they wont give birth to a dictator in the future. He suggests talking them out of their replaytioship. I decided a more permanent solution and killed both of them. This made the quest unfinishible since the quest giver insist their union is still strong despite both of them being blown up by a grenade. Overall I suggest you stay away from this game and spend your money either on the original Fallout or better games in the same genreShow moreShow less
28.5 hours at review209 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
I have to say, this has been one of those games that has sat in my steam library for a long time without me touching it. I don't normally have the biggest amount of time to devote these days to an RPG, but had some time due to Covid/winter storms and gave it a shot and boy am I glad I did. Let me start off with: this will not be everyone's bag. If you don't have the devoted love for older CRPGs like Baldur's Gate, Planescape Torment, and especially of course the Fallout series, there may not be enough meat on the bone here to really make you excited. HOWEVER... if you have been looking for a proper turn based spiritual successor to Fallout 2 (nothing wrong with New Vegas in my book, but it is very much a different thing) you're looking at it IMO. Lots of games have tried (Underrail comes to mind) but they change the formula here and play with difficulty there and none of them quite got it for me personally. Atom RPG gets it. It's definitely difficult, especially if you run in without a thought to a bit of min maxing or on a harder difficulty. But it's not impossible, especially if you don't mind a few good ol' fashion 90's style save scums. The people in it are fascinating, the world it makes equally so. If you found the 50s Americana of Fallout to be a fun play on Cold War feelings at their height in the US, this is a very similar thing but swapped to the other side of the Iron Curtain. The bombs fell in '86, it's 2005. There are still people who lived pre apocalypse about, and just about all of their personalities, the weird bits of folklore and rumors you pick up, the strange happenings you'll find, all tend to draw from both yes, standard post apocalyptic fare (rats of unusual size return) but also Russian folklore and Soviet culture. As a westerner, its fascinating as a sort of self parody/allusion to Russian culture of its own period, in the same way Fallout was of American culture. tl;dr: Do you like Fallout 1 and especially 2? Can you forgive somewhat outdated mechanics, some wonky translations, sometimes sudden difficulty spikes, and a little slavjank? If so, this game will be one that keeps on giving.Show moreShow less
33.9 hours at review241 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
In A Nutshell 🔵 Pros + Large open-world to explore, with a considerable number of quests. + Locations contain many NPCs, each with unique background and story. + Wide variety of character development possibilities thanks to varied skills and passive abilities. + Decent variety of equipment, enemies, weapons and accessories to find and use throughout the world. + Survival and crafting mechanics are a good addition, with interesting interactions such as salt-curing meat for preservation. 🔴 Cons - Dreadful English translation and narration, making dialogues feel like an involuntarily comedic B-movie all the time. - Considerable balance problems in multiple fields: weapons balance, random encounters, skill checks, trading, and more. - Main story is badly paced, uninteresting, and not involving for the player. - Absence of important quality of life features, such as global map travel speed-up, or custom location markers to recognize places and NPCs. - Terrible companion AI, completely stupid most of the time, also impossible to manually control them to fix this issue. - Most skills and attributes are almost never used in skill checks throughout dialogues, while a few select ones are used all the time, creating unbalance or in some cases utter nonsense. - Poor quality graphics for 2018/2019 standards, even for an Indie project. This isn't very important in this genre, however. I will be direct in telling you that ATOM is a title not worth playing: as good as several of the concepts in it may be, such as crafting or survival mechanics for example, or how much it tries to emulate the masterpieces of old such as Fallout 2 or Wasteland, it is a title severely crippled by outright bad game design decisions, lack of polishing and refinement reflected by its widespread balance issues, and aswell an overall mediocre quality title in almost any field, this of course considering it being an indie title. ATOM has some good points, such as an expansive open world filled with a really good number of quests, survival and crafting mechanics, decently varied situations to get involved into as different ways to solve them, fully-lootable enemies that you can strip of their equip head to toe just like in old-school games, and random global map encounters and events. The particular detail put into every NPC to craft its own little piece of story and backgrounds is aswell remarkable. There are several good points and concepts in ATOM, but the bad sides of it definitely overwhelm the good ones. The absolutely major problems making this game a no-go are first of all the terrible, dreadful English translation, taking away any and all atmosphere of involvement from dialogues and instead making them look like an unwanted comedy. After this, balance problems are to be blamed, ranging from dialogues with quest NPCs not considering about 75% of ALL skills or attributes in order to solve problems but instead always focusing on a few selected ones (Speechcraft, Bartering) which in turn become "mandatory" to get any quest done. This severely cripples the freedom a player might have to solve quests in various ways, the staple of any RPG. Loot tables and combat are aswell unbalanced, especially regarding traders having close to nothing useful the whole time, while random encounters scaling way too aggressively, forcing reloads if the player gets into one simply impossible to win at the current level. In conclusion, ATOM is an RPG with good ideas and concepts, that surely tries to emulate the classics of old, but fails in doing this for lack of proper game design and testing to iron out the problems. Liked this review, and want to see more of the same quality? Check out Tamaster's Review Archive to see all my Reviews in a single, convenient location. In-depth Feature Analysis 🎮 Gameplay ATOM's gameplay is divided into Exploration, Dialogues, Character Management and Combat. The global map of ATOM is peppered with various significant locations, that can be explored apart, such as major cities, outposts and dungeons. To move between there is no fast-travel, but a world map where the character dynamically moves to reach a location, getting into random encounters, special events, and also suffer from hunger and other eventual illnesses, taking their toll as time passes. Exploration of locations is instead made in a classic RPG fashion, with a top-down view using the mouse to decide where to move and interact with characters and items alike. Dialogues with NPCs are remarkable in detail, as any NPC, regardless of importance, has its own little story to tell, in this a particular care from the devs to create a believable post-apo world can be noticed. As far as role-playing goes, ATOM lacks variety of interactions: many dialogues or special interactions tied to quests end up being resolved by a few skills, while many get excluded or simply are never considered. Character Management features base attributes scaling the various skills, in a very Fallout-like fashion. Plus, a passive skill tree is present, to further specialize the main character. The passive abilities are mostly underwhelming and not particularly useful, though. Weapons always have certain requirements in different skills and attributes to be used. 📖 Story The story of ATOM, as far as the main quest goes, is not very interesting but instead rather bland and uninspired. The poor English translation does the rest. 👊 Combat System Combat uses a classic AP turn-based combat system. Your character's AP depend on Attention and Dexterity attributes, and are shared between Movement and Attack. Aimed attacks can be performed to enemy body parts, to supposedly inflict special debuffs... but instead they have no special effects whatsoever. Several shotgun hits to a leg? Enemy still stands as if nothing happened. Only increased accuracy is an aimed hit's bonus. Apart from this, combat in ATOM is mostly fine as far as the system goes. 💰 Content & Pricing Priced at 15€, it is indeed a low price for a classic RPG and the amount of content it offers is great for this reduced price tag. However, the quality is not sufficient to recommend a purchase even at this low price. 🔗 Balance & Challenge There are noticeable issues with random encounter balance, putting the player into unwinnable fights several times, due to overly aggressive scaling of encounters as the player level rises. Traders most of the time are useless and even in major cities good weapons and armors can never be found, I personally sat on 10k roubles without anywhere to spend them due to traders never having anything useful. Challenge on Expert is considerable, but cannot really be a PRO as it is due to balance problems and not well-planned balance. Technical Analysis 🎥 Graphics Even for an Indie title, graphics are very dated and of mediocre, at best, quality. In this genre however graphics are very marginal, therefore this is not a big problem. 🔊 Sound The few narration section have absolutely hideous voice acting, while effects and soundtrack are average. 🔩 Performance & Stability No particular problems. Game runs well in 1440p. [GTX1080, i7 4820K, 16GB RAM] 💻 Artificial Intelligence Absolutely horrendous companion AI, crippling combat severely. Enemy AI attacks the player when having the chance, and uses basic patterns common to AI in turn-based RPGs. 🏠 Quality of Life The absence of features such as global map speed-up travel, or custom markers, lead to unnecessary annoyance. 🐛 Bugs & Issues No particular bugs to mention. The interface is quite unresponsive and clunky, though manageable to use. Special thanks to DocRock for gifting me this game!Show moreShow less
13.9 hours at review186 people found this helpful
Received for free
RecommendedSteam player
This review is not meant as a review, but rather as an aid to help you decide if you want to get this game or not. To help you decide I would like to write down some observations that are important to me and perhaps to you. I noticed that I tend to like role play games that allow me to take a group through a story. I think this is what connect such games as Dragon Age, State of Decay, Kotor, Survivalist, Mass Effect, Torment, Neverwinter Nights and Jade Empire. There are some odd ones out, such as Vampire the Masquerade and Fallout. Odd one's because you do not manage a group. The first I like because of the mood and the story. The later more because of the freedom it allows and also mood(especially the first Fallout games and New Vegas). Now Atom RPG is told to be a successor of such games as Fallout and Baldur's Gate(!) and that claim somehow did not sit right with me. Now we could break all the various aspects of these games and compare them, but lets just go to the center issue: the writing. Both games have some stellar writing that elevates them. Atom doesn't. I understand that this is game with a limited budget, but alas it doesn't make the poor writing better because of it. Don't expect an engaging well worked out story line. It doesn't help much either that the translation of the game from Russian is pretty bad at times. Atrocious is the word that springs to mind. The lack of budget means there is no good translation. Sometimes you find yourselves in a conversation responding in an idiotic manner that you take to be an sarcastic remark. It is isn't: you will find yourself suddenly attacked because the strange sentence was meant as insult. I would advice to save when engaging in conversations. Now if you can get past the lack of good writing, then what can you expect? The game looks and feels like an improved version of those early Fallout games in its mechanics. In addition it takes from Fallout the free roaming aspect. It also faithfully copies all the various aspects of the game such as how you character is created, the special system with its abilities(strength and so on), skills and perks(special advantages) and vats, the targeting system. In that the game is indeed a spiritual successor. In addition it has a crafting system that allows you to make your own things and you can also trade and even develop a base and grow crops and more. And of course manage a small group of companions. One additional aspect of this game is its background. This game is set after a nuclear war broke out in the end of the last century and it is set in Russia before the USSR fell apart. The later gives the game its own flavor. When you explore you will find much that is related to the Soviet Union such as weapons, gear, outfits, but also the background stories. I think this is possibly the most unique for me and makes the game standing out from others, like wasteland. The background creates its own mood. There are, at times, also some special highlights, such as the circus where mutants make a living by performing. However the game has also its share of issues. For one, the game is heavily relying on strength. Strength not only determines how much you can carry and how much damage you do in combat, it also determines what penalties you suffer when handling guns. If you happen to have low strength: woe unto thee. The game also has no progression for characteristics. These are set at the start of the game and you do not get any more points. There is a way to reset your abilities by buying an hugely expensive potion(It always amazes me that game developers somehow what to limit gamers in resetting their characters) and sometimes you might find things that enhance them. Next to that, a few quests are broken or so obscure(often because of the bad translation) that you have no idea where to go or what to do. In addition I never bothered much with the crafting in the game. To craft items you need a certain skill level and a formula. The first means spending points on skills that are other than fighting skills and the later means you need to find them and then buy them. However, it often turns out that normal weapons work as well or better and are often easier to get. Then there is the heavily combat oriented bias of the game. Fighting means you get points and loot. Other activities do not get you any reward except for the occasional quest related ones. It reminds me of a moment in Kotor where you can sneak past an adversary, but that doesn't give you any points.. So why bother with sneaking? Those who like that eventually get punished for it. Such is the fate of games like that. I think the most problematic issue for me, next to the writing, is that Atom is unremarkable. The Soviet flavor makes the game stand out, but once you look past it the game has nothing remarkable or special to offer. It just copies over things from Fallout. The later aspect is made worse by the fact that you will find yourself grinding at times. As you need some skills to explore some quests, you might find that you need another level of two to get the required amount of skill points. And then you find yourself forced to grind. If these things do not bother you, then you might have fun with this game. It has a free roaming aspect to offer and some improved aspects of the Fallout games. And in a sense the mood is fallout with a Soviet flavor. But if you prefer good writing, well done dialogue and next to roaming a game that allows you to truly develop your character then probably this isn't the game for you. In any event: Good luck!Show moreShow less
79.2 hours at review183 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
THUMBS... SIDEWAYS? Ok obviously this is early access. But the kickstarter page says there is at least 30 hours of gameplay when actually there is like 3 hours tops. Half the towns on the world map are in development and will not let you enter. And the second main town which is part of the main story line progression, in fact the ONLY real quest/story that you recieve is stopped dead at this second main town. All the NPCS in there just say the same blahblahblah placeholder text and its just pretty much broken. So if you wanna pay 15$ for a demo go right ahead. Combat is fun, ish. I spent way too much time thinking items were going to be rare but low and behold the first "bunker 315" is a fkn gold mine. Ak47's and enough ammo and food to really just walk around getting random encounters for 29 hours I guess thats why they say 30 hours of gameplay. I went from not being able to take 1 bullet to becoming an invincible slaughterhouse. I got board and easily wiped out every last living breathing thing in the first hometown with ease. Game has potential though. It hits all the right nastalgia of fallout 1 and 2 for me if it isn't a downright copyright infridgment. A well remember character from fallout 3 appears in the bunker and I litterally lmfao. TLDR: Fun for a few hours. Wait this one out.Show moreShow less
6 hours at review122 people found this helpful
Written during Early Access
Source: original Steam user reviews. Helpful votes are an archived snapshot, not live data. Last collected: 08/15/2026.