Atomic Heart

2023 has already been strong with Game of the Year contenders, and Atomic Heart is another one of them. It lives up to all of the hype and all of its promises; an amazing debut game for Mundfish. Nailing down a few things Atomic Heart is phenomenal at is nearly impossible because it’s extraordinary in all of them. This isn’t just my favorite game of this year, it might be one of my favorites of the decade.

Atomic Heart is a colorful title with a gripping story and powerful dialogue. Its universe between Bioshock and Wolfenstein absorbs you and takes you on a fast-paced adventure alongside a damn crazy and rather well-written hero. Not everything is perfect and everything remains fairly standard, but the experience is devilishly satisfying thanks to its effective gameplay, well-thought-out puzzles, lots of humor and fun. A really good explosive cocktail!

For a first game from a new studio, Atomic Heart executes many of its ideas very well, delivers a solid story, and actually manages to innovate in a genre where it would be easy to remain stagnant...Yes, its main character won’t live long in the memory, the narrative takes some time to heat up, and the modern-day curse of technical hitches are noticeable. But as a whole, Atomic Heart is an electric and enjoyable FPS title with surprising puzzle aspects, and I can’t wait to see how Mundfish builds on this hot start in the future.

Despite being both fussy and clumsy throughout parts of the barely 15 hours the game lasts, Atomic Heart has just enough character and cool sequences to make this a game that might be well worth a closer look.

Atomic Heart leaves a lot to be desired, but its unique setting, varied gameplay and often inventive enemies go a long way to keep you interested in your traipse through its ruined utopia. Just bear in mind that while it may look like a AAA game, it’s not; Mundfish has achieved a great deal here, but there are signs of corners being cut and a considerable lack of polish. And so, you might want to wait for a patch or two to sort out some of its unfortunate bugs and other blemishes, but you could do a lot worse than venture into the hostile world that Atomic Heart offers.

These are just some of the many signs that suggest the game was rushed past the finish line (including a reference to game crunch), but its problems run deeper than something that can be fixed with a couple of patches. The story isn’t explained well, the dialog is over the top, the tutorials don’t do their job, and the open world is just a boring place to be. While the combat and the linear facilities go some way to redeeming Atomic Heart, it’s not a game that I can faithfully recommend right now.

Despite what is a promising combat formula as well as the supporting systems behind it when it comes to skills, crafting, and upgrades, there are also several equally frustrating aspects of it that hold the game back. The hope is that Mundfish is able to fix some of the more glaring issues post-launch, but right now, it feels less like a welcomed revolution and more like a nuclear disaster.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Great scenarios and terrific mood. This dystopian vision of USSR is great and they did a great job with all the retro artwork and environment. The map is cool and although the lore isn't amazing it is pretty interesting. Maybe a couple tl:dr emails that don't add much to the story but overall they did a good job. The weapons are cool and the gameplay is quite enjoyable. The only reason I, personally, give it only a 7 and not more is because of poor mechanics. You constantly get stuck in the most random places. On top of a rock, when you jump on top of a box, etc. It's ridiculous the amount of ttimes this has happened, sometimes mid combat. Quite often it ruined a specific fight. Lacks a little bit of polishing. Still, I think it's entertaining and worth a shot.

Not a bad game really but imo too much talking and too much irrelevant audio files. Good graphics. Open world areas can feel overwhelming due to constant spawning of repair bots. I personally enjoyed the game. A lot of nice puzzles.

Just tried to give this one a chance... unfortunately it is again one of those feature overloaded hyperactivity disorder game for todays mediocre audience. While graphics are brilliant and the overall presentation is an hommage to Bioshock, it is too... erm... everything.

I enjoyed the start in the lab where its not open world, the puzzles were decent and I liked the atomsphere. Then soon after I was introduced to the open world I put the game down. Don't like the combat too much and the constantly respawning enemies. The cameras are annoying and just didnt find it too fun