Mundfish brought a lot to the table with this new single player ARPG, mainly being the mix up between linear and open world gameplay. In this 1950’s style Soviet Union setting, the visuals were sensational and stimulating prompting the need to explore the ruins of each laboratory and building in sight. Robotic enemies come in many shapes and sizes in this action-packed Russian adventure and drop many goodies along the way to add to the wonderfully designed crafting experience. Atomic Heart is honestly a breath of fresh air for the single player genre and is great for players that are limited on time, or just want a break from the overwhelming massive titles that provide the intense open world experience.
Everything Runs on Polymer
Set in the 1950’s, the Soviet Union has discovered a mystery compound known as Polymer and mastered robotics, making the nation a technologically advanced civilization. However, this all comes crashing down due to an experiment gone wrong that causes the robots to malfunction and kill every living being in sight. Playing as P3, a Special Duty Officer tasked with tracking down the man believed responsible for the malfunction, you literally end up falling your way down to the source of the mayhem. The adventure is fun and tedious, especially as you bicker with your glove companion (yes, the glove that gives you telekinetic abilities) Charles, and hack and shoot your way through endless robotic enemies.
Polymer seems to come in many forms, seeing as you end up swimming through it to get too difficult to reach locations or locating side items, as well as looting it to upgrade abilities and craft. Players can swim in the giant suspended jelly like tunnels of the substance, and you can hear what seems to be unknown voices. All of the enemies drop it in various forms that can be used for upgrading. Many enemies are even made out of a different variant of the compound. Even one of your guns uses Polymer to kill off your enemies. My one complaint is the lack of information on the substance, because from an outside view it seems to make little sense.
There’s Never a Dull Moment in Facility 3826
Navigating through the top scientific hub of the SU is not only visually stunning, but also an experience that keeps you on your toes. The game constantly challenges players by making you plot your path wisely and introducing new enemies as well as mechanics. Between the beautifully designed, yet very deadly robots trying to kill you, endless puzzles hindering your path, and the eccentrically crafted bosses, players find themselves constantly on the move until they reach a safe room where Nora awaits.
Robots are uniquely designed to accomplish specific functions and use this function against you. As an example, as you exit the first facility and gleefully make your way to Forester Village, you may notice robots known as MFU 68 Laborers. They seem to be sawing up some wood, that is until they see you and immediately start chucking their rotating saws at your face. The repair robots will also attack you while they repair whatever you just killed. A few robots have not been affected by this malfunction to the player’s benefit. Some even seem to have a spunky personality, like the android Tereshkova who actually scolds displays of other robots for their devious acts. Even Nora (she is your crafting station robot essentially) seems to have multiple personalities since she goes from wanting to sexually harass you to being polite and professional to a T.
Boss fights are individually designed, and nearly all require interesting strategies to defeat. The first one will come off as a basic souls like fight with the dodging mechanics and the player limited on weapons. Once you get past that the fights are a lot more difficult and rather fun. Some fights will keep you constantly moving on survival mode as more enemies can potentially spawn around them and overwhelm you, while others have you setting up traps in a way that open opportunities to strike. This is one aspect of the game that Mundfish did so well on, because I was not able to predict what kind of fight I would be heading into.
The Art of Crafting
The crafting and upgrading part of the game is very well designed and very generous with options. There are various weapons with isolated functions that vary from Electro (a gun that shoots out electric pulses) to the Dominator, a weapon that literally turns Polymer into lethal ammo. Each weapon can be upgraded by adding several components, and each component can be upgraded with a choice between two enhancements. Depending on the choice will determine the playstyle of the weapon, such as Swede has to special attacks Powerful Chopping Blow and Round Attack which offer various bonuses as you continue to upgrade either one. These upgrades can be game changing, such as Chopping Blow’s Reverse Medical Inductor upgrade that restores health upon released kinetic energy.
P3’s upgrades also go along way with your abilities you gain from Charles, the happy glove companion always in your ear. Some of these ability upgrades make combat so much easier, like when you summon your inner Palpatine and grab chain lightning for your shok ability. The abilities also make the combat such a different experience that feels like Bioshock in an odd way. Aside from shock you have a choice in abilities that range from freezing your enemies temporarily to using telekinesis as a means to lift your enemies sky high and ground them.
Puzzles, Puzzles, and more Obstacles
While I love that the game mixes things up between linear facilities and open world like exploration, the facilities find themselves filled with redundant puzzles and obstacles to get through. It’s one thing to have them reoccur in every laboratory, but it is another to repeat the same puzzles over and over again with little to no changes. VDNH is a great example of this, because the first entire part is an ongoing sequence of navigating obstacles with magnets. Each room slightly changes how to get to the next room, but hardly increases the difficulty and provides no items or rooms to really explore for loot. The locks on doors also get a bit boring after a while with little to no difficulty increase, making them almost seem pointless.
A Refreshing Single Player Experience
Atomic Heart is a great way for players to have an epic single player FPS that reminds players that not all games need to be an overstimulating open-world setting. It also shows that not all linear experiences make video games bad. While the puzzles and obstacles could have been better in design, the game provided excellent combat in a breath-taking 1950’s SU world. I can honestly say this is the most fun I have had in an FPS game since Borderlands 3.
Vibe Score: 7/10
Veteran gamer, tech nerd, comic addict, anime lover, and just your average introverted weeb.
