Atomic Heart Review – Missing More Than a Beat

By Anthony Doty Last updated Mar 17, 2023

Atomic Coronary heart on PS5

Online game advertising is all the time a hit-or-miss affair, and generally, issues simply get gamers hyped regardless of how lengthy the sport really takes to return out. Having made a splash again in 2018, Mundfish and Focus Leisure’s Atomic Coronary heart is lastly upon us, and whereas this first-person, motion roleplaying shooter has nearly all the time generated a buzz with its trailers and divulges, the actual deal is much less thrilling than that, delivering an expertise that’s harking back to many different titles, however by no means on the identical stage of polish.

Set in a dystopian world the place the Soviet Union has risen to immense energy and technological developments, it’s in all probability the setting and worldbuilding that’s the most fascinating side of Atomic Coronary heart. Gamers who’re into lore and historical past will discover a candy house as the principle character, Main P-3, who is commonly given extra context as to the occasions main as much as the twisted plot within the recreation, in addition to the long-running historical past of the nation and its relationship with know-how.

On the coronary heart of all of it is a particular substance, Polymer, which is used for a bunch of loopy purposes, together with letting the useless converse or giving P-3 entry to a wide range of powers. Then there’s additionally the neural community known as the Kollectiv, whose subsequent model was meant to usher in an age the place people may management their robotic helpers with their minds. Naturally, issues go haywire, and the aftermath brings unprecedented chaos with blood and gore.

Picture Supply: Focus Leisure by way of Twinfinite

Naturally, speaking concerning the story would contain loads of spoilers, which we’ll keep away from speaking about. However as a story for a online game, Atomic Coronary heart accommodates many twists and turns that can preserve you guessing more often than not. There are particular tropes that stay, however all in all, it stays a serviceable journey whose lore is actually extra fascinating than what’s being offered.

Gameplay-wise, Atomic Coronary heart may very well be finest described as a first-person shooter that makes melee a precedence, at the very least in the beginning, however the steadiness will probably be skewed as you progress alongside. Within the preliminary phases, weapons and ammo are at a premium, forcing gamers to rely extra on their melee and dodging expertise when going up towards harmful robots.

Associated: Atomic Heart Controversy, Explained on The Escapist

There’s a normal assault that’s fast, a heavy assault that may be charged for extra injury, and a fast dodge to get you out of fast hazard. Contemplating that early encounters usually throw humanoid robots at you which are simpler to deal with, the melee method works high quality. Issues then get considerably tougher because the numbers recreation goes towards you, forcing you to not simply dodge unblockable assaults that may knock you down, but in addition hazard from a number of fronts.

In a way, such fight will work higher exterior of a first-person perspective, for the reason that enemies often transfer at velocity and might be fairly a handful to maintain monitor of. Ought to you end up trapped in a nook, issues get infinitely worse as they wail on you and ship you to an premature dying. As Atomic Coronary heart is just not precisely beneficiant with autosaves and checkpoints, this might imply loads of misplaced progress if you happen to haven’t gotten to the telephone to save lots of your recreation.

Atomic Heart combat — Picture Supply: Focus Leisure by way of Twinfinite

As soon as firearms come into the combo, from pistols, assault rifles to experimental power weapons, then the fight enters one other part, the place melee turns into much less of a spotlight exterior of producing power for the corresponding weapons. The quantity of looting that may be performed in Atomic Coronary heart will preserve most gamers wholesome on the subject of ammo and different elements, and since stock area dictates a collection of favored weapons, it’s best to all the time have sufficient bullets to get rid of resistance, particularly in case you are a great shot from afar.

Exterior of enclosed arenas that pressure you to make use of all the abilities at your disposal, Atomic Coronary heart can overlook its personal fight methods to its detriment. Extra layers within the type of glove expertise, elemental injury, and most of the 94 totally different expertise that make up the talent tree in Atomic Coronary heart even have a lot potential. Any Polymer gamers acquire from defeated enemies or from the surroundings might be invested within the talent tree, with a bunch of character-enhancing passives alongside the extra energetic expertise reminiscent of Shok or Frostbite.

With solely two talent slots, making a call on which expertise to concentrate on might be arduous, however the lack of a penalty on the subject of respeccing makes experimentation in Atomic Coronary heart a pleasing endeavor. Maybe you could have a penchant for freezing and burning enemies on the identical time, or Mass Telekinesis is your jam, permitting you to stage the enjoying discipline when combating towards a number of enemies directly. There may be all the time a brand new mixture that may be discovered via making an attempt issues out, and that’s all the time a great factor.

Weapons can be augmented with elemental cartridges within the type of hearth, electrical energy, and ice enhancements, including extra utility to your melee and ranged weapons when coping with enemies of all types. The crafting system comes into play right here, not simply letting gamers improve their chosen weapons in several stats, but in addition making it attainable so as to add the cartridge part to play with hearth, ice, and electrical energy actually. The way in which sure upgrades are solely obtainable via difficult puzzle dungeons can be a pleasant contact, incentivizing the participant to exit of their manner in quest of extra energy.

Atomic Heart Skills — Picture Supply: Focus Leisure by way of Twinfinite

This seamless, open world of Atomic Coronary heart appears well-placed to entertain gamers for about 20 hours for its foremost story and a dozen extra on the subject of facet content material, however there are niggling points about it that continuously bugged me all through my journey within the twisted Soviet Union Facility 3826.

Apart from the wonky fight steadiness that doesn’t all the time let its most enjoyable components shine, the looting could be a actual ache. There’s a slight delay between urgent the button enter (R1) and the precise looting course of, and that may usually result in solely partially looted containers that may in any other case have helpful elements. And when you could have dozens of lootable objects mendacity round in an area, it often takes an excessive amount of time. Holding R1 is meant to do the looting routinely, however even with that quality-of-life contact, generally it simply doesn’t register the command in any respect.

There are additionally many sections within the recreation, significantly for facet dungeons, the place first-person platforming comes into play. Whereas there have been many instances of profitable implementation, Atomic Coronary heart veers extra on the much less ideally suited facet, with sluggish motion and imprecise detection that may trigger missed grabs and dying. Additionally it is not shocking to search out your self getting caught on sure geometry out within the open world.

Talking of which, the open areas of Facility 3826 are basically damaged up into small cities or areas that home a number of factors of curiosity. In between, there’s merely nothing a lot else to see, which makes it much less of a promoting level and extra of a hindrance, most notably while you should not have a car useful. These vehicles are additionally fairly brittle and haven’t benefitted from the technological developments made by the Soviet Union, so good luck making an attempt to mow down robots and nonetheless making an attempt to get to your goal in a well timed trend.

Exploring these areas additionally gives one other check of gamers’ endurance, with its community of cameras and alert ranges to work via. Any time you’re caught combating on digital camera, the alert ranges go up, and extra enemies get despatched to your location. It isn’t only a matter of killing every little thing both, as there’ll continuously be restore bots that deliver enemies again to life. You have to to remain alive, escape, and hope no different cameras spot you, left to rue the wasted ammo on enemies that are actually again, and plotting your subsequent transfer.

Atomic Heart dialogue — Picture Supply: Focus Leisure by way of Twinfinite

Maybe probably the most damning challenge about Atomic Coronary heart is the writing on the subject of the characters. Though the story beats are often well-developed sufficient to intrigue, the dialogue is a stark distinction. That is distinctly obvious for Main P-3 as the principle character via which gamers expertise the world via. Mundfish did advocate that gamers allow Russian dubbing as an alternative of the English monitor with subtitles, and this may very well be the explanation why past simply basic immersion.

Corny one-liners and edgy comebacks don’t precisely match the profile of an elite soldier from the Intelligence Service, and the identical goes for most of the different figures that gamers may come into contact with. The opposite offender is Nora, the machine that provides gamers upgrades for each gear and expertise. First launched as a harmful entity, it seems the true hazard lies in its overly aggressive sexual innuendos. Who knew upgrading weapons ought to include an audio warning? And since crafting issues require you to pick an merchandise to craft, watch it get made and offered by Nora, then leap again into the menu to do it yet again, it simply doesn’t make for an intuitive and fuss-free course of.

And naturally, the sport suffers from all types of bugs and glitches, from letting me fall via the world, enemies clipping partitions and teleporting to characters not responding to interactions. You must be comfy with dropping progress if you wish to see Atomic Coronary heart via to the top, which is saying loads.

There have been undoubtedly many issues that might have labored out for Atomic Coronary heart, particularly with its setting and the way in which it tries to inform a narrative of know-how and the way far we should always go together with it. Regardless of what’s a promising fight method in addition to the supporting methods behind it on the subject of expertise, crafting, and upgrades, there are additionally a number of equally irritating facets of it that maintain the sport again. The hope is that Mundfish is ready to repair a number of the extra obtrusive points post-launch, however proper now, it feels much less like a welcomed revolution and extra like a nuclear catastrophe.