Atomfall: Wicked Isle DLC Review – I’ll Stick to the Mainland

[cap-drop]A[/cap-drop]tomfall has enjoyed just a little over two months of praise since its March release and it’s already receiving its first story DLC. Wicked Isle is a moderately sized expansion, adding a new compact island map to explore as well as some fresh new weapons and Skills. Pretty surprising considering the proximity to Atomfall‘s launch. But is it worth shelling out $20 for this add-on? Well, your milage may vary, but if you’ve played the base game, Wicked Isle‘s story compliments the base game well even if the content itself leaves something to be desired.

To access the DLC, players need only head to the Wyndham port and speak to the ferryman (one of the new NPCs) standing on the docks. Beginners are welcome too, since Wyndham can be entered right from the beginning of the base game.

As expected, the large bulk of said content takes place on an isolated isle apart from the base game’s mainland areas. Backtracking to the mainland is also a decent chunk of the DLC’s main quest, but more on that later. So, how large is the new DLC island? Well, it’s comparable to other regions of the base game. In particular, Midsummer Isle resembles the Casterfell Woods region in size and geographical features. So, if you loathe those druid-infested woods as much as I do, you’re in for more of that.

Of course, being an isle, there is water surrounding the entire landmass. My first death in the DLC was caused by a group new Aquatic Ferals enemies that emerged from the depths of some beach water. They look like 50s sci-fi horror mermen, and they pack quite the wallop. There’s also a new enemy faction that behaves identically to the base game’s druids. Besides these two new enemies, which are basically reskins if we’re being honest, there’s not much players won’t have experienced combat-wise in the base game. Wicked Isle doesn’t feature any groundbreaking new boss fight mechanics or particularly noteworthy encounters, and that’s a bit of a shame.

"Wicked Isle doesn’t feature any groundbreaking new boss fight mechanics or particularly noteworthy encounters."

What lets the enemy design down even more, however, is the reappearance of those annoying unkillable Mutant Plant enemies. They’re placed in irritating zones too, discouraging exploration in one noteworthy instance. Another small complaint is the high number of druid packs patrolling many of the island’s landmarks. As I said earlier, Casterfell Woods was my least favorite location in the base game, and man was I disappointed when I happened across similar packs of druids in yet another wooded area. Sure, there’s some patches of grass overgrowth allowing for a stealthy approach, but Atomfall works best with its tightly crafted indoor level design, which this DLC has little of.

But Midsummer Isle stoops even lower than the lesser regions of the base game. This is because there’s no access to the Interchange whatsoever on the island. The Interchange rendered traversal manageable in the base game thanks to its interconnected entrances hiding within every region. Lacking an Interchange entrance is bad for several reasons. For one, you don’t have access to your storage tube. All that shiny new loot will have nowhere to go thanks to the severely limited inventory space and no Interchange access. Well, unless you decide to hoof it all the way back to the mainland via ferry. Yes, unfortunately, fast travel options or inventory expansions didn’t get added to this DLC. Not that I really needed it in the base game, but again, I had the Interchange to go to and from the various regions. Here on Midsummer Isle, I must manually hoof it to the boat, go through a load screen, and then hoof it from the Wyndham docks. You really feel the traversal padding with this DLC.

The second reason no Interchange access is bad is due to the backtracking-heavy quests within the DLC. And not just any old backtracking, fetch quest backtracking. Yeah, bit of a bummer combo that. One of the last steps toward completing the DLC’s main quest is finding four keys to unlock a crypt. But the game doesn’t just give you those key locations, you have to work for them. This is where one of Atomfall’s strongest design elements comes into play: leads. Turning lead tracking off in the options menu allows the game to organically guide the player to quest objectives. This typically involves clever deduction of written texts, uncovering info from NPC conversations, and good old environmental storytelling. And that mostly stays true in the DLC, even if guidance is a tad less effective this time around. I got lost more during this DLC than at any time in the base experience. Good luck finding the new metal detector, because with a total lack of clues or leads, you’re gonna need either luck or objective markers turned on to find it.

"I got lost more during this DLC than at any time in the base experience."

Regarding the four keys themselves, You can go after them in whichever order you see fit, but you better find all clues in one batch first before getting said keys individually. This is because each key is located within a region of the mainland. Some players will have made three separate trips to the mainland just for each key. This level of backtracking simply didn’t exist in the core game, especially given the smart layout of the Interchange connecting the regions. What makes it even worse is the total lack of expansion given to mainland areas or familiar NPCs. You simply use your newfangled metal detector in an old area of the base game and return back to the island with the quest items; that’s it. No re-contextualization of prior areas or new dialogue with old NPCs.

This fetch quest design exposes the need for an Interchange shortcut to the mainland or a fast travel feature update. A sizable portion of this DLC’s playtime is spent just backtracking and traversing across regions already explored in the main game, but without any added context, areas, or NPCs to make it interesting or fresh.

That said, not everything in Wicked Isle is backtracking or re-skinned content. The new blunderbuss shotgun is fun to shoot, even if ammo is very sparse, and the new daggers and cutlass at least look cool, even if they don’t play any different from their equivalent from the base game. Players also get access to a new set of Skills, which provide resistances and new capabilities relating to various status effects. Decomposition is a particularly enjoyable skill to put points into. It turns enemies into a puff of spores that you can extract upon stealth killing them, how cool is that?

"The new Decomposition skill turns enemies into a puff of spores that you can extract."

I wouldn’t say the amount of new items and Skills are particularly amazing here or anything, but their quality at least makes up for it (although those new skills sure do cost way too much). Apart from some fancy new gear, players will find side quests and lots of diaries and notes to sift through, as well as interesting new characters to argue with. Oh, and there’s a new ending players can engage with should they tackle quests and respond to dialogue in a particular way.

Speaking of characters, the first one you meet right from the beginning is one of the more intriguing of the bunch. The boatman who ferries you over to the isle has quite a tragic tale to tell, and his own journey through the course of the DLC earns some amount of empathy. Likewise, the main antagonists of the DLC (if they can be called that) speak in an Old English tongue that is ever so delightful to hear. In fact, the story that’s weaved from the ghostly Abbot and his retinue is one of the best things to come from Wicked Isle. The mysterious ‘angel’ that fell from the sky, it’s worshipers, and the 1600s events that the player learns about all tie into the main story of Atomfall wonderfully. Wicked Isle provides a clever insight into how a Britain 200 years in the past reacts to Oberon, perfectly complimenting how the more modern man with their technology reacts to it in the base game.

"The boatman who ferries you over to the isle has quite a tragic tale to tell."

Still, a good story isn’t quite enough to pull this DLC up from its ultimate shortcomings. Considering Wicked Isle is a third ($19.99) of the base game’s price, I expected a bit more from it. I enjoyed the base game’s content more than the DLC’s offerings. Fetching a bunch of keys from the old stomping grounds of the base game didn’t do Wicked Isle any favors, especially given the lack of fast travel or Interchange entrances. Plus, Wicked Isle just doesn’t have much meat on its bones.

With only a handful of new weapons and Skills, there’s not a sizable amount of stuff here that I can see roping players back into its world. But it’s decent enough to warrant a purchase for fans who really appreciate Atomfall. Wicked Isle is a nice compliment to the main game, enhancing and prolonging Atomfall in neat and rewarding ways, but it doesn’t necessarily provide a good enough hook to entice new players or bring familiar players back in.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.