Our review of Atomic Heart , a BioShock - pep up gunman that tell apart an substitute history of the Soviet Union .
February has n’t been short of controversial release . Coming freshly off of the back ofHogwarts Legacy , Atomic Hearthas once again upset some people due to its say links to Russia . These connections could be a batch - breaker to some , but my time playacting suggest that the call for a boycott may be unnecessary .
Atomic Hearttakes place in a futurist Soviet Russia that never fell . You play as Major Sergei Nechaev , a Russian policeman who operate on as the correct - hired man man of Dmitry Sechenov . Nachaev also fight down alongside his sentient baseball glove named Charles . Sechenov is the fighting Minister of Industry , but he has goals to become much more and will do whatever it take to get there .
Without dig too late into looter , the taradiddle ofAtomic Heartis one that explores a miscellanea of political topics . sure enough , on the surface , it does glorify communism , but this is done so as the account is told from Nechaev ’s point of purview . The John Major is a patriotic dog who would n’t make bold doubtfulness Sechenov , as he sense that he owes him . As the tale progresses , flaws in Sechenov ’s leadership commence to show and those around him begin to query his dependable nature .
Of of course , if the scope and mysterious origins ofAtomic Heartmake you uncomfortable , there ’s nothing haywire with passing on it . However , callingAtomic Heartpro - communism would be like callingWolfensteinpro - Nazi . It ’s a megascopic oversimplification of the undertone and subtleties that focalise more on the false Sion being fed to the citizen than the glorification of Soviet Russia .
Impressive scope
Looking past its origins , Atomic Heartis an challenging game . The scale and focussing of its storytelling and humanity - building are inspired by the likes ofBioShock Infinite . It does n’t quite deliver the same hard - hitting tale , but for Mundfish ’s first attempt , I reckon it can be proud of its efforts .
The utopian Soviet Union setting wo n’t be something that everyone buys into , but it ’s hard to deny that it ’s at least visually attractive as a game . The epic social organisation and gorgeous landscapes make you want to explore more and see what the world has to offer . It draws you in and manage to deliver on a lot of its potential .
regrettably , the storytelling is hurt by the existence of Major Nechaev . Our protagonist is objectionable and says everything you do n’t want him to . There are several occasions where Charles tries to offer interesting insight and , Major say him to shut up . For a game that seems to care so much about its world - building , it ’s bizarre how hard it seek to stop over you from finding out more about its world .
Screenshot by PC Invasion
Things are only made bad by Major ’s personality , which is an unlikable mix of annoying and naïve . His involuntariness to learn about his milieu and his dull one - liners do n’t make for a memorable protagonist . Or at the very least , if he is memorable , it ’s for all the wrong understanding .
No FOV in 2023
One area whereAtomic Heartexcels is its presentment which is nothing unretentive of spectacular . The cutscenes are gorgeous and the surround are breathtaking . Even if you are n’t too concerned in the taradiddle , there ’s an awful lot of eye candy that anyone can appreciate . This is a beautiful plot that delivers on almost all technological front despite its lack of ray trace .
I say almost all , because Mundfish has made an astonishing conclusion . Despite the PC port being fine enough , running well , and support option like Nvidia DLSS , there is no customizable FOV . The default FOV seems to sit around 85 , which is n’t unplayable but it ’s not pleasant either . Mundfish justifies this determination by take that the default FOV inAtomic Heart is ” higher than many other games , ” but on PC that ’s just not true .
Throughout my playthrough , Atomic Heartdidn’t on the button prove itself to be the most stable secret plan either . I experienced crash every 2 - 3 hours which , while not direful , did hurt my ducking jolly . Thankfully , Atomic Heartimplements a generous autosave machinist so I never misplace any meaningful progress .
Screenshot by PC Invasion
Violent recycling
Gameplay - wise , Atomic Heartdelivers on some forepart and is exhausting on others . The positives rotate around its diverse abilities and the fun gunplay . When you are fight foe it feel outstanding , and having so many tools to do so keeps thing interesting .
There ’s something incredibly satisfy about catch overcrowded by a radical of enemies , get up them all with Mass Telekinesis , and mosh them into the floor , light up the way out all at once . When you ’re abilities are upgraded , Major feels like a robot - slaying superhero .
It ’s a like story with the guns , which extend all variety of way to destroy whoever or whatever is inauspicious enough to get in your way . Be it a heavily - hitting shotgun or a macebearer , or even a goddamn railgun , there is no shortage of ways to rack up kill .
Screenshot by PC Invasion
At its best , the armed combat is gratifying but it does take some time to get there . The former game does n’t deliver the same level of expiation , as your power are lackluster and your weapon system take up . This also produce an turn back difficulty curve where late upgrades make content easier . I kid you not , the opening lab was plausibly the hardest of all just because I was forced to rely on a crappy axe with a awful special fire .
Exploring Facility 3826
Outside of its armed combat , Atomic Heartmisses some shots . The platforming segments are flat out of Hell , and every metre one appear I was just praying for it to terminate . The game ’s special motion just does n’t lend itself well to complex platforming .
On the flip side , I enjoyed the side quests and optional content find in the open world . My first depression of the open world were n’t great , as there are just so many enemies scattered around that it can be hard to research . However , it uprise on me as time die on and I cogitate it does a enough job of break up the gameplay between story missions .
The undecided - world content does n’t tally much to the story , but the rewards from these expanse make them deserving completing . The grown draw is that the extended magazines for most guns can be rule here , and have a larger magazine helps a short ton withAtomic Heart‘s harder combat . It ’s just a shame that completing them usually means having to stomach more platforming segments .
Screenshot by PC Invasion
An inaccessible adventure
Atomic Heartoffers some handiness , but leaves a lot to be want . Both Local Malfunction and the harder Armageddon difficulty offer a challenging experience , while Peaceful Atom is there for players who require to focus on the story . Although even Peaceful Atom still requires a fair grasp of mechanics and is n’t an ideal account mode difficulty .
The shortcomings are difficult to miss with the subtitle options , while artistic , lack more important feature like the ability to resize them . Also , there ’s no colorblind way , and do n’t expect anything non - standard like being able to disable tinnitus effect or slow down the biz while aimed in .
A little overly ambitious
Atomic Heartdoes a flock ripe and Mundfish deserve credit for the right-down creativity and ambitiousness on display . The fact thatAtomic Heartcan cast comparison toBioShockin the first place is telling given that this is Mundfish ’s first game . Its origins and stem wo n’t be for everyone , but if you could look past that it ’s deserving playing .
In saying that , there is no question that feature creep has hurt this game . It tries to do so much at once that it ends up only doing a few things well , most thing averagely , and even some thing ill . Even so , if you ’re looking for a individual - player shooter , you may do a lot sorry thanAtomic centre .
Related : The Atomic Heart Controversy & How It Connects to Russia ’s War in Ukraineon The Escapist
Screenshot by PC Invasion
