Atomic Heart Reviews
Although Atomic Heart is fun to play for its combat encounters, it’s packed to the brim with frustrating platforming and horrendous writing, making it tough to recommend. Ultimately, Atomic Heart feels like a Ubisoft game made by edgelords who love BioShock and Russia in equal measure. It’s a jack of all trades and master of none, which lands it somewhere near “decent.” The end result is an uneven gaming experience that has fun moments sprinkled throughout a marathon of cringe.
Atomic Heart is a solid yet over-indulgent first entry from a developer that maybe had more ideas than it could manage at once. The individual atoms and particles have wonderful potential, but their quantum connection to each other feels wholly missing thanks to their competing directions. I have hope a sequel could deliver on the fantastic premise and stellar world-building, but just like nuclear fusion, it’s an optimistic dream rather than an exciting current reality.
So what does Atomic Heart truly offer other than an occasionally fun, not at all original, game with too many ideas that aren’t fully fleshed out? Unfortunately, not much. It’s worth a rent or definitely checking out on a subscription service but it needs some more polish and refinement before the good things can surface the way they should.
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.
This mashup of shooter, stealth, and RPG wears its influences proudly but rarely matches them. Its alt-history setting is interesting and there are plenty of ways to approach the robot-killing, but these elements are at odds with messy storytelling and characterisation.
Slightly above average or simply inoffensive. Fans of the genre should enjoy them a bit, but a fair few will be left unfulfilled.
Atomic Heart lacks follow-through on its most interesting narrative concepts and plays it safe with its first-person shooter gameplay.
With the environmental glitches, an odd narrative, and too much imitation of two iconic games, Atomic Heart lands in the middle for me. Not bad, not great, just fine.
Atomic Heart offers an unique style and atmosphere with exciting gameplay and an incredible soundtrack. The game, however beautifully crafted, falls short in various departments. The protagonist is absolutely awful and shows no interest in all the stuff that is going on in the world of Atomic Heart. That also leads to not really wanting to explore the world to find all the secrets, because the protagonist just doesn't care.
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Atomic Heart has a lot going for it, but with everything compounded into one cumbersome campaign thus far, it may have been better buried beneath Facility 3826.
Atomic Heart is worth checking out for its incredible setting alone – especially if you’re a Game Pass subscriber. But its disappointing gameplay lets down the exciting promise of its awe-inspiring world.
The story plays out like a Jerry Bruckheimer-produced popcorn atrocity, the upgrade shop might as well be Travelex given how many currencies it juggles, and the performance is less than optimal. Atomic Heart is an exercise in excess. It has some clear strengths, like its first in class art direction and gunplay, however these are far outweighed by the game's faults.
Atomic Heart may be summarised in a single statement as a game with amazing ideas but lousy execution. I cannot say that Atomic Heart is a bad game, it's just that I expected a lot more from it, and as a result, I got disappointed.
Atomic Heart is an ambitious game that has a lot going for it. Its unique world, stunning visuals, and exciting combat make it an experience worth playing.
The narrative can occasionally seem confusing, and some story beats take a little longer than I’d have liked to get going, but it all comes together in the end to form an addictive loop of shoot, loot, upgrade, repeat.
Atomic Heart wants to be BioShock, but the tone of its narrative rubber-bands in quality. It's hard to tell which parts are poorly written, and which are intentionally comedic. By contrast, the environmental and character designs are excellent, which makes it worth pushing through the rougher sections. Atomic Heart is a spectacle, and it's got more highs than lows.
It’s flawed, but there’s still a LOT I liked about the game. The combat is slick, the world design and visuals are fantastic, and the story definitely kept me intrigued right until the very end. It could have just done with trimming a bit of its filler, whilst a bit more development time could have seen the more obvious technical hindrances ironed out.
Atomic Heart has been steadily building up steam for the longest time now, but the final product hasn’t quite matched up to the hype.
With a unique post-Cold War alternate sci-fi setting and some interesting-if-familiar gameplay mechanics, Mundfish has sure as heck made a memorable debut with Atomic Heart. It does need a bit more spit and shine to go full platinum though.
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.