Atomic Heart's lustful fridge has people grossed-out, confused, inexplicably thirsty
Atomic Heart(opens in new tab) is currently sitting pretty on Steam with over 5,000 reviews rating the game 'very positive', despite the wider controversy about the game's origins(opens in new tab). The top review at the moment, however, summarises something that every player of Atomic Heart has to confront. Recommending the game after around 90 hours played, Matt_KPLS's review says only: «BRB, i'm going to the kitchen to f*ck the fridge.»
One of the most bizarre elements of Atomic Heart is a vending machine called Nora that the player has to interact with after being attacked by it in a cutscene. With the aid of your glove, the attack is fought off, the appliance is beaten, and… things take a turn for the very weird. In some sort of transplant of a sub/dom fetish onto an appliance, the machine begins to treat you as its master and propositions you repeatedly in grossly sexual terms.
Reaction to this is mixed, but there is certainly reaction. Some people are very enthusiastic about it, in fact. «YES NORA YOU CAN TIE ME TO THE BED,» reads Nyceur's positive review(opens in new tab). «That Fridge made me question my sexuality,» writes DashiVR(opens in new tab), «Samsung get on this!»
Other players seem less sure how to take it. «I can check 'get raped by a fridge' off my bucket list now,» writes Exderon(opens in new tab). Kaif simply says(opens in new tab) «The fridge touched me.» D offers an alternative name for Atomic Heart(opens in new tab): «Refrigerator Sexual Harassment Simulator 2023.»
«Rebellious dominant men turn me on,» Nora says to the player during their first meeting. «What a brute! I love tough guys, I'm on fire!» The appliance gets even more explicit, and the moment it crossed the Rubicon for me was when Nora
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