There are many fantastic games around the world. All of them are created to solve our boredom and earn a penny for the creators. Anytime you get bored, you can always test your luck by gambling with the online casino NZ. Or you can buy Atomic Heart and feel the fantastic imagination of the creators about the past Soviet Union.
After exploring the world of Atomic Heart, sooner or later you will ask yourself an interesting question. There are so many robots here and in this fictional universe, they do so many things for people. Is there a robot on the list that fulfills the carnal needs of a person? The plot of the game gives an answer to this question in about 15 hours. I will not spoil your impressions with a spoiler. For the rest, as Baba Zina said, “don’t ask questions, son, the time will come, and you’ll find out for yourself.”
Atomic Heart, in our opinion, sets an example of exemplary marketing. All this time we were worried about only one question. Will everything really be as we were shown?
About The Game
The first acquaintance with the world of Atomic Heart at a leisurely pace can last about an hour. Major Sergei Nechaev with the code call P.3 arrives in the Soviet city of Chelomei. It is the middle of the fifties. It is in this alternative version of the world where the USSR won the technological race. Not on points, but immediately by knockout. Soviet scientist Dmitry Sergeevich Sechenov discovered the amazing properties of a substance called “polymer”. The scientific complex “Enterprise 3826” appeared and a huge leap took place: powerful weapons, advanced artificial intelligence, and assistant robots, almost as good as a living person in terms of communication level.
The slogans of the alternative USSR remained the same, you read about them in history books, but the context has changed a lot. Robotization has become an integral part of the life of a Soviet person, and Atomic Heart showed this life in the prologue.
Everything around looked like George Orwell was wrong. The city is decorated. A polite courteous robot in a newsstand told the latest news and sold a new issue of Pravda. People are dancing, there is a holiday in the streets. In general, ice cream for children, and flowers for women. For almost an hour, Atomic Heart leads by the handle and lets you see a beautiful picture in detail, in order to then dramatically change the contrasts.
And then something goes wrong. Though, you already know the evil name and the reason to fight.
Style Of Atomic Heart And the Hero
The setting and style are what Atomic Heart won over from the very beginning. Yes, it really is like this. It is recreated by hand in the smallest details. In these corridors, scientific complexes, semi-abandoned villages, and on the streets of the city, you can spend a lot of time looking at the interiors and exteriors of locations. And all this, of course, would be an empty lifeless shell, if Mundfish did not fill it with bright characters, events, and adventures.
The lion’s share of the atmosphere is created by the protagonist himself. Major Sergei Nechaev is an old soldier and does not know the words of love. And he still doesn’t know who he was a few years ago. To be more precise, he doesn’t remember at all. This is often emphasized, this, in part, is his personal drama. Over time, you realize how much P.3 becomes a cog in a system that suddenly stalled.
At the same time, Nechaev is not timid and silent. He does not choose the right words. He is such a typical action hero, on par with BJ Blaskowitz and Duke Nukem. In this, the developers probably paid tribute to the old school of the genre, where the hero pours lead and strong words on monsters. There is a lot of swearing in Atomic Heart. It is in a place where the Russian voice acting turned out to be rich and expressive. It was in this promotional video, we were not deceived either.
And in general, the characters’ types turned out to be bright enough. They could discuss with friends how suspiciously cold-blooded Sechenov is, or how extremely unpleasant and cowardly his “six” Stockhausen is. Our personal favorite is Baba Zina. We told our friends about each of her appearances in colors. And each time it is very emotional and you will also remember her “house in the village”. Mundfish has a good sense of humor and it’s great.
The Gaming Process
Structurally and in the gameplay, Atomic Heart is similar to a mix of ideas and technical solutions. The gloomy corridors of Soviet laboratories and scientific complexes are replaced by the aesthetics of the Russian village, the Soviet metropolis, and suburban areas. The plot is structured in such a way that small indoor locations give way to open spaces where you can explore and seek adventure on your own, deviating from the main task.
The gameplay of Atomic Heart during the marketing campaigns was compared to Bioshock. We do not really like such comparisons. They seem to devalue the work of developers. But we have to admit that the creators of the game were inspired by this series. And the Mundish team obviously tried to take the best from DOOM (2016) and Prey (2017). On this, I propose to end any comparisons and move on to the point.
The core gameplay of Atomic Heart is built on two pillars. One is about the exploration of the world (to collect resources) and the second one is about the mass destruction of robots. It is no coincidence that we used the word “mass”. Toward the middle, there were a lot of them and they attacked in packs. We mowed them down with these same packs.
Atomic Heart has quite a few archaisms that refer to outdated game design solutions. But not all of them spoil the impression. Some work for style, so they can be called respect for the classics. For example, from time to time, Nechaev has to climb ventilation shafts to get into a closed room. The hero himself is ironic on this topic. It is necessary to grumble, to climb. You can save only in certain places, using a special machine that resembles a pay phone, a stylish solution. And we are more root for it than against it. It’s the old school that teaches you to plan and appreciate every first-aid kit, every bullet. By the way, there is no auto health regeneration here, for me, this is also in a sense a plus.
The real disappointment was the lack of some small details that would make the experience of interacting with the world much deeper. In some places, the developers ignored the game design based on the laws of uniformity and physics.
In Conclusion
Before us is a piece project, made with love and attention to history and setting. Here is a cool story with conclusions that are not obvious at first glance and vivid characters, there is an abundance of memorable moments, self-irony, and humor. She’s also damn stylish. In this block, Mundfish succeeded.
However, if you try to understand the game better and look at the game from a gameplay point of view, there will be problems as in my other games. Outdated game design solutions, which in places turn from image assumptions into unfortunate flaws, etc.
As a result, Atomic Heart works as a whole piece, but it is worth making a discount on its problems, so you can get a lot of pleasant impressions from it.