Atomic Heart – Review
Since its first teasers showcased beautiful visuals and a hugely ambitious scope, players have been eagerly awaiting the release of Atomic Heart. Some people have spent the last few months worrying that Atomic Heart was too good to be true, while others have been eagerly anticipating a new IP’s attempt to compete with the Bioshock and Wolfenstein series.
Pros:
- Looks stellar
- Fun meele and shooting
- Unique world and setting
Cons:
- Some inconsistent writing
Score – 8.5/10
After spending a considerable amount of time immersed in Atomic Heart and carefully observing everything around me, I can conclude that Mundfish and Focus Entertainment have created one of the most visually breathtaking environments in recent video games, along with some very fun core gameplay. However, the game is difficult to get into for the most part due to a lack of clear objectives, a narrative driven by wildly erratic writing (particularly with the main character), and a general lack of accessibility.
Being a current-gen game, Atomic Heart makes the most of the PS5 and Xbox One X|S’s robust technology. At first glance, it’s easy to see that Atomic Heart is a technically and artistically amazing game, with intricate locations full of detail, a wide variety of foes to dismember and destroy, and even open-world sections that really test the player’s skills.
Yet, the actuality of Atomic Heart’s performance is more nuanced. Gameplay is mostly smooth, although there are a few hiccups here and there that keep it from being a flawless experience.
First of all, unlike what I’d expect from a cutting-edge, current-gen game, Atomic Heart’s loading times are reminiscent of the loading periods of older consoles. In addition to the game’s lengthy loading times, many levels are separated by frustratingly long elevator rides; these elevators have buttons that are too easy to click, making it all too easy to take the elevator back the way you came and become stranded for another round trip.
The acting in Atomic Heart is solid but convoluted, with certain parts falling short of being truly superb.
While I did notice some frame drops and some lag when moving quickly between huge sections packed with foes or immediately after a save, the game generally maintained a smooth 60 frames per second. During boss fights, when I tried to swap weapons or elemental damage types, I experienced three severe malfunctions: a hard freeze that required a restart, a crash that left me tumbling back to the Xbox Dashboard, and a game over.
The visual presentation in Atomic Heart is flawless. Atomic Heart isn’t the most technically astounding game I’ve played, but it’s still fun. Although the game’s lighting, textures, and facial animations aren’t the finest in the industry, the aesthetics are magnificent and the art design is dependably fantastic.
A vast region of mountains, lakes, and forests serves as the backdrop for the events of Atomic Heart, which takes place at the state-of-the-art scientific research centre known as Facility 3826. Facility 3826 was built in the USSR during WWII and represents the country’s finest technological and architectural achievements. It has the outward appearance of a utopia, and its thematic grandeur is sure to leave any visitor speechless.
The larger universe in which Atomic Heart takes place is stunning and expansive, dotted with enormous monuments, massive complexes, and towering buildings that inspire awe and wonder. At least inside the game’s more homemade, linear sections, which make up the bulk of Atomic Heart, every square inch is dripping with attention to detail and a clear desire to bring this imaginary universe to life.
Atomic Heart looks incredible; I just can’t emphasise that enough. Atomic Heart is one of the most photogenic games I’ve played recently, therefore the game’s lack of a dedicated photo feature is nearly criminal. Even after the facility-wide calamity that forms the backbone of Atomic Heart’s plot, the planet still feels incredibly complete.
While I applaud the game’s graphics, I can’t say the same for the gameplay in Atomic Heart. Although there is certainly a lot to enjoy, the gameplay in Atomic Heart leaves a lot to be desired. The game has a massive scale, yet it often feels diffuse and aimless. The highlights are incredible, but the lowlights will make you want to end the game early.
Atomic Heart is a hybrid first-person shooter and action role-playing game with strong echoes of established series like Bioshock and Wolfenstein, as well as hints of Prey (2017). The majority of the game is set in linear complexes, where you will fight in specialised combat scenarios, solve a broad variety of mini-puzzles, and scavenge nearby locations for more materials and manufacturing components.
The first ten hours of Atomic Heart were fantastic, all thanks to this looping structure. The opening section of Atomic Heart is well designed and sets the tone for what is to come, but after that, the game expands up into a massive region with far too many adversaries and not enough reasons to explore. In exchange for the “handmade” quality of the linear complexes, the open world is now overpowering, unfinished, and less engaging.
There is already a lot going on in Atomic Heart. Every weapon has multiple levels of upgrades (I mostly focused on improving two or three favourites), there is a full-fledged skills system (apart from the character upgrades, I didn’t find these skills to be very intuitive or worthwhile), and there is no inventory management. There are platforming segments and stealth gameplay in the game.
Cars and driving mechanics are being added to Atomic Heart as part of the open world transition so that players can more easily traverse the game’s vast environments. There are strict security measures in place everywhere, but if you’re willing to put in the time, you can use massive mobile Hawk terminals to temporarily disable the irritating opponents. Cameras, which are otherwise useless except as remote door openers, can also be hacked. Each hidden region of the Training Grounds has its own challenge to solve before you can gain access to the rich loot and blueprints for upgrading your weapons.
Just about everything seems like too much at once. It’s easy to see that Atomic Heart is an ambitious game, and the environment and art design live up to that expectation. Yet, I wish the gameplay had remained faithful to the promise of its prologue, even if doing so would have made the final result less distinct from the games that served as inspiration. While most of the story in Atomic Heart takes place within linear levels, the experience is marred by unfinished mechanics and obligatory open world segments.
My trusty axe, which I strengthened into an elemental monster weapon, helped me defeat most of my foes. (Photo via Windows Central)
In addition, that primary cycle of gameplay is entertaining. It did take some getting used to for me to feel comfortable with Atomic Heart’s unconventional dance style. In place of a dedicated “sprint” button, Atomic Heart just speeds up forward motion, while keeping strafing speed constant. Atomic Heart’s fighting is a little out of the ordinary, but as I got used to it, it felt natural, hectic, and responsive.
Scanner data, many weapons and elemental enhancement capsules (to shock, burn, or freeze adversaries), and a reliable dodge allowed me to defeat hordes of foes. There were some challenging parts, but I never felt like my progress was being stymied by a lack of options in fighting; rather, I was continually challenged by stronger and more numerous foes.
The enemies have a good response to your attacks, and I never got bored of shooting androids. While managers tend to soak up information like a sponge, I found that their unique skills were often interesting enough to keep me engaged. In between fights, I made sure I saw everything there was to see in Atomic Heart.
Atomic Heart, like the Bioshock games, investigates an alternate history in which a utopian society is not what it seems to be. The events of Atomic Heart take place in the Soviet Union in 1955, not long after the end of World War II in Russia. The fundamental reason the Axis powers like Nazi Germany were destroyed was because of the new era of technology ushering in by Soviet scientific geniuses throughout the war.
The Germans, however, refused to concede and instead released a global epidemic that killed off half the human population. Once again, it was a coordinated effort led by Soviet scientists that prevented the annihilation of the human race. As a result of all of these factors, and Stalin’s eventual demise, the Soviet Union became the “perfect” Communist country. Hyper-advanced robots driven by the novel polymer substance produced by Dr. Sechenov let Russia achieve technological heights unimaginable even today.
The game begins just before the release of Kollectiv 2.0, a cutting-edge network that will bring the whole human race together under a single user interface, facilitating the free and open exchange of all human knowledge and experience. As an added bonus, this technology would enable everyone on Earth to use their thoughts alone to command robots. Something goes horribly wrong, however, and the androids in the top-secret Facility 3826 commence a systematic and indiscriminate massacre of all humans. Dr. Sechenov has given you, Special Agent P-3, the task of determining what went wrong and fixing it.
I won’t give away any plot details beyond the essentials, but know that Atomic Heart is a narrative about human greed, the price of quick advancement, and the undeniable contrast between making everyone conform and giving everyone unalienable rights and chances. In this world, the Soviet Union may be the most technologically sophisticated and “secure” country, but it is still ruled by a totalitarian system of the rich and powerful, and the truth behind this utopia is replete with deceit, misinformation, and evil conspiracies. Behind the locked doors of Building 3826, things are not what they appear.
The story fascinated me, and the abundance of in-game audio and text files, as well as NPC chats with, oh, the bodies of slain Facility 3826 personnel, further added to my interest (a side effect of the neuro-polymer that all humans need to integrate with the Kollectiv network). This supplementary material is very interesting and well-written, rounding out the picture of Atomic Heart’s narrative and setting.
With the help of the always-talented Mick Gordon (from DOOM, Wolfenstein, and more) and some inspiration from Russian music, Atomic Heart boasts audio design for battle and surroundings that is more than enough. More than a few songs played during tense scenes were exactly as amazing as one might hope. Yet, I noted that the incorporation of this score was… sporadic. There were stretches where the lack of music caught me off guard, and stretches where the music was so loud that it drowned out the actors’ lines.
I was overjoyed by Atomic Heart’s opening scene. The game’s mechanics and visuals were excellent, and the tale was engaging enough to keep me playing despite the dreadful protagonist. Yet, my criticisms of the game’s visuals grew increasingly severe as the game progressed. Even though I was still enjoying myself exploring and defeating increasingly challenging hordes of enemies, I was getting tired of the game’s dialogue, its haphazardly injected gameplay mechanics, and the feeling that I had to fight the game at times to complete tasks or understand what was going on.
It’s evident that Mundfish had high hopes for where Atomic Heart could go, but a more modest objective would have served the studio better. Fans of story-driven first-person shooters like Bioshock and Wolfenstein should definitely give this game a try, since there are many excellent aspects to enjoy. Visually, the environment, and the fundamental gameplay loop make it one of the top Xbox Game Pass games, and despite some odd inclusions and missed executions, the game is still among the best of the service.
