Everything we know about Atomic Heart

From the minds of Mundfish comes the highly anticipated First Person Action title of 2023. Freakish fleshies, rabid robots, and misshapen mutations await in this stunning display.

Let’s not waste any time. Here is everything we know about Atomic Heart.

A brief trip down memory lane

Surprisingly enough, Atomic Heart was slated to be a VR Game. Back in 2017 an announcement teaser was dropped, showcasing a post-event world littered with still fresh bodies, slightly decrepit buildings, and many many robots rampaging on their merry way. Overall the game at the time had a very Bioshock meets Cryostasis vibe. Being able to explore and fight in VR in this setting may have been an amazing venture.

However, it wasn’t meant to be. With little more coming out over the next few years, people were wondering where Atomic Heart had gone. Low and behold in 2021 during the Xbox-Bethesda Showcase at E3, a new trailer was dropped. This time with a more grounded flow that seemed to focus more on FPS movement and game-play without the floatiness of VR. As of now, there has been no statement on if the game will be ported to VR in the future.

I don’t want to set the world on fire

But what is Atomic Heart? An action FPS with RPG flavor, baked in a biomechanical crust and slathered in a beautifully designed world. Taking place in Facility 3826, the Soviet Union’s foremost scientific research hub in an alternate 1955, we are Major Sergei Nechayev. Nicknamed P-3, the Major is mentally unstable in various ways and has been sent to Facility 3826 to handle the problem.

That problem is linked to Polymer, a substance that is responsible for the technological advances that also links robot’s consciousnesses together. Something has gone terribly wrong, and it’s on P-3’s shoulders to find out what it is and fix it. With a device called “Thought” Polymer is able to be integrated into the human body to allow for all sorts of new and interesting effects, which will be very useful in staying alive against the robotic hive-mind.

Another great feature of Atomic Heart is its vibrant visuals. And I don’t just mean the colors in the visuals. From the trailers, the game shows so much personality in the movements and animations. The textures and visuals are jaw-dropping. I’ve never really seen movement in a first-person view that looked this natural. The attention to detail is stellar.

This is my Boomstick

As part of the first-person shooter aspect of the game, the guns look extremely well designed. They don’t look exactly like period piece weaponry. Rather if designs branched off due to changes in available tech, which works well in the game. The Polymer Glove that P-3 has is super unique and has a lot of micro animations and movements. With it you will be able to use various elemental types of attacks, including telekinesis to move and throw things around.

From what we’ve been able to see, there is a crafting system. Taking household items and breaking them down, or salvaging from fallen robots. Anything to build your way to better gear and more reliable survivability. I’m looking forward to looking more into this, as I am the biggest sucker for a crafting system in a game. You are also able to upgrade your weaponry through a mechanic called “cassettes”, allowing you to further improve a weapons ammo, range, or damage among other things. Quick time events make an appearance, keeping players on their toes at all times. And reports show that ammo is scarce, therefore encouraging stealth game-play and not going full Rambo.

What can we expect from Atomic Heart?

For better or for worse, there is more content at the end of Atomic Heart. The Atomic Pass, purchasable through the Gold and Premium versions of the game will include future DLC as well as other skins for certain things in the game. The game will feature four confirmed DLCs so far but not many details yet. Keep an eye out here in the future.

Atomic Heart releases on February 21, 2023 for the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows, and Day One release on Games Pass.