Despite several behind-the-scenes setbacks over four years, Atomic Heart is finally ready to launch this February and it looks absolutely stunning.
Atomic Heart has become something of a legendary enigma in the gaming industry. It’s been in development since 2018, and it almost seemed like it would stay that way. However, developer Mundfish recently released a new trailer for Atomic Heart that revealed its (hopefully) final release date for this February. Though the trailer cycled through rapid-fire clips, enough was there to perk my interest, such as all the detailed environments and those ballerina twins everyone’s been talking about.
So what exactly set this game back so much? Quite a number of difficulties, such as miscommunication from management, constantly pushing employees into crunch time, and even outright lying about receiving pay bonuses. It’s a wonder Atomic Heart even got off the ground. In spite of all the behind-the scenes drama, this game does appear to be very promising.
Visually, the game is absolutely stunning. All the different environments are very detailed, from the sterile and dimly lit labs to the lush outdoors. What I thought was incredible was the floating bodies of water (envision, if you will, someone blowing really long bubbles with straight-up water). They were just so otherworldly and beautiful I wanted to jump in them myself. Swimming in the air sounds magical, even if that’s not how they actually work in the game.
Then there are the robots, most of which are genuinely terrifying. The MA-9, or “Belyash,” is one example.
A big head with multiple eyes, welding laser, claw hands, and the ability to lift several tons, it’s a force to be reckoned with. Another one is Hedgie (revealed in a gameplay trailer as one of the many bosses). It’s essentially a giant pinball moving around at top speed that not only wants to crush you but set you on fire. There are kinda cute ones too, like MFU-68, a small logger robot. There was a video on YouTube (that for the life of me I can’t find anymore), where there’s a group of them trundling along a road, looking like metallic versions of Falinks from Pokémon, only with deadly saw blades in their heads. And then of course there’s Natasha who reminds me of a more solid Baymax from Big Hero 6.
If there’s anything to be concerned about, it’s the gameplay.
Atomic Heart is an FPS combined with an RPG. Every gameplay trailer shows the protagonist surrounded by various enemies, and barely making a dent in any of them. Guns, makeshift weapons, even his multipurpose anti-gravity glove (that can pick them up and throw them), takes a while to knock the robots down. They do show signs of damage, of course, but it’s like they’re set on hard mode right from the start. And with multiple enemies often attacking all at once, there’s hardly any time to think, never mind strategize.
It might be a good idea for Mundfish to dial back the action while they still can. Atomic Heart looks really amazing, and I would hate for it to be undermined by overly spongy enemies.
