Developer: Mundfish
Publisher: Focus Entertainment, 4Divinity
Steam Deck Compatibility?: Verified
Rrp: £54.99 (Humble and Steam)
Released: 20th February 2023
Available on: Humble and Steam
Played Using: Mouse and Keyboard
Approximate game length: 20 hours +
Alternative histories are an interesting subject, speculating on what might have been had some minor (or major) thing been different. Of course, the type of alternative history that makes it into games tends to be about when something major has changed. Like in the new Wolfenstein series where the Nazi’s had conquered the USA. In Atomic Heart’s case we’re in an alternative history of the 1950’s Soviet Union. Thanks to the work coming out of a place called Facility 3826 the Soviet Union has become a powerhouse of technology leading the world in every field, especially robotics.
However, all is not well and the robots suddenly start attacking and killing anyone they can get their hands/claws/manipulators on.
You play as Major Sergey Nechayev, though he’s generally referred to as Agent P-3 or just P-3, as he tries to track down and stop the person responsible for the slaughter. It should be noted that P-3 is decidedly not a silent protagonist, in fact I’ve heard quite a few people complain about P-3. Specifically, that he talks far too much and seems to have a real attitude problem. I actually have to agree, though I will add that his glove, Charles (more on that in a moment), is also a bit of an arse.
I think it’s undeniable that this game was extremely influenced by Bioshock as well as other immersive sims. The problem is that I think it may have taken too many notes from Bioshock in particular. The game literally name drops Rapture at one point. Oh, and don’t think I didn’t notice the sneaky 0451 gag, you aren’t subtle, game. Unfortunately this means that those familiar with Bioshock will likely see the game’s twist coming from a mile away.
P-3 has a sentient glove named Charles, with this glove P-3 can utilise some special abilities (that are very reminiscent of Bioshock’s plasmid powers). Charles also has a lot of interaction with P-3 acting as a narrative foil for him.
As you traverse the area known as Facility 3826 you’ll end up fighting often and this game doesn’t hold back on swarming you with enemies. Not to the levels of Space Marine 2 but if you aren’t careful you can easily be faced with six or seven enemies at once. I do quite like that many of the enemies aren’t human shaped, for example there are some that are essentially sawblades on legs or there’s my personal favourite the ‘Vatrushka’ which is a turret that rolls around like a wheel.
I usually fought using a melee weapon which was very satisfying, the gunplay was perfectly serviceable once I had upgraded my weaponry (covered later), before then most of the weapons felt underpowered. I’m not sure if that was the developers intent though.
The boss fights are quite unique, especially for an FPS. One of the bosses called a ‘Hedgie’ was a sphere that quickly rolled around the arena almost too fast for me to keep track of. I found it particularly challenging and it forced me to change the tactics I had been using previously.
When you kill an enemy (or destroy in the case of the robots) you can loot their bodies. Doing so will give you a resource called neuropolymer which you can use to upgrade your character and special abilities.
Scattered around Facility 3826 are Break Rooms, where you can save your game and upgrade your weapons and special abilities. The upgrading and crafting machine is called a NORA. Most of the time these machines are just simply places to craft and upgrade weapons or purchase new abilities. However, the first time you meet it (and several other times in the game) the NORA is… well, she’s slutty in the weirdest way, which is really odd to say considering it looks like a red fridge.
Crafting and upgrading weapons requires you to find resources, thankfully most of them are easily found by searching the environment or raiding the bodies of your enemies. You can also choose to disassemble items you find that will give you some resources too. I like that if you choose to dismantle a weapon you’re given a full refund of all the resources you spent on them.
Something to note about upgrading your weapons is that not all of the upgrades will be available to you immediately. As you explore Facility 3826 you’ll discover that there are optional testing facilities that you can find. Within those facilities you can collect some special upgrades that you can apply to your weapons.
Sadly, this game has some issues that I have to mention as they could be deal breakers for some people. The biggest issue is that there is some slight jank to this game, the worst of which was that occasionally I’d gotten stuck on an object while climbing or dodged into an object in combat and become stuck. Thankfully, I saved often so this only set me back a few minutes at most.
The next issue is more of a pet peeve for me… why did the developers include QTE’s (Quick Time Events) in some of the boss fights? It’s so frustrating and if you fail them you’re just immediately killed. The good news is that there is an option to auto-complete them in the accessibility menu, but that highlights to me that the developers knew they were an issue.
This last one isn’t a bug or even a pet peeve and more of an observation. It’s a bit strange hearing all these Russians speaking in distinctly non-Russian, not even an accent, and yet the one German character sounds distinctly (and stereotypically) German. Everyone else, however, speaks either in some variant of a British accent or an American one.
All of that aside, I really enjoyed my time playing this game. It scratches that very specific itch that immersive sims leave for me. Sure, it suffers from a little jank and cribs a bit too heavily from Bioshock but it’s still a great game in its own right. I’ll definitely be getting the various DLC’s to see what goodies they bring.
If this appeals to you perhaps try;
The Bioshock Series
The System Shock Series
The Dishonored Series
