Atomic Heart review – Bioshock in the USSR
It’s been over a decade since the last Bioshock but perhaps this homage set in an alternative version of Soviet Russia can make up for it?
February 21 is the day Vladmir Putin signing a decree that recognised the independence of multiple regions in eastern Ukraine, an act which only two days later led to the Russian invasion of the country. It’s also the release date of Atomic Heart, a new first person shooter that’s heavily influenced by Bioshock and set in an alternative universe where the Soviet Union prospered and became a technological powerhouse.
Developer Mundfish has for months been fielding accusations of secretly being a Russian studio and has been forced to deny it was using its website to harvest data for the Russian government. Officially, the studio is based in Cyprus and has a team made up of developers from 10 different countries, but despite insistences that it’s a ‘pro-peace organisation’ they’ve made no attempt to change the release date even slightly.
As a result, composer Mick Gordon has ended up donating his fee to the Red Cross’ Ukrainian appeal. Between this and Hogwarts Legacy, 2023 has made judging a game purely on its own merits far more difficult than it used to be. Although, if nothing else, the verdicts on the two games are unambiguous: Hogwarts Legacy is a very good game and Atomic Heart… is not.
It’s 10 years since Bioshock Infinite, and 16 since the original game, and so it is a very long time since the series was considered a brave new direction for first person shooters. Partially influenced by old school action adventures such as System Shock (what today is known, to our constant irritation, as an immersive sim), the original three games combined standard first person action with complex story themes that have tackled everything from objectivism to religious zealotry.
The idea of exploring a dystopian world run by an obsessed ideologue is not the typical set-up for an action video game and in Atomic Heart the concept is that the Soviet Union unlocked the secrets of artificial intelligence and robotics in the 1930s, completely replacing the working class. The game begins just as the government is about to upgrade to version 2.0, allowing humans to control robots remotely and connect together in a cross between the modern internet and a sci-fi hivemind.
You play as Major Sergei Nechaev, who is tasked with investigating an underground facility where something has gone terribly wrong with the update, which has already been uploaded into his head. Like all good science fiction, the real thrust of the story is about the modern world – not what is to come – as you begin to realise that your and Sergei’s view of the game world is being manipulated by distorted and cherry-picked information.
As interesting as this is in theory Atomic Heart fumbles the implementation, in large part because Sergei is such a horribly unlikeable character. For no adequately explored reason, he’s unreasonably angry and unpleasant to everyone he meets. And even if he wasn’t he knowingly, and proudly, ignores the wider implications of his mission, which apart from anything else robs him of any chance of an interesting character arc.
Sergei’s mean-spirited quips are horribly unamusing, giving the impression that he spends all his spare time on the 1950s equivalent of 4chan. Although the sentient AI weapons vendor is almost as unpleasant, with a line in sexual innuendo that is so uncomfortably unfunny we thought we’d misheard it at first.
The action is more accomplished than the storytelling but, as with everything else, it relies too much on Bioshock as a template, without accounting for how old those games now are. You can use both traditional weapons and what are essentially magic abilities – including telekinesis and fire, electricity, and ice powers – via a talking glove called Charles, who is a far more engaging and sympathetic character than Sergei.
As weird as that sounds it rarely leads to any especially interesting combat encounters, although the emphasis on freezing and shock powers does match up neatly with the idea that most enemies are faster than you and attack in groups. Although you would’ve hoped that the developer might’ve realised that some kind of block was needed for the melee combat, which dominates the first several hours of the game.
Without that extra tactical element fisticuffs just become a dull slog through endless hordes of enemies, with the game delighting in sending in reinforcements, or reviving fallen enemies, to make some encounters feel like they go on forever. The magic abilities are fun, but the conventional weapons are merely ordinary and not interesting enough to overcome the unoriginal action.
At least telekinesis has an interesting use, as it’s employed to empty a room, including downed enemies, of useful items. This is a neat visual effect when it happens and the weapon upgrades and new equipment you craft, with the collected resources, are all very handy. It also helps that it’s one of the few things that hasn’t been copy and pasted from Bioshock.
If you think we’re overplaying the similarities, consider the fact that the first location in the game is a city in the clouds and one of the last is an ominous lighthouse. Oh, and by far the best section of the game involves pursing a deranged would-be artist through a theatre, where he displays people and robots as works of art.
Not everything is copied from Bioshock but perhaps it should’ve been, as the surprisingly frequent platform sections are horribly frustrating and imprecise. The large open world area that links the more linear section is also completely pointless, with nothing of interest to do but try to reach the next story mission as quickly as possible. Although given how convoluted those objectives are, a reason to put them off would’ve been welcome.
The most disappointing games are always those filled with the most potential and Atomic Heart is no different. The graphics and visual design are great – Soviet era art and iconography is nothing if not memorable – and the game is clearly trying to say something about how both communism and capitalism manipulate ordinary people for the benefit of a small minority; as well as the dangers of only accepting information that reinforces what you already believe.
The game never gets its points across clearly though and certainly doesn’t provide much entertainment as you struggle along, hoping for some kind of revelation to come from either the plot or the gameplay. It never does though and in the end the only significant achievement Atomic Heart can claim is making you wish Bioshock 4 would arrive all the sooner.
In Short: The mix of highbrow story concept and complex first person combat is certainly reminiscent of Bioshock, but this churlish homage has nowhere near the same nuance in terms of either plot or gameplay.
Pros: The setting is interesting and the graphics and art design are excellent. The magic abilities can be fun and there’s an impressive amount of upgrades. Neat loot collection system.
Cons: One of the most unpleasant protagonists in recent gaming history, that constantly undermines the already muddled storytelling. Tedious mission objectives, awful platforming, and a pointless open world hub.
Score: 5/10
Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and PC
Price: £59.99
Publisher: Focus Entertainment
Developer: Mundfish
Release Date: 21st February 2023
Age Rating: 18
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