Review: Atomic Heart

destructoid.com:

Yesterday, my Review in Progress for Atomic Heart went live, focusing on a few of my thoughts covering the first ten hours of the game. When I submitted my draft for edits, I honestly didn’t know where I stood with the game.

There were elements I liked about it, mostly centered around its art direction, as well as some design choices that didn’t necessarily sit well with me. With a lot of games, ten hours is more than enough time to draw a clear conclusion about how you feel about it. With Atomic Heart, I needed to see it through to the end.

And then I needed to see it through to its other end.

Atomic Heart (PC, PS4, PS5 [reviewed], Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S)Developer: MundfishPublisher: Focus EntertainmentReleased: February 21, 2023MSRP: $69.99 ($59.99 on Steam)

The opening moments of Atomic Heart can best be described as a Stalinist’s wet dream with how it depicts its idealized vision of the Soviet Union. A city, floating in the clouds, with people lining its streets and waterways conversing about how great life is under communist rule as they prepare to learn about the future of their empire. Dmitry Sechenov, arguably the most famous scientist in all of the Soviet Union, is set to unveil Kollectiv 2.0, a neural network that will connect all Soviets using a small invention known as the THOUGHT.

Its full launch is imminent, but before it can be brought online, some matters need handling. Back on the surface world, an area known as Facility 3826 is no longer operational. Robots, built with a substance known as Polymer that has been the backbone of the Soviet’s successes, have lost control and killed most of the workers at the facility. To mitigate this disaster, Sechenov employs Major P-3, who, along with his