Atomic Heart

The game looks visually great...and that is about all it offers in my opinion. The writing is corny to the point of it being embarrassing, the plot was very intriguing in the beginning of the game and then went a million different places and ended up having an extremely below average ending. I was bored and unimpressed 90% of the time and could not wait to finish this. Such a bummer because I was really looking forward to playing this and even spent $60 to do so. A waste of money and time. I do not recommend.

Man, I'm kind of sad about this game. I expected something a bit more engaging and less frustrating, but it really felt a lot different than I was expecting. I had pretty high hopes here.

The beginning of the game really pulled me in. The art and graphics are incredible... huge shout out to the art team, because they nailed it. The premise of the story seemed pretty good at first too! I started to feel some bioshock vibes, but after exiting the first lab area, things really just got annoying. I gave this one an honest try and kept pushing on, but playing the game is just cumbersome.

First off, this game is a puzzle game first and foremost. Combat definitely takes a back seat to the puzzles. This wouldn't bother me if the puzzles were interesting, but they're really not. A lot of the recycled puzzles where you're rotating a floor or room are just time sinks. It takes longer to get the puzzle set up than to just move through it. Half the time, there is some weird gap in the flooring that doesn't feel like it was meant to be where you fall down. It's not hard to solve, it's just annoying.

The nail in the coffin for me was getting stuck for the 5th time in 10 hours and not being able to get unstuck. The way the save system works, it doesn't necessarily set you back far, but I was set back before one of the aforementioned crappy puzzles several times due to getting stuck on ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. Climbable walls, stairs, hand rails... you name it, I got stuck on it. Most of the time, I could dash my way out, but several times, I simply had to reload a save. Not to mention the climbing is janky as can be.

Combat doesn't feel fun and snappy like Cyberpunk. Everything works, it's not terrible, but it's just not fun. Everything feels slow and clunky, and even when you get better, everything still feels like a chore. I feel like I was missing something and I probably am, but this seems like a common critique. Then, add on the fact that in the open world, enemies constantly get healed and respawned by the flying robots that you just feel like engaging the enemy is the worst way to play. You get swarmed and the more you kill, the more just respawn and overrun you. The beginning of the game before this happens is literally the best part.

Main character is pretty cringy. Feels like a millennial edge lord wrote everything thinking "yeah what would sound the most BADASS for this guy to say while also making people laugh?" It just falls flat so much. The humor doesn't stick the landing and everything feels forced.

Lastly, the dreaded open world scanning mechanic is here as well. Can't stand it anymore. I don't like viewing a game with such great artwork through the lens of a scanner looking for items or objectives I need.

Could be worse for sure... I wouldn't have continued if it weren't for the art and environmental design, but frustration with everything else got the better of me. May pick it up later, but if I do, I'll follow a guide and try to find an OP build to breeze through it.

Honestly the combat feels pretty clunky so far but the worst part for me is the amount of time this game takes to get started. They basically recreated and extended the start of Bio shock infinite and gave you less ability to do anything. To wait for an elevator, to watch a minute of dialogue to then immediately get back in the elevator. Only to be rewarded with another 10 minute slow ship ride where you're trapped watching again before 5 minutes of actually playing followed by another multi-minute cut scene.

I opened this up hoping to play a game and barely had any playtime after over an hour.

I'm all for some scripted content but dang it's really frustrating to be force fed 45 minutes of video that basically amounts to "robots and drones exist in Russia, they will definitely not turn against the main character at all, especially with the neural integration"

Game is fun, story wise base game the dialogue is too fast for me to understand and it's confusing at best but the exploration and the combat is fun. It's not much of a Bioshock infinite levels but it's still has it's good strong points and I love the other DLCs tho. You can see the improvements when it comes to story lines and the 3rd DLC made up with the confusing plot of the base game. She's not annoying nor boring to have as a left hand partner.

The problem with this if you're into the story you need to get all 4 DLCs if you want to understand the whole game but gameplay wise, it's alright.

I'm so cooked the game is literally Bioshock + Half Life + METRO + Generation Zero + Dead Island 2,The twins might make you squirt your neuropolymer,so beware.

the main character is just so hard to understand and relate with. And the conversations in general....it all just feels so boring. Its like a colorful piece of art without any real meaning behind it. which is a shame because the lore couldve been insane

I first tried the demo of this game and at first saw a great game reminiscent of Bioshock that convinced me to purchase the full game.

Played the base game and the 3 DLC's released at time of writing. This is a beautiful looking game, lovely environments, interesting characters with an great story on alternate history.
However, this is a first person shooter with role playing elements. The combat with the mostly robotic enemies and few organic ones was at first I found unique. But you quickly see this combat system is the games weakest points. Weapons for the most part are unsatisfying and mostly feel incredibly weak. Most weapons have a secondary fire mode that do actually perform well in combat but the ammunition for these are extremely limited.
While the design of the enemies is inventive and stylish, they are all frustrating to fight because all enemies have an instant take down move causing you to knock back and fall. This always broke the flow of combat and allowed enemies to swarm you, sometimes even into corners where unless you have an area of effect weapon reason would always result in death as you can't move. Another problem with the combat is the lack of feedback to the player on when they are taking damage and at times when you are giving it out. I was constantly near death in combat as I didn't know the enemy hit me when it looked like they missed. Also missing some sort of sprite or other visual feedback for some enemies when shooting them at range would have been nice to see if I'm hitting the target. This was realised a lot when fighting enemies at different elevations, ground and air. Not being able to engage both ground and air targets at once without the feedback made combat at many times seem unfair, and sometimes not fun.
In the open world parts of the game the enemies respawn explained in story of the robots repair and recycle including security cameras that in game are also just robots. This was a constant part of frustration as you could never clear and area and enjoy the game, you always had to be on your guard or Lab Assistant will run up behind you because Pchela's are always spawning to respawn them. The ability to destroy the Pchela spawn points would have been a simple fix in my view as it would give the player a sense of success and progression.
Then there is the boss fights. These fights feel more like boss fights you see in a Dark Souls game rather than a first person shooter, learning patterns and needing precise timing to evade attacks. These fights is where the other issues I previously mentioned are fully realised, including another mechanic, the dash. This dash is incredibly underwhelming and doesn't move the player far enough to evade most attacks unless done perfectly. I died many times in a boss fight because I couldn't evade their attack that is only avoidable with the dash if timed perfectly. In FPS normal movement if done with enough time should have allowed the player to avoid an attack, the dash should complement the players movement, not replace it. Some enemies only showed a weak spot to shoot at certain intervals, some didn't and without that feedback to the player I had to watch the boss health bar to know if I was hitting it correctly.

In closing, a good game on the verge of being great. With great ideas that could be refined into something spectacular.

If your looking for a game with not enough NPCs and to many overall details, it be this. Combat is fun, but I don't recommend the game for it has story driven nonsense at every angle. Using power ups, abilities, guns, and melee weapons, are do-able, however I don't like the setting of which all the action and story line takes place. What makes up for it are the voice-lines but I think that was always a good start here. Design for this one has confidence written all over it and into the design I think was planned without to much artistic intent.
The main character doesn't sound like what the cover design portrays his image to seem. The persona is more heavy handed within context and it's confusing because I don't know who's in the backdrop talking.

i feel like this game is worth every penny, i originally had this game on my Xbox but i decided to buy it on my PC and its x10 better you just need a slightly beefy PC to run it good

the MAIN reason we bought this game lads. Is for the STORY! yes! of course, THAT'S the MAIN SELLING point of this game!!

Really good art design, fun combat encounters, excellent music, and a lot of personality in this one. Play it.

DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_HUNG

Almost 5 hrs in and I can"t progress because it keeps crashing. devs are more obsessed with the meme of the "twins" than making the game playable. don't get it.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

DO

NOT

BUY

A subpar Bioshock wannabe. It's alright for a shoot em-up but has many failings. The fighting part has one big map where units re-spawn. The story is cliche and the 'twist' just annoys the hell out of me. I didn't like a single chracter the whole game expect the granny and the upgrade machine, everyone else was just sooo boring and forced. There wasn't a single satisfactory boss battle. 5/10 game.

Good game I enjoyed it! The gameplay is fun and full of engaging combat mechanics.
The bosses are alright easy to kill but still fun to fight.
The dialogues are great there's a lot of lore to listen to and enjoy.
The main character has a likable personality.
There’s some comedy here and there especially in the DLC.
I really enjoyed the music it's something else!
The atmosphere is great with lots of art and cool details scattered throughout.
The difficulty is suited for casual players so you can relax and enjoy the game.
There are a lot of different enemies that make you change your fighting style.

Negatives:
There are some glitches that ruined the game for me I had to reload the save file too many times.
Toward the end the story becomes boring and fragile Too many dumb things happen and I really hated the direction it went in.

Overall it's a good game I’d give it an 8 out of 10

I rarely feel moved to comment--negative or positive--on most games, but this is an exception. It's not a bad game, I'd give it 3.5 stars (not great, not terrible).

First the good. The setting is compelling, if a bit underbaked. It's basically Fallout if the Soviets were the focus instead of the United States, and has definite shades of Bioshock as well, including the basic contours of the plot. But unfortunately, the gameplay leaves a lot to be desired. The guns do not do enough to distinguish one from another, which is a shame because the enemies are bullet sponges. The game encourages stealth, but the stealth is gruelingly slow, not that running is any faster since there is no sprint. Combat feels like slugging through molasses and the player's hit box is janky so sometimes it will visually seem that a hit misses you by a mile, only to put you on your butt. Much has been said about the infinite respawning robots of the over-world, so I won't bother harping on that other than to say that yes it really is as bad as other have said. Even worse are the numerous bugs that will force you to reload to progress--something that itself is frustrating as the game uses save rooms instead of free saving. The main character is also annoying, providing sarcastic quips that are almost as bad as listening to Duke Nukem but without any of the comedic charm. Finally, despite being set in the Soviet Union (in what is now Kazakhstan), all of the characters have either English, Scottish (oddly), American, or faux-German accents, which really pulls you out of any immersion the game might have.

Atomic Heart reminds me of the late 2000s game "Turning Point: Fall of Freedom" in that it has a compelling setting that begs further exploration, but is hampered by poor gameplay, a mediocre story, and an annoying main character. If you have plenty of time and patience, maybe it will be worth it to you. But if you're an adult with limited gaming time, maybe skip this one and try something that will be more worth your time.

Great looking game, decent story (didn't care for the endings though), but some bugs that were pretty annoying. One was that some of the collectible pocket watch collectibles were inaccessible. Luckily you could work around it because collecting an earlier one in a fresh game would count towards your total. The other was that sometimes your icon on the map would disappear and you'd be flying blind trying to get from one point to another. There may have been more, but for what its worth my playthrough was a few years ago now and these may have been fixed.

This game may not be for everyone but personally I really enjoyed it.

The things I liked:
- The visuals are absolutely breathtaking and the game runs great.
- The combat is very enjoyable, especially once you get some better weapons/upgrades and powers for your glove.
- The voice acting isn't bad but there are some very gimmicky lines here and there.
- I personally thought the music was incredible
- Fun bosses (got more to explain in next section)

Some things to consider:
- I've heard some mixed things on the boss fights. I personally found them enjoyable, but there are some things to consider. Some of the bosses can be exploited quite easily, but on the other hand, some of the bosses do catch you completely off guard if you don't prepare for them in advance. One boss in particular is completely resistant to gunfire so you have to use melee weapons to hurt it, so if you still have the fire ax from the beginning you will be in a world of hurt fighting it (I learned that the hard way). Just keep getting/upgrading weapons often and stay stocked and you'll be fine.
- There are quite a few bugs in the game that can be rather frustrating
- The story is great but it is rather bizarre. I still don't know what to think of the ending...

Honestly its a very unique and very enjoyable game. There are a lot of very small details that the creators put into the game that just really gives it such a unique feel.

It's average as an fps and doesn't bring anything new to the genre. A bit too easy too, even on the highest difficulty it felt like a breeze. World design is this games greatest strength and I enjoyed the settings. Good story concept but not too good of an execution in my opinion. Dialogues felt way off in some areas and characters really stupid so I had to just skip some of it cause it became unbearable. Some puzzles were a little bit off too so that's another area for improvement. RTX implementation is pretty bad cause of stuttering and limitation to RT reflections and RT ambient occlusion so hopefully they do a better job in the next entry and also introduce full ray tracing with NVIDIA's help. Ending definitely left me hanging so it will be interesting to see what happens next and how it improves on the first games flaws. Overall I wouldn't recommend it... there are better games to play and enjoy.

Bioshock franchise of games and story is propably one of my most favorite games alongside Metal gear solid, Half Life etc. And this game is so good at what its trying to do. This game is heavilly inspired by Bioshock which can be felt throught the game and the atmophere alongside the gameplay. And i fucking loved every second of it. (Even tho later on if you are like me playing everything, the gameplay can get stale and a bit boring).

The Story might be the weakest part of the game, its kinda confusing and open ended (because of the DLCs that gonna wrap up the story).

But besides that, the Music is phenomenal, its the traditional russian music mixed with electro/house music and it slaps so hard, mainly when you are fighting hordes of enemies or bosses.

The gameplay itself is fast, fun and satisfying, yes you can feel some jank but i dont mind.

Another weak aspect would be the "open world" but its not that big of a deal and i actually enjoyed exploring the facility.

As for the DLCs, First one is actually my favorite, its super fun, best melee weapon and power of slowing time and the story is fun with NORA. Second DLC is actually pretty good even tho the Surf is fun but the climbing fucking sucks. And the third one is the most polished one and propably the best one in many people hearts but for me it was rather mediocre, the weapons meh, the powers meh, bosses were unballanced but the setting was phenomenal.

Long story short: Russian Bioshock.

Some devs overseas have decided to try emulating the plot, setting, and gameplay of Bioshock.
And they did a pretty damn good job. The overall pacing of the game is a bit too fast for my liking, but the combat is smooth and creative. Choosing which weapons, abilities, and elements to use, and how to mix them, is vital to survival.
They were trying too hard to set up for a sequel, and thus the ending is rather substandard. But... I would definitely want to try the sequel they seem to want to make.

The use of humor is a bit thick, but the game had me giggling.
Al in all, I have to say this was a great game.

The bad news is, the game uses QTE's. QTE's need to die in a fire. Fortunately, they can be turned off entirely.

Maybe my mind will change here, but as of right now, I spent money on this and haven't wanted to touch it since. I was playing and trudging along (spent hours stuck in a limbo of combat), thinking it will certainly get better eventually. Alas, no. I just could not get over how janky it is. I don't know if it was trying to do or be too many things at once, but there's a lot of QoL that's lacking and cheapens the experience. It's also wildly repetitive. It's fun to kill robots for a little while, but the decision to keep them repairing continuously, non-stop, and then letting the player know that sometimes it's better to not engage - what other option is there? There is no stealth. You cannot annihilate an area for some peace, because the repair bots are there before you even finished off the enemies. You fight, or you run until you are inundated with 50 enemies on you. You get mere seconds to enjoy the atmosphere and the cool world they built. There were definitely better ways to do this without making it feel like a never-ending nightmare. I just expected a cleaner experience with invigorating gameplay, driven by a story. The "dungeons"/bunkers for upgrades are tedious and so much of what you're doing, you'll do 10 more times in the next area. I love the idea of the world this is set in, I love the concept, and I love the look. Everything's really cool in that regard, but you get dropped in and feel like you must have missed something right out of the gate. Heck, the path forward 90% of the time involves jumping or dropping or maneuvering to an area that looks like it would be out of bounds, off limits, or not the intended pathway forward. Good games gently guide the player along a path, while finding ways to nudge them back to the correct path if they seem lost or are not progressing. Something like a companion or NPC making a radio call after 5 minutes reminding your objective, the player character remarking on what seems to be the way around an obstacle, or even some debris falling or something in the environment to help force a player to look at and consider a certain direction. If you play Atomic Heart, you'll see exactly what I mean. It's not about hand-holding, no one's asking for that. It's about game design. I intend to finish the game some day, and maybe my mind will change when I do, but as of right now, I haven't wanted to bother. TLDR; a great vision not fully realized. It works in some areas while under-serving anything but repetitive combat in most others. It sometimes feels as though one game was being developed, then scrapped for another while keeping a majority of the components of the original vision.

Concept is good, game is pretty fun to play and it runs relatively smoothly, but....

-Constant crashes
-UE4

Another Day In Soviet Robo Disneyland Paradise

Final Score 84/100 Ranking B Tier

I'll say it briefly, the game is good, even very good, but I didn't like it at all because I couldn't find my way in the atmosphere of the game and the world that the game presents. However, despite this, I rate the game positively because it is really well made and what's important is interesting because it has its own unique atmosphere and that's what's great about this game.

I wanted to like Atomic Heart, but I just really didn't after more than 15 hours. The visuals are snappy, and some of the ideas that have a spin on heavy Bioshock influence are good, but the execution just isn't there. There's an overabundance of humor which ultimately causes your protagonist to come off as unlikable as it's very heavy-handed.

The gameplay loop overstays its welcome as well. They use a "collect all the things" method of blocking progress multiple times, and it turns into a slog. It even gets to the point where your character even mentions it. If the character is bored and annoyed by the loop, the player will be too.

The other sticking point are the weapons that simply don't feel weighty. Nothing, not even the rocket launcher has much impact so the combat comes across as plain and unexciting. Wish I liked it, but just couldn't do it.

if fallout and bioshock had a son this is the game that mix with both of those games and it is a russian fallout bioshock video game

Can't believe i slept on this Crispy Critter for so long!

The open world is ass, and the bosses (even the final pair) could have deffo been more challenging, but the vibe, the style and the world-building are wonderful. i came in going "meh, cool deadspace/prey clone" and left with so much more.


i agree the protagonist leaves quite a bit to be desired, but his headbangingly obnoxious naivete makes sense later.
the backstory and whole end of the game did feel a bit rushed, i still have a bit of narrative whiplash. the last hour should have been a bit more stretched. final plot twist and ending were top notch, would love an epilogue, even a fallout style post ending summary of the brave new world under the "jelly man".

but honestly, the best stories leave you thinking afterwards, wrapping things in a nice little bow takes away from the impact.

The game freeze and crash after 30 minute of game. I tried everything.
I have a 5060ti 16 gb 5700x3d 32gb ram ddr4 and the game is installed on a ssd.
I'm very disappointed also because the game looks nice.

If there was ever a game that needed a "Meh" option as far as recommending it or not, it's Atomic Heart. I love the aesthetic, the game play is good, although i wish there were more powers, but where the game really falls apart for me is the open world.. holy mother of mary, what a miserable chore.

To elaborate, there are enemies EVERYWHERE, you can't really fight them because then even more enemies show up (A LOT more), so you try disabling cameras which is only temporary, then the game teaches you how to disable entire zones but it only lasts a few minutes (as little as 3 minutes in some zones, not sure if this is a bug or not) so you quickly learn the most efficient way to deal with the open world is to simply not engage with it and beeline for each new main objective.

The design choice to add an open world and then make that open world as un-fun as humanly possible to play in is really a head scratcher. Maybe give the game a shot if it looks up your alley and it's on sale, but I had to take a break from it after 12 hours or so.

Expensive, heavy, and overrated. It's not a bad game, but for what they sell you, it's somewhat tedious with the enemies, weapons, and the main character, and the story isn't groundbreaking or anything new. The aesthetic is nice, but it's a tedious game. If you're going to buy it, I recommend playing it and considering whether it was worth it. I played it trying to give it a chance to redeem itself over time, and the story, honestly, didn't like it and would return it if I could.

Pros
+ setting & world is alt-history post ww2, kinda like modern wolfenstein but from the soviet perspective.
+ combat & enemy variety are fun including bosses
+ unique ideas for interacting with the world
+ weapons & abilities work together
+ puzzles aren't annoying but also not brain-dead obvious

Cons
- protagonist is obnoxious, not constantly but you will roll your eyes at certain lines
- dialogue is meh - sometimes good
- theres an open world-ish area that's annoying to get around
- bosses could be more challenging

Very good game, slow start tho. It is quite a peculiar one, it is certainly not for everyone but for sure a unique experience.

Absolute cinema
amazing gameplay
sometimes annoying but pretty good puzzles
All three DLC are amazing
100/10

Comrade Major is a wet fart. Seriously, the Major is a passive-aggressive, terrible main character with an ugly haircut. I want to see the person who wrote the Major's dialogues with his glove. It sounds like a psycho trying to argue with the angry voices in his head. Most of the game, the Major is unhappy with everything, and he’s always trying to aggressively joke about it. It's very hard to focus on the gameplay when the retarded Comrade Major is screaming all the f***ing time.

As I was playing this game I couldn't quite decide what this review is going to be.

At its surface this game is an interesting amalgamation of Wolfenstein and Bioshock, but with an obvious Russian influence.
It isn't common these days to have a new and unseen AAA property so Atomic Heart is definitely welcome in that regard. It has stunningly good graphics, surprisingly good optimisation (although the 1% lows can be a bit unstable at times), fun gameplay and an interesting plot.

On the other hand... The game is buggy, the writing is at times really bad, the English translation is cringe to say the least, parts of the game feel severely underpolished and a tremendous amount of money was spent on adding things into this game that frankly don't matter (the hordes of extremely popular Russian songs and the "Well, Just You Wait!" cartoon that both carry expensive licencing costs) and that same money really should've been spent on making this a more polished and better experience.

Having said all of this, the more I played the game, the more I leaned towards giving it a recommendation, since despite all of its flaws, I wanted to support this new IP as it was interesting and I want to see where Mundfish take this idea next.

That opinion rapidly shifted when l I hit a game breaking bug on the last boss fight.
A bug that I can find multiple references to from as long as 2 years ago.
I literally cannot finish the game as the last boss stands in place and even if I kill it, the cutscene does not trigger.
I have tried reloading saves, replaying multiple sections of this game, nothing helps and I am just permanently stuck.
There is just no excuse for a commercially released game to have a bug of this calibre and I CANNOT support any developers that have a game in the market with an issue of this magnitude.

Overall, at it's core Atomic Heart is an imperfect, but still decent new IP that I believe has potential.
Having said that, to this day it still has game breaking bugs that may render the game unplayable so I just cannot in good conscience recommend it.

EDIT: After reading some of the discussion online, it seems that this bug may be related to consumable construction. I have reloaded and replayed a whole section of the game and purposefully did not craft any items and could finally finish the game.
Having said that, I still think this is inexcusable and my rating will remain negative.

Runs perfectly on Linux.
This is one of my top games, because Bioshock-like is my top kind of game.

I don't recommend anyone buy the game until DENUVO is removed.

I will change my review to positive once I see DENUVO is removed, so that the game can be preserved for any future generations.

TLDR: It tries to be too much, when it is much less. The mechanics and the writing are bad.

I only rarely write reviews for games, but Atomic Heart was so disappointing that I felt like I had to.
I like imersive sims like Bioshock, Dishonored and Deathloop, so when Atomic Heart was on sale, I figured, why not give it a shot. In retrospect, it was one of the worst games I ever played. Not because it is inherently bad, but because it is so disappointing. I respect Mundfisch for taking on this immense endeavor, but they definitely bit off more than they could chew. The overall game mechanics all feel slow and clunky, until you get to a certain level with your upgrades, the story is very poorly written and there is a whole lot of implicit misogyny hidden in this game. Moreover, the protagonist doesn't seem to care about the world in the slightest, beside his father figure Sechenov, and this rubs off on the player. I see that they were trying to go for some remix on the Bioshock formula, but they messed up the ingredients badly.

When I look at this game, I don't just see an immersive sim, I see cut corners and missed opportunities everywhere I look. The abilities don't feel nice to use, the combat system is sluggish and it doesn't feel satisfying to kill enemies, there are only two enemy factions and the individual opponents are not well-differentiated.
There are no health bars, and the open world feels empty. Rapture felt like a living breathing city, whereas the facility, whose number I forgot, where this game is set, doesn't have to offer much in that department. Everything feels slow, as if drenched in honey, and the logs, where information on the world could be found disrupt already slow flow of the game.
The ending feels completely unsatisfying, I really sank 14 hours of my life into this experience, just to feel bereft of a true ending.
This game feels like a bad kebap, first you’re excited and then after the first bites, you kind of just go along to see if it gets better and then once you’re at the middle, you finish it just to quell your hunger. At the end, you’re too stuffed to move and left with a lingering stomachache from this terrible ordeal.

I simply don’t like this game, and I have played a lot of games which I had to cut a lot of slack to appreciate the core ideals that propelled the design team. But within the confines of this experience’s assets and codes, I simply can not find any lingering idea or motivation to keep going. This game is exhausting and now I am not even glad I finished it because the ending is so unrewarding. I don't recommend anybody play this game, unless they want to gorge themselves on the premature birth of an artwork that could have been brilliant.

Pros:
- The addition of a dash to the otherwise age-old tried and true combat system gives it a more unique feel as opposed to other immersive sims, if you even dare bestow this title upon Atomic Heart.
- The swimming mechanics are pretty good.
- The game used music made in the Soviet Union, such as some songs by Kino and Viktor Tsoi, which I commend.
- It looks very good.
Cons:
- There was an attempt at variance between enemies and the use of different damage types, however its execution is super duper poor.
- The game is very subtly misogynist most of the time and very glaringly misogynist in other instances.
- The combat feels slow and unrewarding, enemies don’t have health bars except for bosses and mini bosses.
- The progression system makes strange leaps at times, in the beginning it’s fairly hard to get by and then about one third through the game you’re flooded with ammo, and everything becomes a bit more manageable, but to make up for that, they just flood the levels with enemies, which turns everything into a drag.
- The protagonist doesn’t care about the world, except for Sechenov when he suddenly has a change of heart after the ordeal with Petrov.
- There are only two different types of enemies, vegetable zombies and robots, and the former aren’t well distinguishable from one another. The enemies just feel so bland, and it is even unrewarding to kill them with the damage type that’s more effective against them.
- Only few side characters are interesting, most of them seem to just exist for the plot’s sake and don’t interact with the world, as opposed to Bioshock where all characters were woven into the world.
- The abilities you get don’t really help that much with defeating the endless onslaught of bots and zombies, it is simply not fun to use the mechanics the game gives you.
- The pacing is weird too, in the hospital you fight a Plyusch on the upper level and then you go downstairs into the morgue and bam, you fight another one. The combat music doesn’t help much either, it’s always Russian music, be it a lullaby or heavy metal and it’s always so loud and it doesn’t tie into the other background music. I get that the game also wants to be a little bit whacky or something adjacent to the term, but the reason why it works in Borderlands is because the entire game is a bit whacky, while Atomic Heart still wants to be serious.
- The Soviet Union is portrayed with a weird mix of awe, erasure and disgust. I was honestly surprised to hear a song by Kino and Viktor Tsoi, even though he is half Korean.
- The only relevant women in this game appear in the beginning and then at the end. The game is dominated by male figures who in turn dominate female figures, like the robots representing women.
- Certain game mechanics like cartridges and other consumables are explained poorly and unintuitively, the game kind of just throws them your way like “figure it out yourself.”
- The UI is kind of all over the place, the Ammo Fridges have two separate menus for upgrades to abilities and crafting equipment, of which the former has to boot up for some odd reason? Moreover, inventory mechanic is just terrible, I hate it, it would be important if there were many different consumables or other items to load out if the player knew what’s ahead but since you never know what’s going on and the only important consumables you get in bulk, you might find yourself running out of ammo for specific weapons, even though you have it by the dozens, just for it to be locked away in an ammo fridge in a rest area.
- Corpses are uninteresting to talk to, the UI for conversation is awful, opting to use numbers assigned to dialogue options.
- The logs are uninteresting and don’t really tell you anything important about the world, you don’t find out anything about other human survivors or their personal histories from the logs, they just make the world bland and disrupt the game flow.
- Weird pacing with the Ammo Fridges, sometimes you’ll walk 10 meters from one to another and then there’ll be whole sections without any. I know they’re supposed to be resting places where you can stock up but then why aren’t they spread out more evenly?
- Horrible Plot twist

Sadly i can't recommend this game, beside that it feels unfinished and is full of bugs, the story is not that great either. At least if it would be more polished but even then does not worth the full price.

this game is still unfinished in 2025. The map is broken. In open world it feels pretty bad

I found this game extremely frustrating to play and painfully boring. the game is beautiful and opening moments are intriguing and got me excited but once the combat tutorial started it became tedious and uninteresting. there might be a good game in here somewhere but after a putting a few hours into it, i couldn't find it.

Crispy Critters

Good game. The bosses were fun (final fight was the best) but they all can be beat with an axe and walking around them in circles. The story was very good and kept me on my toes but sometimes the game play can get a bit annoying with the items you have to fetch. (I have only done the main story, no side quests).

10/10 great sotry, gameplay and eaven better story ending

The voice acting is horrendous, the unskippable cutscenes take forever, the lockpicking kinda sucks, combat is repetitive and flat, the bugs are often times so bad you need to redo whole segments of the game, the game is supposed to be open world but doesn't feel like it at all and the main character just isn't written well. The setting and story are very interesting, there is tons of lore to discover and the graphics are great, but it just isn't worth it at full price, if at all...

It's a fun game to play, but aside from shooting some Russian clankers it's a hard sell based off the AWFUL cringe induced writing and dialogue that follows in line with several terribly written big budget games nowadays. I don't mind a little fun with the writing, or having some small quirks to the protagonist, but good god I'm so frustrated with writers in games and entertainment that don't take the setting they place their characters in seriously when it feels like they should, ultimately creating a tonal dissonance that GRATES ON MY FUCKING EARS. I was very excited for this game when I first saw it, and I thought the setting, bosses, gameplay, and tone would be an easy sell, but god these fucking characters are the absolute fucking worst. If the writing was better, I'd say the rest of the package and dlc is decent if not good enough for a purchase (alongside the horny fridge and sexy robots arguably the highlight of the experience), but sarcasm aside if hearing the most obnoxious banter between the main cast and some of the most frustrating, played out, generic story beats is enough to push you away from an experience, you might want to steer clear from this one. If I gotta hear the protagonist say 'crispy critters' one more fucking time I'm going to go ballistic.

this game is not only pure fun but also extremely horny i cant keep my eyes away from those robo twins and the fridge

for anyone thats wondering yes the twin feet mod is still working

I wanted to love this game so bad...so so bad...but its not a fun game to play....at all...my interest kept waning...and waning and waning the more i played...sorry

I really really want to enjoy this game... but man is it hard to. The protagonist is the most annoying I have ever seen in a video game. The guy won't ever stfu with his poorly written dialogue. It's terrible.

The gameplay is smooth and great. Rewarding melee combat, a great crafting system, and fun enemies and bosses. This game is great for the first part that's entirely linear - that's its strength. I thought I was about to play a straight banger from start to finish. Then I hit the open world section and I have never been more bored and let down in my entire life. The open world sections in this game are some of the worst open world level design I have ever come across. It's bland. It's empty. It doesn't fit at all with the games original pacing. The opening is tight, fast, and narrow. The open world is the exact opposite.

The devs were cooking with this one for a hot minute then fumbled on the one yard line. I've never been so disappointed.

The first chunk of the game is pretty ok. It starts the same as the demo. Just drops you into a paddle boat no context. And the starting area and first linear section is well done overall. BUT the second you get out the door of the main building, the game changes its style completely. To the point where it dumps multiple screens of new info about the open world. The game seems to insist on stealth but it is unrewarding and enemies spot you immediately and infinitely re-spawn. And since the game revolves around combat and boss fights, it doesn't feel super great. The puzzles are lackluster to the point of being "that's right! it goes in the square hole." And the horror tag is meant to warn you how often the enemies toss you around to get stuck on random objects.

Sadly by the time I realized this, I was well past the two hours. So I tried to push past the frustration and buyers remorse to enjoy the game. But after killing the boss that looks like it's straight out of The Incredibles and exploring the immediate area after. I can't. It says the main game takes about 16 hours to complete and about 3-4 hours of that at the beginning is a completely different game.

Oh yessss
The gameplay is great, story is fun, and the graphics

Very raw and cheap in terms of game play experience.
The visuals are something worth noting, it's on the level, and it's not just about the setting, but the overall style, the materials and objects look decent, what can't be said about the characters, facial animations and some of the cutscenes.
The shooting is pretty decent too, as far as firearms are concerned.
This is the first time I've encountered so many bugs in recent times, which sometimes gameplay-wise prevented me from progressing further and I had to reload the level. The fact that you can not shoot through the windows in the vilage houses causes me special perplexity.
The enclosed locations look mostly elaborate, but the styling is pretty generic there. Open to explore locations look as if they were made hastily, but they are less boring. Showcase locations (squares, large buildings and monuments) look decent and well detailed at the same time.
Well and some subjective features - the soundtrack is very repetitive and quickly gets boring, all the songs on the radio rather cause irritation than nostalgia, and the sound design in general, if you do not take the author's songs - quite normal.
The plot in my opinion is the weakest part of the game. The suspense was lacking, and so were the multi-plots. I also found it hard to empathize with any of the characters, as everyone looks like either chumps or people who cheat themselves.
The main character is a separate conversation, it's incredibly hard for me to relate to him, but even if he's a brainless warrior type, why doesn't he have any charisma or anything interesting at all? Why couldn't the creators make their own B.J. Blazkowicz?
I think I won't open America if I say that if you like this style, maybe you should try it, but don't be fooled, it's not even close to Bioshok, Fallout, or Half Life, it's very much like an experiment on Unity.

It was very stylish and promising at first, but it's 2025 and the game still looks raw. I wish the developers luck to keep the vision but work out the details deeper.
5/10.