Atomic Heart is a pretty new game. So it’s not surprising if you’re still on the fence about trying it out. After all, you need to know if a game is worth playing before you spend your hard-earned money on it.
You might have heard some mixed things about this game. I’ve seen some people absolutely loving the game’s weird fun. Others have criticized shortcomings that could have been done better. And the controversy definitely doesn’t help at all.
But that’s why I’m here. In this article, I’ll give you 10 unbiased reasons and try to convince you that Atomic Heart is good. But I’ll keep my arguments as objective as I can, so you can decide for yourself.
Before we jump in, I’ll tell you one thing. The game isn’t perfect and the criticisms about its flaws are valid. But for all its shortcomings, it gets a bunch of other things right. With that said, let’s see what those things are!
10. A Story That Subverts Your Expectations
Like everything in the game, Atomic Heart’s story is weird. The setting itself is very foreign from the world we’re living in. So it shouldn’t be a huge surprise that the story is written to surprise you.
Now, twists and surprises aren’t inherently good or bad. Anyone can write a plot-twist by shoving something random into the story. What makes them enjoyable is the execution. If a subversion makes you think “Oh! I should have seen it coming,” that’s probably good.
Even though the story gets a little convoluted, it pulls off the twists effectively. All the information the main character gets is from people with their own goals and motivations. People who want to manipulate him. And you don’t realize it until the very end.
9. Incredible Graphics And Performance
No matter how you look at it, Atomic Heart is a looker! The intro scene is enough to show you how beautiful this game is. Whether you’re flying over Facility 3826 or crawling through a Testing Ground, the visuals are stunning.
If you play a lot of games like me, then you already know this. Games that look the best are the ones that fully commit to their visual styles. Atomic Heart goes for the realistic look and you can see it in the textures, lightning and shadows. Everything in the game was made with great care.
And on top of that, the game performs great! My computer is far from a potato, but I’ve played other AAA titles that made me struggle a bit. Not Atomic Heart. The team really optimized the performance and it’s impressive how well it runs.
8. The Game Puts Realism First
Before I jump into this one, I have to explain what I mean by the word ‘realism.’ It’s not the graphics, even though that’s incredible. What I’m talking about is consistency.
Let me give you some examples so get a better idea. The game has a lot of weird things going on, but you always get in-world explanations for why they are that way. And the best part is that the lore feeds the gameplay.
You’re exploring a facility full of cameras and drones, so of course you’ll be seen by them easily. And since there are robots that carry objects, it only makes sense that they will bring in reinforcements. It’s easy to see that this is how things would be if this world was actually real.
7. Less Hand Holding That Invites Exploration
Atomic Heart isn’t one of those games that just shows you everything it has to offer. It teaches you the basics through tutorials. But there are a lot of other features and game mechanisms that it never mentions. You have to explore and experiment to find them.
You’ll have a map marker telling you where the Main Quest is. But you’ll need to figure out where all the side content is by looking at the map and exploring. The game will give you a weapon and teach you how to use the crafting system, but it’s up to you to find the other blueprints and play around with them.
Similarly, Atomic Heart will teach you how to use 1 power and how to upgrade it. But you’re the one who will have to experiment with the other powers and see what works best. Or you could just ignore them all and play with the basics. It’s all viable.
6. Intense, Challenging Combat
Anyone can make a game with robots to shoot and kill. But for it to be fun, you need a challenge. And Atomic Heart delivers heaps of it.
This point kinda bounces off one of the last reasons, but only a little. You see, the robots you fight are very tough. And that’s because they’re built to be durable. There’s also a reason for why they have such a powerful arsenal. But I’d be spoiling things if I said more.
The encounters become even more challenging because of enemy reinforcements. Sometimes you might actually have to just run away. Especially during the early game. This sense of difficulty makes you feel more accomplished when you actually beat the enemy.
5. Enemy Robots with Believable Designs
If you’ve seen trailers and images of Atomic Heart, you might have noticed the funky design of the enemy robots. This isn’t because they were designed to look weird. You see, the robots in the game all have different roles.
You can see this design principle in two parts. First is their obvious appearance. Like the Lab Techs just look like dudes. And they have lasers, because science. Laborers have saws and Ballerinas have feminine figures.
The second part is the gameplay, which is why we’re all here. Their jobs basically affect how they fight you. It’s very believable when a lumberjack robot tries to hack you down with a chainsaw.
4. Resource Management That Ups The Stakes
Atomic Heart isn’t the kind of FPS where you go around lugging 20 different weapons. The game starts you off with a small inventory. Whatever you carry has to fit into it. More Resident Evil than Wolfenstein.
Resource management never fails to up the ante. Since you can’t carry all your weapons, you have to be strategic. Ask yourself which weapons work best for you. And I haven’t even mentioned all the other stuff you need to carry around. Like medkits.
But it’s not all about restricting you. You can actually take whatever you want, the excess just goes automatically to your storage. The wonders of technology, am I right?
3. Different Types of Weapons To Experiment With
The game gives you many guns to play around with. But not all of them are clear winners. Sure, your regular pistol and the first ax you get are weaker than most of the late-game weapons. But even those starter weapons can be upgraded to be useful.
Among the powerful weapons, the decision isn’t easy. How you play will affect what works best for you. Like, I prefer the Pashtet (a machete) and the Shotgun but there’s many different ways to go. The only way to find out is by trying them all out.
And remember the weapon upgrades I mentioned earlier? Well, there are different ways to upgrade your weapons as well. The gun upgrades kinda look the same. But the power attacks for melee weapons are wildly different from one another.
2. Many Fun, Optional Testing Grounds With Great Loot
The story of the game will take you through the major confrontations and facilities. But we all know that the real fun is in the side quests. Come on, I know you put off the Main Quest for the last when you’re playing an RPG!
While Atomic Heart doesn’t have side quests, it has plenty of content. These come in the form Testing Ground. The game basically takes place inside an experimental facility, and these Testing Grounds are labs for funky science stuff.
While there are no active quests telling you to beat these, there’s a lot of incentive to do so. They are dotted around the map and not so much out of your way. But most importantly, finishing these is how you get blueprints for new weapons and weapon upgrades. The loot is where it’s truly at.
1. Skills Have A Synergistic Effect When Used Together
This is another one of those things the game doesn’t explicitly tell you. But you can see it in action in the wild. And this is mainly true for the Polymer Jet skill.
This power basically shoots out clumps of polymer. And this thing takes on the property of whatever it touches. Fire, frost, electricity? You got it. You can set these elements on them by yourself, or it can even happen accidentally. Watch the first minute of the video to see a demo.
And you’re not the only one who will be using it, by the way. One of the bosses has the ability to do the same. On the other hand, you can use the synergistic effects against some of the other enemy’s default elements.
