Atomic Heart Reviews
While I struggled with defining Atomic Heart's identity, I think I can assume a few things about the game. Narratively, it wants to be comical even with its tragedy, but the main plot bets on the drama behind the main character's past and their personal relationships; as well as predictable and empty plot twists. Despite the comparisons with Bioshock, it doesn't step too close to the atmosphere or even the combat of the classic title. It tries to be itself, even though the inspirations are noticeable. Although I was enamored with the first trailers of Atomic Heart and dreamt of that "beyond Bioshock" title, with several websites reporting on development problems and the successive delays made me wary of it. In the end, I still enjoyed the game for what it offered, even after losing its charm due to its frustrations and disappointments.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Atomic Heart is an impressive first game from a new studio. It has lavish production values and a really good soundtrack that utilizes real Russian hits. The sense of humor in the game is a highlight that makes it stand out from other shooters in the market and the gameplay that shifts from high-octane combat to cheeky puzzles is stimulating.
Atomic Heart is a great title, with an interesting storyline, fun gameplay and spectacular atmosphere. Small sore points the difficulty in our opinion too high and the open world practically intuitive, flaws that however do not spoil the title that still remains of a great level. If we then add the presence at day one on game pass and the optimization on PC we can only recommend it.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Atomic Heart was made with love, talent and a great deal of cynic humor poured into the game.
Atomic Heart is a game that constantly takes one step back for every two it takes forward. Everything that does extremely well always comes with a “but” stuck in it. Visually it is incredibly beautiful, but the characters are ugly. The third-person shooter gameplay is extremely fun, but the arena design is frustrating. The world and the story are quite interesting, but there's one more twist that doesn't make sense and the protagonist is obnoxious. Still, it's an experience with more significant highs than lows, and one that fans of first-person shooters can take a lot of pleasure from.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Atomic Heart is not your next best, revolutionary shooter. Instead it's a combination of fulfilled and wasted potentials that could have done much better, but still is damn fun and satisfying to play.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Despite the technical issues, glitches and poor open area design, Atomic Heart delivered a unique experience with a distinct art direction, fun shooting system and puzzles, with great interior design.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Despite some horrible misgivings for the plot and characters, I do sincerely see some of our favorite classic Shock-like formula, tried and true, if not with a few extra red stars on the cover. If you can poke past the horribly paced and presented story, tedious and sometimes painful character dialogue, and bad design ideas for the open-world aspect, I can sincerely say that there is some legitimate Shock-like qualities in the better parts of the gameplay and in the awe-striking art style, to say nothing of the incredible music. If you enjoyed any of Bioshock‘s selections, or Arkane’s 2016 Prey, consider giving this communist dystopia a chance to show how close it got to nailing that Shock-like formula, even if you wind up coming out hating the phrase “Crispy Critters” as much as I do.
Atomic Heart has flashes of brilliance but generally disappoints regarding the basics. Combat is occasionally satisfying but incredibly repetitive, and the balance of encounters is all over the place. The story is predictable and slog to work through, especially because of the terrible dialogue. While the visuals stand out, they never really are anything more than set dressing, and as you progress into the open world, the poor shadow quality can destroy the look of the game. Even visually, Atomic Heart is as uneven as it is with its story and gameplay.
A half-interesting game is buried by a mess of its own making - and represents an industry conundrum that will only continue to grow.
Atomic Heart’s narrative lacks the gall to tackle any of its ideas thoroughly, and is made worse by having to endure it through the eyes of a tremendously unlikeable protagonist. Its moment-to-moment gameplay is passable at best, and a chore the rest. Though visually the game is beautiful, it’s not enough to distract from an otherwise hollow experience.
In the end, the game is enjoyable for those willing to be patient and accept the game for what it is and hopefully, with a few more updates the full potential of the game will be achieved. The game is available on the Microsoft Game Pass and is worth a look.
Despite its small issues, Atomic Heart is the first product of a small studio that still manages to be a positive highlight among big titles already available in 2023. With updates improving navigation and gameplay, I believe Mundfish can make the player experience much better as the year goes on.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Atomic Heart is a first person game that resembles all kinds of games. The humor is definitely not for everyone. It goes from crazy to crazy. With some minor flaws, but still solid gameplay, it's an entertaining game. Highly recommended for those who like it.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Atomic Heart stands out in its art, story and personality, but it is not up to par in other very important aspects of the immersive sim genre.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Despite its great ideas and foundation, Atomic Heart is a game with a strong lack of vision that ruins all the good things. Very interesting concept and game mechanics, but weird decisions in narrative and structure.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Atomic Heart depicts the perfect ideological image of the Soviet Union. Shadowed by many hyperbolising factors to furnish an electrifying FPS experience. You wouldn’t call it a masterpiece – but it is extremely close to being one.
Developer Mundfish impresses with its debut title, Atomic Heart set in an original, well-detailed and gorgeous-looking universe.
Atomic Heart could have been a great game. All the pieces are here to form a beautiful picture but it feels like these have been run through a blender, set on fire and then Sellotaped together to form a grotesque Frankenstein’s monster. Almost every facet of this game is underwhelming or broken in some way; if you’re expecting the next Bioshock you’re going to be very disappointed. This is closer to We Happy Few or Duke Nukem Forever. What a shame.
Atomic Heart's captivating Soviet robo-topia crumbles under the weight of a poorly delivered story, clunky action, unnecessary open-world traversal, and a glut of technical issues.