This Atomic Heart review contains minor spoilers.
Anything that launches against a game as well-received and popular as Hogwarts Legacy is bound to be in for a tough time – but Atomic Heart has a lot going for it. Between its breathtaking setting, uncanny valley robot foes, and fantastic visuals, there is so much to like. Although, Atomic Heart has one big problem: it simply isn’t that fun to play.
Atomic Heart takes inspiration from some all-time classics like Doom and Fallout. It aims to channel this into an exciting and morally complex experience with commentary on the topical issues of artificial intelligence and Russian influence in global affairs. As a dystopian story, it explores these narrative themes to great effect.
Yet, as a game, it is a fairly rudimentary first-person shooter fluffed out with a smattering of underdeveloped open-world role playing mechanics that wows with its style but delivers very little substance.
Mick Gordon – who composed the soundtrack for the 2016 reboot of Doom and its sequel – scores the game. His intense and energetic dystopian music serves as a fitting backdrop for the game’s surreal Soviet setting. But it is at odds with the frustrating and tiresome gameplay.
Similarly, Atomic Heart‘s gorgeous world should be a joy to explore. Instead, it is mostly a chore thanks to the constant barrage of annoying bullet-sponge enemies and the unintuitive methods you must use to dispatch them.
Nevertheless, the game’s universe and twist-filled story should be enough to drag you through to the end credits and leave you satisfied. That is, if you don’t mind competing with multiple hard crashes and game-breaking bugs.
Atomic Heart Review: Story & Setting
Atomic Heart, from Cypriot developer Mundfish, takes place in an alternate history Soviet Union in 1955.
Agent P-3 – real name Major Sergei Nechaev – is the unstable and mouthy soldier dispatched to deal with a robot uprising at research hub Facility 3826. While his backstory is interesting, I often wished the game had a silent protagonist due to his constant swearing and complaining.
Facility 3826 is led by scientist Dmitry Sechenov who invented a programmable liquid called “Polymer” that spearheaded rapid development in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence in the post-war Soviet Union.
P-3 arrives just as Sechenov is unveilling his latest technological achievement: Kollektiv 2.0.
By way of a wearable “Thought” device and a neuro-Polymer implant, Kollektiv allows humans to control robots with their minds. But just as P-3 begins his tour of Facility 3826, a mysterious error turns all the previously docile domestic robots into combative killers.
Parallel to P-3’s battle against the deadly haywire robots is his own journey to uncover his mysterious past. We know Sechenov saved his life – and for that P-3 is fiercely loyal – but the scientist is hiding something. And it is linked with the ongoing crisis at Facility 3826.
As a story, Atomic Heart kept me guessing and interested throughout. Despite its frequently frustrating gameplay, I was compelled to push through. Likewise, its setting is an absolute joy to behold. The game’s scenery – wonderfully realised in its opening couple of hours – is breathtaking. It is something I won’t soon forget.
However, Atomic Heart can be derivative. The animated slapstick mascot, dystopian 50s-style setting, and similar enemies and weapons (like the “Fat Boy” rocket launcher) are unmistakably reminiscent of Fallout. A homage or tribute is one thing, but eventually I was questioning just how original Atomic Heart really is.
Nonetheless, fans of atompunk fiction and retrofuturism will undoubtedly enjoy Atomic Heart‘s world and story. Despite being set in the past, it offers timely commentary on the Russian war machine and the development of artificial intelligence.
Atomic Heart Review: Gameplay
As much as I enjoyed Atomic Heart‘s world and story, I can’t say I had a great deal of fun playing it. At its best, Atomic Heart‘s gameplay is repetitive and boring. At its worst, it’s downright irritating.
The game is built around average first-person shooter combat with common RPG elements used to create the illusion of player autonomy.
P-3 ventures across Facility 3826 between a number of different dungeons with the aim of finding something or someone he needs. Calling it open-world might be a step too far – the game is very linear in its design. Consequently, it feels like going from one fetch quest to another – something that P-3 himself often complains about.
Weapons and Crafting
Players can arm P-3 with a plethora of different guns and melee weapons. His arsenal of guns is comprised of the standard fare: a pistol, a shotgun, an assault rifle, a rocket launcher, etc. For each, you must find a blueprint and craft them at one of the game’s many over-sexed NORA machines (don’t ask).
There are a few different melee weapons to collect, starting with the fire axe. Unfortunately, melee combat is mind-numbingly basic. It consists entirely of a single light attack and a few heavy charged attacks. There’s no real complexity to it.
Weapons can be modified at the NORA machines; although, upon completion of the main story, I can’t say I saw a huge benefit in weapon upgrades.
Alongside this is the never-ending need to craft ammo and other consumables, and to manage your inventory.
I don’t know why every game these days feels the need to include a crafting system. It is absolutely not essential. And in most cases – such as this – it is just an annoyance.
Puzzles
Atomic Heart also features several different types of puzzles. These take the form of locks, relays, and logic challenges. Most are well made and unique; however, they don’t really make sense in the context of the story and world (as even P-3 himself says). By the end, the puzzles became laborious especially after completing entire hours-long puzzle based missions.
Traversal and Cars
There is a basic climbing element to Atomic Heart‘s traversal that serves only to slow the game’s pace down to a crawl. It does the job but there must have been a better alternative. Likewise, driving works for what it is but it doesn’t add anything other than faster movement between objectives. For example, roads are littered with robots that are great fun to run over – except that your car is incredibly fragile.
Combat Difficulty
The biggest problem with Atomic Heart is its brutal difficulty. But this isn’t an Elden Ring or Demon’s Souls style difficulty based around intense challenge and player skill.
Instead, it is painfully unintuitive and frustrating. Numerous different enemy types spawn all at once and swarm you. Almost all of them tirelessly sponge bullets and melee attacks. And most annoying of all, they frequently knock you down from off-screen.
I cannot reiterate enough how annoying I found Atomic Heart‘s enemy encounters to be. The game’s controls feel at odds with the fast-paced, frenzied action. On PS5 there’s no option to view or re-map controls, either. Even swapping between difficulty modes did little to fix what is clearly a poorly developed combat system.
Atomic Heart‘s soundtrack wants to create an air of breakneck chaos. But you can’t keep up. No matter what you do, you always feel significantly slower than your foes and constantly unable to keep pace with their relentless assaults and ever-increasing numbers.
P-3 is able to unlock upgrades to his Polymer glove that grant special abilities. These include telekinesis, a shield, an ice blast, and more. However, they did little to make combat more interesting or manageable.
The most fun I had in Atomic Heart was during its relatively simple but aptly challenging boss fights. Each required numerous attempts and a good amount of forethought. They don’t break any new ground – but they are aesthetically well-designed and a fun challenge.
Atomic Heart Review: Performance and Graphics
Atomic Heart looks excellent. Not only does the game achieve a high-level of graphical quality, every element has been meticulously designed to capture the essence of its dystopian Soviet world.
Pre-rendered cutscenes are well-made and cinematic in their presentation. Voice acting is also top-notch.
On PS5, the game doesn’t offer any graphics options. It runs at or close to 60 frames-per-second in dynamic 4K resolution. As you’d expect, this looks and feels really good – when it works. During heavy actions sequences, I experienced some significant stuttering and lengthy freezes which certainly didn’t help the already annoying combat.
Disappointingly, the performance issues didn’t stop there. The game crashed numerous times during my 18 hour playthrough. This necessitated replaying sequences and only added to my exasperation with Atomic Heart‘s gameplay problems.
What’s more, I also encountered a couple of bugs where quest-essential items didn’t appear at the designated waypoint. As a result, I had to load a save and replay the whole sequence to get the item to appear.
Atomic Heart Review: Verdict
Atomic Heart beautifully realises its retrofuturistic world while successfully addressing themes that are surprisingly relevant to today’s geopolitical and technological landscapes. Ironically, the end-game revelation about the true nature of “Atomic Heart” mirrors the real-world controversy surrounding the game’s release and the shady use of player data.
Real-world problems aside, Atomic Heart suffers from vexatious gameplay that would have been enough to turn me away had it not been for the enticing story.
Furthermore, repeated crashes and bugs undoubtedly detract from the overall experience and only exacerbate the game’s issues.
Atomic Heart is worth checking out for its incredible setting alone – especially if you’re a Game Pass subscriber. But its disappointing gameplay lets down the exciting promise of its awe-inspiring world.
Overall Rating: 6.5/10
Version played: PS5
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