Atomic Heart carries his BioShock Influences on his sleeve. Both games set first-person adventure mechanics in elaborate utopias gone awry. Both feature talkative, bombastic leaders who are determined to make their grandiose dreams a reality; Combat repertoires mix traditional weapons with in-game “magic” (instead of BioShock‘s plasmids or BioShock Infinite‘s Vigors, we have Atomic Heartpolymers); A confused, amnesiac main character has mysterious ties to this leader that form the core of the narrative.
But crucial Atomic Heart It fails to nail what made the BioShock series – divisive as it is – work: a sharp laser focus on a few central themes.
Rather than carefully weaving a textured dimension into its storyline and gameplay, Atomic Heart Developer Mundfish cast his net far. And in embracing so much, it held on to very little. This lack of focus, whether intentional or not, on careful narrative in favor of color bombs of set pieces results in a vague sketch of BioShock rather than a detailed reinterpretation. None of this is meant to mention his writing’s sidekick bleeding the waters of his world, or the incessant whining and unwarranted antagonism of its unlikable protagonist, all in a haphazard jumble of levels that needed more editing, not variety.
While my first impressions of the game were (and remain) very positive, and I recommend trying it out on Game Pass – just not buying it – I can’t help but be blown away by the consistency of the game’s inconsistencies. While the retro-Soviet “aesthetic” is in the foreground, this bombastic, beautiful opening theme is abandoned in favor of the occasional note. It’s more symphonic than solo.
This disease of diversity seeps into the bones of gameplay as well. While Atomic HeartThe approach is initially fun – jumping from areas full of plant zombies to rooms filled with giant monsters – it quickly feels like the designers took the kitchen sink approach. There is no connection between these parts of the world, and as a result, the game feels more like a patchwork, rather than several strong ideas that are gradually repeated in each successive level.
Crucial parts of the game take place in underground facilities – interesting, initially haunting, beautiful corridors – but when Mundfish pushed me inside Atomic Heart‘s Open World, I actually considered turning the game off.
In the game’s semi-open world, the murky depths of an empire’s fragmented weaknesses are abandoned in favor of a garish pastoral setting. The space is wide open and filled with security cameras and robots and machines doing more Robots when alerted by said surveillance cameras. Everything you’ve learned for hours will be abandoned – Atomic HeartThe open world of might as well be a different game altogether. Filled with robots that are endlessly repaired and swarms of bullet sponge enemies positioned at almost every corner, these open world areas are some of the worst designed spaces I’ve come across.
Aside from housing plenty of useful crafting materials, if you insist on proceeding I’d advise skipping the open world altogether. The game is stingy with ammo, which you’re better off saving for corridor fights and boss fights.
Finally, let me repeat: Atomic Heart‘s open-world robots respawn endlessly. I can’t understand this design choice or why it’s so at odds with your presence. Even FromSoftware games, famous for their world’s antagonism towards players, kill enemies semi-permanently.
But the open-world design makes the broader point clear: the game tries to do everything and therefore wins by almost nothing. BioShock had big beautiful rooms but didn’t bring such a design to the gameplay – there was no need to diversify its focus as it stuck to one theme and played it. Atomic Heart, in his attempt at complexity, spins a thousand plates and drops many. The developers should have taken a closer look BioShock, it would have stuck to its underground facilities and played carefully on its core theme. It would have turned a sometimes enjoyable game into a memorable one.