In this review we will tell you in detail about Atomic Heart, the eccentric Russian immersive sim developed by Mundfish and published by Focus Interactive
Mundfish is a small software house that in the distant past 2017 he announced Atomic Heart, a really quirky immersive sim. The title was immediately successful attract the attention of gamers from all over the worldthus putting in the spotlight a company that before then was mostly unknown to the general public.
Often projects of this type end up turning into vaporware, but fortunately that was not the case with Atomic Heart. In fact, after more than five years of waiting, the first major Mundfish title is finally complete and available to everyone. In the last few days we have had the opportunity to try Atomic Heart in a very thorough way and in this review we will talk about it in detail.
Russian Ucronia – Atomic Heart Review
Atomic Heart is set in a uchronic world in which, immediately after the Second World War, the Russia achieved unprecedented power thanks to a series of amazing scientific discoveries. Countless accomplishments have been made in this alternate past technologic innovations and most of them are related to robotics. In fact, many are built in Russia robot several designed both to carry out heavy work and for help citizens with everyday chores.
However, progress never stops and, despite all these innovations, Russian scientists intend to go even further. Doctor Sechenovone of the brightest minds in all of Russia, is indeed in the process of activating the Collective 2.0, a sort of neural network that aims to unite the minds of all people in the world. This project aims to help all of humanity reach new horizons, but apparently there is someone who does not seem to appreciate it very much.
A few days before the launch of the Kollektiv a traitorous scientist named Petrov has tampered with all the robots in the 3826 compound, the place where all the major scientific research of the Soviet Union takes place, wreaking havoc and destruction. Such a thorny situation risks seriously jeopardizing the launch of Kollektiv 2.0 and this is where you come into play. In fact, in this title you will play the role of P-3, a soldier in the service of Sechenov who along with his sentient gauntlet Charles he will have to try to catch Petrov and set things right.
Overall, Atomic Heart’s plot felt like enough banal. In fact, after this incipit the adventure of your protagonist will continue in a fairly classic way, relying on gods narrative tropes already seen many times. However, the game still managed to keep us glued to the screen thanks to his outstanding worldbuilding. The history of the game world indeed is very impressively maintained and during your adventure you will have numerous opportunities to deepen it.
Man vs. Machine – Atomic Heart Review
During the course of your adventure you will come across a large number of very dangerous enemies, but luckily you will have many ways to deal with them. Being a soldier, P-3 obviously specializes in using melee weapons and traditional rifles, but not only. Overall 3826 in fact you can also find some specials energy weapons which have the particularity of recharging themselves over time. In addition, during the battles you can also count on the help of your Charles glove, which will allow you to use devastating powers.
Having so many different options for dealing with a fight is always pleasant, but often in these cases you end up always focusing on the most effective tools. Atomic Heart, however, manages to avoid this problem in an excellent way, prompting the player to make full use of all his options at all times. This happens both to avoid running out of ammunition but also and above all because of the characteristics of the opponents.
In fact, in the game there are many types of enemies, each with its own specific weaknesses to exploit. For example, some robots take more damage from energy weapons and electric shocks, while others are resistant to everything except melee weapons. Furthermore, to make the most of the weaknesses of the enemies, you can also use the materials collected around upgrade all your weapons. In this way you will not only improve their basic stats, but you will also be able to enrich them with particular special moves and make them better suited to dealing with specific types of enemies.
The need to often switch between the tools used to deal with enemies therefore creates a really natural gameplay loop which, combined with good gunplay and the speed of the fights, contributes to make all fights always very funny.
Care and Variety – Atomic Heart Review
During your adventure on Atomic Heart you will have the opportunity to visit many different places which, incredibly, they will also really be very well kept. All levels of the game indeed boast good complexity and above all variety. From the beginning of the game onwards, in fact, you will find yourself faced with a large number of always different situations which will help keep engagement high.
In the levels there are also a large number of riddles and puzzles which help to make them even more interesting. For example, sometimes to continue you will have to break into particular electronic combination locks or overcome paths that change according to the magnetic field of the room. To these beautiful puzzles but they are often accompanied by some sections of parkour which, on the contrary, they really leave a lot to be desired. In fact, in these situations you will be forced to climb yourself on pipes or ledges, something that with the inaccurate movement commands of Atomic Heart really turns out inconvenient and frustrating.
While Atomic Heart boasts some well-maintained levels, it suffers from a disappointing open world. In fact, the game features some open maps freely explorable that you will have to cross to reach the main and secondary “dungeons” of the game, but unfortunately these sections offer very little to the players. The structures and points of interest around them almost exclusively contain gods normal materials and as if that weren’t enough to reach them you will have to face a myriad of enemies.
In fact, the open world is not only teeming with robots but is also infested with many cameras which, if they discover you, they will bring even more opponents to converge on you. As if that were not enough, they are present in these areas infinite repair drones who in a short time will rush to revive the robots you destroyed, thus turning every fight into a huge waste of resources. Sure, if you want you can temporarily disable all enemies in the area by violating the towers, but the effect is really short-lived and at this point it’s much more comfortable and faster to go straight to your goal ignoring any danger.
A Sublime World – Atomic Heart Review
Il artistic sector it is certainly one of Atomic Heat’s greatest strengths. From the first seconds of the game it is in fact possible to notice immediately a strong artistic direction which is mirrored in a truly breathtaking aesthetic. All robots and creatures in the game have gods really gorgeous designs, and the structures and various works of art scattered throughout the game world are no less. All this is also highlighted by the graphic sectorreally too Optimal. In fact, the game boasts a really high quality regarding the models, the textures, the effects and even the lighting.
Overall Atomic Heart performs quite well since technical sidebut in this case not without some problems. During our test (happened on PS5) we have in fact found several frame drops and gods quite long uploads in different sections. As if that wasn’t enough then we also stumbled across a large number of very annoying bugs which have occurred with a certain constancy throughout the adventure. Fortunately all these problems they are not particularly serious, but their presence contributed to making our experience far less pleasant than it otherwise might have been.
Conclusions
Now the point of our review has finally arrived in which we sum up Atomic Heart. The game features several meritssuch as the fun combat system eh well-maintained levelsbut unfortunately also has to deal with several flaws. L’open world it’s really badly managed, le parkour sections they are frustrating and unfortunately history has very little to say. Despite these problems, however, the game is still very pleasantespecially thanks to the help of the excellent work of world building and the excellent art direction. In short, despite the obvious flaws, Atomic Heart remains a good game which will certainly be appreciated by all immersive sim lovers looking for something new.
Atomic Heart is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X | St. If you are interested in staying updated on all the news on the world of video games and much more, then continue to follow us here on TechGameWorld.com. Furthermore, in case you want to buy some games at an advantageous price, we suggest you take a look at the many offers on Kinguin.
Fascinating and fun
Plus points
- Very nice world building
- Fun gameplay
- Buon level design
- Artistically outstanding
Points against
- Trivial story
- frustrating parkour
- Poorly managed open world
- Some technical problem