Atomic Heart

Originally played atomic Heart on Game pass for PC when it was released and really enjoyed the world that the developers had created. The protagonist and the rest of the charters all have american accents which at first is slightly annoying considering the game is set in Russia but once you get use to it it's okay and of course if you want real Russian experience you can just change the dialog to Russian. I found the game play fun with a verity of weapons and abilities to fit different play styles, however i can understand why some people have said the combat is repetitive but that said combat is often broken up with different enemy types and problem solving areas.

In all i enjoyed this game enough on game pass to purchase it on steam, if you wait for a sale you can get a good deal on the gold edition that comes with all the DLC which will continue the alternative endings respectively.

Honestly just a worse prey. performance is dog shit to the point i had to get a mod for it. combat doesnt feel that great. constantly getting stuck on the environment. the puzzles are too much of a slough to get through. the different locks are an absolute annoyance especially the color ones and the color blind modes are the worst ive ever seen. the dialogue teeters from absolute stupidity to wtf are you even talking about. its just an annoying mess.

Man where do I begin......

There wasn't a single aspect of this game that I enjoyed. It is horribly flawed the whole way through. The story is crap, the character developemant is terrible. The level design is awful. The combat mechanics suck. It just a really terrible game. Also I find it hilarious that there are 4 DLC's available yet in the base game if you walk over the wrong piece of terrain you get stuck and have to go back to a previous save. And that's another thing that sucks about this game, the save mechanic. For the first 50-60% of the game save points are few and far between meaning if the game glitches out and forces you to reload it's going to come with having to redo at least 30 mins of work, and i say work because this game is just so much of a chore to get through.

It's just so clanky and unrefined for what is supposed to be a "finished" article. Lets not also forget that it's trying desperately hard to take the essence of Fallout, Cyberpunk, and Bioshock to the point where it feels phoned in. Like it doesn't actually have any of it's own unique quality.

This game is terrible, intentionally designed to string you along for 2 hours so you miss your refund window and because of my horrible experience I am putting the Dev on the same naughty list as EA, Ubisoft never to be touched again.

This game is not perfect but it's honestly a ton of fun. Especially on annihilation difficulty. I'm fan of the puzzles, the crafting and the loadout variety. The combat is also a ton of fun and includes some of my favourite boss battles ever. Also the fact that you can respec not only ability point but also upgrades easily is great. I don't really write reviews for games but I will for this one as I feel people are overly harsh on it.

Give the game a go, I really think you'll enjoy it

Still on a binge with this game, finished the story and definitely going into New Game + after I finish the DLC's, The OST's are F'N awesome and the Russian hard rock scratches an itch I thought I didn't have. Now the game-play can be tedious rarely but not nearly enough to shame it. Dont get me started on the Twins ;)

The game is really fun in the first linear part, but once you leave it gets kinda boring.
It's pointless to fight because the robots get infinitely repaired without the possibility to permamently destroy the repair drones, when you destroy one another pops out.
The seamless loading is terrible. If you explore and enter extra locations you need to take an elevator in and out, each taking about a minute.
The puzzles are fun but get kinda boring after a while, there are only two mechanics really. You make it so beams send colors the right way and magnetic puzzles.
I enjoyed the lockpicking and find it really creative. I advise to just google where the key is to Polygon 11 because there is no real indicator, the only way to get it is to really explore the nearby locations for some reason.
I understand the need to showcase the weapon the first time you craft it but if you dissasembly it and assembly again you have to watch the showcase again which is pretty annoying.
Possible loot sometimes isn't marked at all, enemies loot glitches trough walls, the loot isn't sometimes properly dismarked after you gather it.
The beginning is super boring. You first paddle on the stream for about 5 minutes, then have a bit of a walk, ride a 2 minute elevator up only to take one item an then ride back down and then take 10 minutes flying to your destination. ALL WITHOUT THE ABILITY TO SKIP.
The ending on the other hand is incredible, I really loved the twist.
It has bad and good sides. I recommend it if you have nothing else to play and it's on sale but otherwise it doesn't seem worth it.

Well worth playing. The art style and overall look of the game is epic. The game play is fun and well thought out. The story is good enough to stay interested and the DLC's are good fun if not a little gimmicky.
Over all I'd add this one to the replay list for sure!

The game achieves a couple of things:
- most unlikable main character in history if gaming
- dialogs more cringe than Borderlands 3
- claims to be a shooter but forces you into meele ~80% of the fights
- ranged weapons feel clunky, imprecise and weak
- first person jump sequences mixed with sluggish character movement and imprecise control
- best approach to the open segments is to skip past most of the content
- playing this game feels like going to work

Overall this achieves the reality of living in a communist "utopia" on a metaphorical level.

Dodge attack window is disgustingly short.
Lock-picking is unbearably awful.
Protagonist should have been mute.
1.6 hours is how long I could tolerate the frustration.

This game won't be for everyone.... but it sure as hell is for me.

I just came back to to replay it from scratch after playing through it shortly after the original release, and man, I forgot how much fun it can be. Don't get me wrong, theres a bunch about it that isn't great, but a ton more that IS. Did I get stuck between a door and an object twice? Yes. lol. Did I ever fall through the world? No. Will I? I would not be surprised.... The story is a little convoluted, and theres some logical inconsistencies, (but if I let that sort of thing scare me off, I never would have watched all of Buffy. And that woulda been a shame.) So yeah its a bit of a mixed bag, but the further you get into the game, the more fun it becomes. You get stronger, and you become fearless. And then something will show up that brings some of that fear back to you. Then you KNOW NO FEAR.... and then it happens again...

The thing that will put most people off early is reaching the surface for the first time and realizing its Robogeddon up there. You're scanning and trying to get around safely, but you're going to get into trouble. Then you're going to run for it, and you're going to make it worse lol. You're trying to suss out what each robot does and how to fight it but you can't stand around when you're outside, even after you flattened a bunch because a swarm of flying bastards are trying to rebuild them. But it doesn't take long to get a couple of abilities, and realize how easy it can actually be to control group fights. Before you know it, you're getting in to trouble on purpose. Your laughing your ass off as the mechanical fools run to their DOOM! You're lifting group in the air and smashing them to death, you got a melee weapon that flings a spinning blade easily knocking things out of the sky and taking the face off some mutant. You're freezing things solid and jamming the barrel of your shotgun into the weak spots and boring a hole in em. Meanwhile theirs Russian heavy metal blaring and corpses are being brought back from the dead while you reload all your guns, only to erupt into another room of pure violence!

And I love the Testing Grounds! It's like a janky cold war version of PORTAL. Each one a bizarre mix of logic puzzles and magnetic labyrinth's, utilising a decent (not perfect) platforming system. The jump combined with the dash makes most leaps pretty simple, similar to DOOM ETERNAL. The puzzles aren't too complicated, and some have more than one way to get past them. In return you get new additions to your weapons in the form of parts and upgrades, letting you rework a weapon into a completely new role. Decide you wish you'd tried another upgrade? Switch it, and it returns all your used materials. You are never punished with material loss for experimenting. Same with upgrading your own character. All the poly you spend is yours forever.

But mostly I think i just loved the look and feel of it all. I love the designs and the art. Some of the level design, specifically all the industrial facilities are awesome. The boss fights are put together well I think, they're always quite cinematic, and they do something that not alot of game devs do. They take a big giant metal monster, and they make them FAST AS HELL. The encounters really aren't very difficult, but when you first face the Hedgie and most others, they're ALL OVER YOU, they move SO FAST and are SO BIG that you find yourself constantly feeling like you need to be running as fast as you can in the other direction, and you're sure they’re going to get you any second. They do NOT lumber around with big elaborate swings to emphasize their size. They are spinning fuckin MURDER tops and it spikes your adrenaline the first go round. Then the next playthrough i killed the Hedgie so easily I wondered why past me was so worried about it lol. Still he's cool to watch, and it’s a fun fight in my opinion.

All in all its more than worth grabbing, Its on sale quite a bit these days, ($26 CAN as I'm writing this) and for that price, I think people need to take a chance on this and make up their own minds whether its fun for them.
(My second playthrough has completely reignited my need to drop robots on their big metal skulls. And as an FPS campaign oriented game, I would absolutely put it up on a list with favorites of mine. (some examples would be - DOOM - WOLFENSTEIN NEW ORDER - BIOSHOCK(s) - METRO(s) - HALF LIFE - PORTAL - PREY – RAGE – SHADOW WARRIOR - DISHONORED – SYSTEM SHOCK)

The game is great up until it isn't! You can't finish the main story line because it is broken! There hasn't been a repair for the failure and there are many complaints about the same thing.

Like many others have said, this wants to be a Russian Bioshock. It's just O.K. I spent the first few hours wanting to get outside. Once I was outside, I realized that it's just a ton of running around panicked while trying not to get swarmed by an insane number of enemies. No chance to look around and check stuff out. Just a blind run to the next checkpoint. So, I guess its kind of a Russian Bioshock meets Doom. And I hate it. I'm going to try it for a little while longer (I only have about 10 hours into it now) and then this will most likely join my list of games I wish I hadn't paid for. At least I got it on sale.

There is one thing really holding this game back: you cannot use all the DLC weapons and skills in the main game and vice versa. Please change that as it will give much more incentive to purchase the DLCs.

My wife made some delicious air fried snacks while watching me play this game and we have now officially dubbed them crispy critters.

Atomic Heart is a very enjoyable game, overall smooth combat, very intriguing and twisting story, and an awesome soundtrack. Immediate comparisons in my mind are a "Russian bioshock" in both combat and theme, but its definitely got its own identity as well. The world building in this game is very high quality and consistent for the most part.

The game has a surprising amount of depth between skills/upgrades, weapon customization, semi-open world segments to explore, and a large amount of dialogue that is actually pretty funny and interesting to listen to.

I was expecting a casual run through to experience the story but now I really want to try out the DLC's to see the rest.

My only issues with the game are the open world segments...constant patrols and so many alarm mechanics make it feel like a roided out Far Cry with no end to enemies, so its a bit of a slog to try and explore. After trying a few times I opted to just zoom to my objectives instead.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☑ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☑ Fast
☑ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☑ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☑ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☑ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☑ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☑ 9
☐ 10

🎮 Overall Rating: 9/10
✅ Pros:
✔ Incredible World-Building – The retro-futuristic Soviet setting is stunning, filled with immersive environments and breathtaking visuals. The art direction is a major highlight.
✔ Engaging Combat – The mix of melee, ranged weapons, and abilities (like telekinesis and shock) makes for dynamic and fun battles. Enemy AI is aggressive, keeping you on your toes.
✔ Deep Lore & Story – A mix of mystery, sci-fi, and dystopian themes keeps the narrative intriguing, with unexpected twists.
✔ Impressive Soundtrack – The music, composed by Mick Gordon (DOOM series), enhances the intensity of fights and exploration.
✔ Variety of Enemies & Bosses – Unique enemy designs and challenging boss fights make encounters thrilling.

❌ Cons:
❌ Weak Writing & Dialogue – Some lines feel awkward or forced, and the protagonist's attitude can be off-putting.
❌ Technical Issues – Occasional bugs, FPS drops, and performance hiccups, especially at launch.
❌ Pacing & Open-World Limitations – While the world looks great, exploration can feel empty at times, with too much backtracking.
❌ Stealth Feels Useless – Despite being an option, stealth mechanics are not well-developed compared to direct combat.

⚖ Final Verdict:
Atomic Heart delivers an unforgettable experience with its rich setting, intense combat, and unique world. While it has flaws in writing and some technical rough edges, the gameplay and atmosphere make it a must-play for FPS and immersive sim fans. If you enjoy games like Bioshock or DOOM, this one is worth picking up.

💡 Recommended? ✅ Yes, especially if you love story-driven shooters with deep lore.

I don't understand the weird hate this game gets in negative reviews. Bad story, bad combat, poor weapons? Dude, this shit rocks! All of that is untrue. The unique technosoviet environment, the responsive combat, the soundtrack, the voice acting--it's all phenomenal. This game is super duper cool, and I'm glad I picked it up after wishlisting for a year.

It can be a bit overwhelming in the beginning before you catch the flow.
But man the music, the weapons and atmosphere, it just feels great.

I could not grasp the steath mecanic if there was any nor the robot eco system but i could'nt care less when im smash soviet robots with a smile on my face.

I very much liked this game. It was fun to play. Until the game update for DLC 3. Now the game has a "Fatal Error" message pop up and force closes the game before I can get to the menu to change any settings. I would love to rate this as a recommend but I cannot since I can't play the game. I hope the developer issues a patch soon because I would like to put more time into the game.

If you can play games based mostly on the visuals, like me, this is a game for you
I think this game should've been 2 separate games, one being an horror/survival horror and the other an open world experience, since this game sips from theses two genres but doesn't do them very well
The game universe and the aesthetic are like 90% of the reasons I didn't drop it, and it's simply sad how much time you spend underground, having that beautiful world
Mechanics are not pleasant and I'll not elaborate

For a game who came out after 2020. This feels like it has a SOUL... For now (1.8h play time).

Not many games know how to make a proper introduction to their game and many fear of what people will think about the realistic vulgar dialogues, yet they made the game feel like it has a soul, because it looks like it was built with passion, without fear of being judged for their real life dialogue reproductions. No BS, just real human talk.

I prefer playing lesser known games because they tend to have great content and a SOUL given by the dev team, and this is one of the higher budget ones I've seen to clearly affirm a modern gaming experience.



Raytracing barely seem to make a difference except decreasing overall performance by 60%+. Performance is great without it (with some graphic optimization). i7-12700k, 32gbRAM, RTX3080 at 1440p avg 140-240fps.

Amazing game. This game combined everything I like: combat, exploration (in assumption that game is not open-world), puzzles and etc. Everything I listed is not ideal, but very good. Music and sounds are excelent, I was and will continue listen it. Art and graphics are stunning. Even optimization is well done, especially knowing that this is Unreal Engine 5. I will definetly recommend this game for all FPS lovers.

Underrated game

Story: 8/10 i think it is interesting, it obviously is not the best but IMHO it did a really good job with really good characters, i love there is a lot of dialoge in this game and conversations feel very natural, it is a shame that there is SO much dialoge that usually they cut each other. And one common critique is that the story is told you with spoon, it is obvious devs didnt want you to miss anything since there is a lot of dialoge, but i think it is not necessary to be so obvious when we already get it!

Gameplay is a solid 9/10: The weaponry is well animated and feels great and each weapon is very distinctive from each other, enemies are varied and fun, boss fights are really fun and I never got bored while playing

Visualy is an obvious 10/10 there is not much to say.

The "open world" is good but there is WAY too many enemies.

Music is a solid 9/10, they did an incredible job with the OST

And i personally found this game humour is quite funny.

Also the sexuality in this game is kind of off, they got out of hand with it, and I dont mean the 2 dolls or the horny machine which are fine, if u play the game youll understand what I mean, i think it is not that neccesary.

Havent tried the DLCs yet.

So very good game!

Firstly let me say... What sexual content? There is none so do NOT buy this game on that merit.

MAIN PROS
Great graphics with a good story, the combat mechanics are really good. Voice acting is decent if not a little cringe at times, but passable as a fully voiced dialog. Plays really well with no bugs of glitches.

MAIN CONS
Weapon uses are vague, it's more trial and error which sucks because upgrades are expensive. Both endings are crap, there is no gratification for the player either way which screams bad writing to me!

The game is fine overall BUT it has the best OST i've ever heard in a game. I cant get over the theater performance song

Atomic Heart can be described as a budget version of Cyberpunk 2077 – the atmosphere is definitely there, but the limitations of the developers in terms of budget and storytelling are clearly visible. On top of that, the game got caught up in political controversies, which led to harsher reviews from critics. As a result, it lost many potential players and, with them, a significant part of its potential profit.

Despite this, Atomic Heart is a game full of contrasts, where its strong points make up for some of its flaws. One of the biggest drawbacks is the lack of teleportation and a limited open world that doesn’t encourage exploration due to the absence of side quests or extra elements to discover. The main missions are rather simple and lead the player by the hand, but this is balanced by challenging logic puzzles. These puzzles can be frustrating at times, but solving them is very satisfying.

A big advantage of the game is its unique style, set in an alternate Soviet reality. Both the machines and the cities shown in cutscenes impress with their detailed design, creating a very atmospheric world. Unfortunately, other locations, where players spend most of their time, feel empty and generic, lacking any special features to stand out. Another highlight is the excellent Polish localization, which was a very pleasant surprise and significantly improved my experience.

The developers are also actively supporting the game by regularly adding new expansions, which expand the world of Atomic Heart and provide additional hours of gameplay. Despite its flaws, the game is an interesting experience that’s definitely worth checking out.

After all the rumors that accompanied the game before its release that it was not really there because the trailers were too good, in the end everything turned out to be true - the game turned out great. Setting, style, music, graphics, locations, cutscenes, monsters, plot, dialogues, lore, humor, shooting and game mechanics. It has everything, from good to excellent. Some mix of Bioshock/Half-Life/Wolfenstein.

A must-have for those born in the USSR. Ebuchie pirogi!

p.s. I also grabbed it on sale for 20 bucks. IMBA.

Just finished Atomic Heart (except DLC, looking forward to that) ... man, what a game. So misunderstood. Yeah it's a bit janky and unfinished* in some ways, but it's super creative, visually stunning, and so satisfying to play. I usually don't like fighting robots OR zombies, but these ones are a blast. Gunplay and melee both feel great thanks to visual and auditory feedback. The sound in general is amazing, as well as the MUSIC. First soundtrack I've ever listened to outside of a game, besides Donkey Kong Country.

Hilarious to me that people denounced it as 'communist propaganda' when it is very anti-communist. And the main character is SUPPOSED to be a cringey macho action hero, based on the story. Besides, what's up with gamers expecting all characters to be "likeable?" Haven't they watched, like... Always Sunny? The writing does get repetitive towards the end if you've been reading all the terminals and 'chirpers'... but they needed to make sure the beeliners understood the story, too.

*To clarify "janky and unfinished" ...
1) Overlapping/interruptable dialogue (can often be avoided by standing still whenever dialogue starts so you don't trigger the next lines).
2) Getting stuck on terrain and/or blocked by things you should realistically be able to climb over or slip past. I hope the next game has more fluid and open-ended movement in general.
3) Fair bit of 'sameyness' to the level design, despite some incredible themes and set pieces. Obviously the open world was unfinished but I didn't mind that as much as others.

My main complaint is the game was much too easy on the highest difficulty if you've been upgrading things, collecting resources, and know how to dash (I LOVE the dash though). I'm sure you could make it even easier by spamming abilities and using heavy weapons, but I did not. I tried to challenge myself by focusing mainly on charged melee attacks and the 3-shot pistol. Didn't use any of the elemental weapon modifiers, grenade launcher etc. Also limited myself to the small healing items. Ended up with dozens of medium and large ones in my inventory at the end of the game. Tons of ammo leftover, too. Never had to craft anything. Did my best to make it hard to no avail. Wish I could play it more like an FPS soulslike ... the i-frame dash gets you nearly there.

Some might complain about the save system but I love that it encourages you to take your mistakes in stride. Unlike Bioshock and Prey where you can find yourself save scumming to phony perfection.

Altogether a worthy successor to Bioshock and Prey (2017). I just played both of those last year, so I can make a fresh comparison. Really hope the developers get to make more games, and have a bit more time/resources to polish them up.

This challenging and engaging game offers both fun and depth. Despite years of experience with shooters since the original Doom, I'm no expert-but I appreciate a well designed, visually stunning experience.

Overall I enjoyed Atomic Hearts, even if my first run was on Armageddon. Story was pretty decent, as were the set pieces and overall combat. Enemies can be a bit spongy at times, and while I was initially a bit annoyed with all the “Crispy Critters” being mentioned, eventually warmed up to it. Overall, great game with a banger soundtrack. I'm am looking forward to see what they do next in the sequel.

wonderful RUS Bioshock look like FPS game with stunning graphics ,graet progretion but meh story and waired characher design ,annoying nockback by animes all the time .

I appreciate that Atomic Heart is an ambitious indie project, and it’s clear that the developers put a lot of effort into its creation. However, the game is held back by noticeable issues, including translation errors and technical limitations, which detract from the overall experience.

While I wanted to enjoy the game, I found it difficult to stay motivated. The gameplay often felt like a chore, and I pushed through primarily in the hope that the narrative would improve and redeem the experience. Unfortunately, even the story failed to fully deliver, leaving me feeling underwhelmed by the time I reached the end.

Despite its flaws, the game deserves credit for its creativity and ambition, but ultimately, it fell short of my expectations and left me feeling more inconvenienced than entertained.

Pros:

-Striking visual design and art direction
-Atmospheric setting reminiscent of Dishonored

Cons:

-Gameplay becomes repetitive after the initial hours
-First-person combat mechanics feel awkward and imprecise
-Dialogues are cheesy and lack depth
-Puzzles feel more tedious than rewarding

Initial Impressions:

I tried the demo for Atomic Heart and was immediately impressed by its stunning opening sequence and immersive atmosphere, which reminded me of Dishonored’s blend of retro-futuristic style and grand world-building. The demo left such a strong impression that I decided to purchase the full game right away.

Gameplay & Mechanics:

Unfortunately, after about four hours, the experience started feeling repetitive. While the first-person perspective works well for exploration, it felt clunky during high-intensity maneuvers—particularly the 360-degree spinning attack, which never quite clicked.

Story & Dialogue:

One of the biggest letdowns was the dialogue. The writing often came across as cheesy, with characters speaking abruptly—as if they were just filling space rather than pushing the story or character development forward.

Puzzles:

By the eight-hour mark, the game introduced more puzzles, but they felt neither satisfying nor rewarding. They came off as time-consuming diversions rather than meaningful challenges. These sections only added to my growing frustration.

Overall Experience:

Ultimately, I uninstalled the game. Despite its gorgeous visuals and intriguing premise, Atomic Heart didn’t hold my interest due to repetitive gameplay, awkward combat mechanics, and lackluster writing. While some players may find the setting and style appealing enough to push through, it fell short of expectations for me.

A genre-bender that really toes the line between whether you're aiding the foundation of a dystopia or saving the collapse of a utopia, with your character P-3 smacked down into the middle of it all (who has limited memory might I add). Though not always immediately clear, Atomic Heart will explain both the world and P-3's story in ways that will confuse and excite.
The game makes it clear you're important, but to what degree requires some investigation. The lore that Mundfish was able to create in this game is incredible with plenty of terminals to be read and side conversations to be had with corpses (you'll understand) to help explain the unique and curious world P-3 lives in, and in many ways that he's also trying to understand.
I was unaware of this game and its hype before playing it so I cannot relate to what those who are disappointed in the title have to say about not fulfilling its promises- however, perhaps there is truth in that and I am ignorant to it. That being said though, this is one of my favorite, and certainly one of the most unique titles, I have played in recent memory.
I also want to commend Mundfish for their commitment to regular DLC. This game came out years ago and we still have one more promised DLC to be released. Not only that, but the DLC are priced extremely reasonably compared to similar on the market. I paid $9 for DLC in the early 2010's, doing it in 2025 is a huge deal to the player base. Even with the flop of "Trapped in Limbo" the DLCs as a whole remain well worth the investment for just the story alone.
I think this title will go on to be understood and appreciated more in time, even though it has been received quite well already. The score, lore, combat, and even the oft-criticized VA were all important to making this a truly enjoyable experience in my opinion.
And as always..."Crispy Critters!"

This is one of the best looking, worst feeling games I have ever played. There is not a single thing in this game that feels satisfying or fun to do. The waste of potential here is like nothing I've ever seen. Some game designers truly live on a different planet than the rest of us...

My favorite game. I love the story and visuals, and the combat is peak. 10/10 even at full price

The game is strange and long. Is it a corridor shooter? Open world? Immersive sim? Doesn't really seem to settle on either one. It offers very unique sights and should be fun for those that like Bioshock. Be aware that the robots regenerate and you're always on the run. Not many like that kind of gameplay.

Its a good game, open world feels very limited lots of puzzles, and i wouldnt reccommend at full price maybe on sale.

Really enjoyed this as it ticked my urge for a fresh Bioshock/Prey style game and done it for the most part really well.

Visuals and Sounds are amazing. However, the combat was a bit of pain at times and felt janky. The aiming down sights on controller is like skating on ice whilst injecting adrenaline. There's no real way to adjust this separately so I'd recommend you put aim assist and autoaim on so it snaps to the enemies (doesn't do it for weak spots on bosses etc so it can be hard) you do get used to it to some degree but it's really difficult for fast moving enemies (there are abilities and guns that make this super easy but I don't want to spoil that!)

With the above. My character would get stuck on things a lot which thankfully I could always get out of and the jump being weirdly inconsistent - I had a great time!

Some people will get frustrated with the testing grounds puzzles (side quests) but I found them fun and engaging. Also helps that you get amazing weapon upgrades for doing them!

Overall I'd give it a solid 8/10. I've played the DLC's up to #3 too so this takes that into account (I hated the Limbo DLC, just wasn't my thing)

This is one of those tough recommends. The game definitely has some interesting and enjoyable elements. But it also has some serious issues.

The world is super interesting to explore, and some of the enemy designs are downright inspired. The optional "dungeons" are a particular highlight. Combat is also pretty fluid and satisfying. But then you get to the rest of the game.

This is some of the worst writing I've ever experienced in a game. People complained about the "cringe" writing in Forspoken and Saints Row, but those games had award-winning writing compared to this game.

The "twists", and I use that term very generously, in this game are so blatant and predictable. One character literally tells you about the ending betrayal before it happens.

And the characters, my god. They feel like they were written by someone who's never interacted with a human being before. The player character being the absolute worst of them all. And if your main character is the worst one, you've completely failed. His god awful catchphrase has been seared into my mind.

Get this game on a very deep discount, put on something in the background with actual writing, and play this purely for the world and combat.

The retro futuristic style is absolutely stunning. The story is good and I really enjoy the gameplay

What a game. The story, environment, and world building has been a breath of fresh air. This game has brought back the wonder, curiosity, and mental engagement that has been lost to me since I moved past childhood. Oh and the creativity taken with the DLC's (chefs kiss) I'm excited for DLC 4 and for the future of Mundfish. To the developers, thank you.

An excellent game that wears it's bioshock inspiration on it's sleeve proudly!

If you enjoyed Bioshock, Prey, or System Shock, then this is certainly a game for you. The few platforming moments can be rough in some spots, but the combat is fun and the world building is fantastic. The devs clearly care about the setting and the story, don't take themselves too seriously, and I'm looking forward to seeing more from them : D

This is a strange game to review. If you are inpatient and want fast paced action and comprehensible story, this game is not for you.

If you don't mind a dreadfully slow start and borderline incomprehensible story (Until things start to click), the game starts to open up and become super fun once you unlock some weapon upgrades, and powers.

Year later after release - still buggy as hell, in 8 hours of gaming managed to get stuck in corners, ledgers and boxes at least 6 times, had to reload every time. Voice acting is horrible. Music is good though.

crispy critters, hell of a game. Polished, good story, excelent visuals.

Story 7.5/10
Side Quests 6/10
Graphics 8.5/10
Gameplay 8.5/10
Immersion 9/10
Atmosphere 8.5/10
Fun 8/10
Music 9/10
Sound 8.5/10
Voice Acting 7.5/10
Perks & Skill Tree 8/10
Animation 7.5/10
Puzzle 6.5/10
AI 8/10

Overall 8/10

I enjoyed it all. Outside, inside, boss fights, story, crafting, looting, close/range combat, even the save system ..... great game.

Not recommended unless its on sale for under $10. Even then you might regret spending your time on this game b/c as so many others have mentioned there are probably more negatives than positives to the game play in Atomic Heart.

The main positive is the concept and initial world building. In the first few minutes I was hooked after seeing everything that had been created in this alternate Soviet forward world. Honestly its all been downhill from there at the point i'm at in the game... This game reminds me of a fantastic pilot episode of a new tv show that perhaps took a while to get picked up or for some other reason lost the creative lead between the pilot and the rest of the first season being created. So much is promised initially only for the rest to follow a well-defined, overly used plot line. If they had simply made this game about advancing the futuristic society instead of its downfall this game would have been a Fallout level success. Instead its a game you probably found b/c its on sale on Steam...

Aside from disappointing plot, others have outlined the clunky movement and combat systems. For some reason turning left i tend to have a studder step every so often that feels like my controller disconnected or is just barely in range and about to disconnect (its always less than 3 feet from my pc and has a battery charging stand it rests on when not in my hand). I thought it was my PC dropping frames but the reviews here confirmed its a game problem not a me problem. Also its only clear what you need to do about 2/3 of the time so expect to be googling stuff a lot.

Finally, I found the 'easy mode' to be almost identical to normal for bosses. This is a complaint i don't expect most others to understand but i'm sure i'm not the only one who doesn't want to spend a full session defeating a boss just b/c its a boss rather than advancing the story. To me boss fights that change the rules of all other fights are lazy development and not something i care to waste my time on. Also there is no 'story mode' which again seems like laziness and a way to not sell games.

I doubt i will get to 20 hours played in this game..

This is one of the best games I have played that tied the music to whatever is happening. The developers, and musicians, did a fucking amazing job in combining both gameplay and music. When hoards of monsters attacked you and the music turned up a notch it got me PUMPED.

Also visually very pleasant. The robot twins are strangely hot. Love em