Atomfall The Wicked Isle Review

Video game developers seem to have a weird obsession with haunted islands. There are dozens of them spread across every genre, and a surprising amount of them that are only available through DLCs. Oblivion: The Shivering Isles and Fallout 4: Far Harbor are probably the two most well-known, but there’s also Ghost of Tsushima: Iki Island, Crysis 3: The Lost Island, technically Dead Island 2: Haus, and likely a few others that don’t pop up on the first few pages of Google. It’s easy to understand why that’s the case: abandoned places in the middle of the ocean are intrinsically spooky, and they’re also an easy place to set a story that’s literally and figuratively isolated from a title’s main narrative. They are, however, overdone in the medium, and seldom done properly. Atomfall The Wicked Isle isn’t exactly done wrong, but it’s also not exactly done right. So, much like its base game, it’s neither bad nor great, and instead is only worth picking up if you have an unhealthy obsession with tea and crumpets.

Like the expansion’s title suggests, Atomfall: The Wicked Isle takes you to the Wicked Isle, a small island that has been affected by the same strange disaster as the main game’s map. You’re tasked with uncovering its mysteries in the hopes that it’ll help you solve the one that drives Atomfall’s primary narrative, and, well, that’s pretty much it. Truth be told, there isn’t all that much more to say (or in this case, type) than that, because the DLC is especially ordinary. The one new region you can explore is roughly the size of any of the three included in the base game, its questline can be completed in a matter of 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 an excuse to play more Atomfall, and whether or not that’s a good thing depends on how much you enjoyed the recently released title.

‍

This isn’t to say that there’s anything intrinsically wrong with The Wicked Isle, mind. Its new location is enjoyable to explore and has plenty of hidden secrets to uncover. It’s filled with the same Britishness that makes Atomfall stand marginally apart from its competitors, and its environments are visually striking. It also adds a few new skills and weapons to find, all of which can be taken back with you to the scenic English countryside. It ties in well with the main game, too, and even allows you to uncover a couple of new pieces of information that can help you complete it if you haven’t already. It’s fun enough to play through, and that’s about it.

However, it’s hard to not notice how cliche the entire expansion is. It has the same premise as countless other DLCs and games, but rarely differentiates itself from them. Whereas Atomfall itself has some unique gameplay elements and a cool setting, its first DLC lacks both of those. You take a boat to an abandoned isle filled with hostile NPCs, kill them, acquire some new gear, explore some abandoned ruins, and before you know it, you take a boat back to Atomfall’s main map to continue your quest to complete its series of main quests. The DLC has some interesting story moments and tense fights, but doesn’t have any reasons for you to stick around longer than necessary. It’s well-crafted, but not exceptional or mind-blowingly good.

‍

Whether or not the DLC is worth buying The Wicked Isle, then, depends entirely on how much you enjoy Atomfall. Given the expansion’s steep price tag, which at time of writing is a third of the cost of the base game, it’s hard to recommend paying full price even if you loved fighting your way through a post-apocalyptic section of the United Kingdom. It doesn’t do anything wrong, but it also doesn’t add anything that’s genuinely unique or interesting. Instead, it offers more of the same blend of action, exploration and occasional narrative that made its base game playable, none of which is better than its competitors and none of which is objectively worse. It’s a solid enough DLC that has its moments, and ties in well to the main narrative of Atomfall. It’s woefully unremarkable, though. And even though there’s nothing inherently wrong with being common, it’s hard to suggest it given all the other experiences you could have for the same price.