Atomic Heart could have been the next BioShock

Atomic Heart wears its BioShock influences on its sleeve. Both video games place first-person journey mechanics in elaborate utopias gone flawed. Both function verbose, bombastic leaders lifeless set on making their grandiose goals into actuality; fight repertoires combine conventional weapons with in-game “magic” (as an alternative of BioShock’s Plasmids or BioShock Infinite’s Vigors, we have Atomic Heart’s Polymers); a confused, amnesiac foremost character has mysterious ties to stated chief, forming the narrative crux.

Yet, crucially, Atomic Heart fails to nail down what made the BioShock collection — as divisive as it’s — work: a eager laser-focus on a number of central themes.

Instead of rigorously weaving a textured dimension to its plot and gameplay, Atomic Heart developer Mundfish solid its web large. And by embracing a lot, it held onto little or no. This lack of focus, whether or not intentional or not, on cautious narrative threading in favor of paint bombs of set items leads to a imprecise sketch of BioShock reasonably than an in depth reimagining. None of that is to say the chum of its writing bloodying the waters of its world, or the incessant whining and unjustified antagonism of its unlikeable protagonist, all inside a haphazard mess of ranges that wanted extra modifying, no more selection.

While my preliminary impressions of the recreation have been (and stay) extremely favorable, and I do suggest attempting it on Game Pass — simply not shopping for it — I can not assist however be underwhelmed by the consistency of the recreation’s inconsistencies. While the retro Soviet “aesthetic” is distinguished, that bombastic, stunning opening theme is deserted in favor of occasional notes. It’s symphony greater than solo.

Image: Mundfish/Focus Entertainment, 4Divinity

This illness of range seeps into the bones of gameplay too. While Atomic Heart’s strategy is initially enjoyable — it jumps from areas replete with plant zombies to areas with hulking monsters — it rapidly appears like the designers took the kitchen sink strategy. There is not any connection between these sections of the world, and because of this, the recreation feels extra like a patchwork, reasonably than a number of sturdy concepts which might be progressively iterated upon in every subsequent stage.

Crucial components of the recreation happen in underground amenities — attention-grabbing, initially haunting, stunning corridors — however when Mundfish thrust me into Atomic Heart’s open world, I really thought-about turning the recreation off.

In the recreation’s semi-open world, the murky depths of an empire’s fragmented failings are deserted in favor of a garish pastoral setting. The area is large open, and crammed with safety cameras and robots and machines that make extra robots when alerted by stated safety cameras. Everything you spent hours studying is deserted — Atomic Heart’s open world would possibly as effectively be a totally completely different recreation. Filled with robots which might be endlessly repaired and swarms of bullet-sponge enemies which might be positioned at nearly each nook, these open-world areas are a few of the worst-designed areas I’ve encountered.

Image: Mundfish/Focus Entertainment, 4Divinity

Aside from enjoying host to quite a few helpful crafting supplies, I counsel — in case you insist on persevering with — skipping the open world altogether. The recreation is stingy with ammo which you’re higher off saving for hall fights and boss battles.

After all, let me repeat: Atomic Heart’s open-world robots endlessly respawn. I can not fathom this design alternative or why it’s so antagonistic to your presence. Even FromSoftware video games, well-known for his or her worlds’ antagonism towards gamers, semi-permanently kill enemies.

But the open-world design is illustrative of the wider level: The recreation is attempting to do every little thing and subsequently wins at nearly nothing. BioShock had huge stunning areas, however didn’t inject such design into gameplay — there was no must diversify its focus, because it caught to at least one theme and performed it. Atomic Heart, in its try at complexity, spins a thousand plates and drops many. If the builders had hewed extra intently to BioShock, it could have caught to its underground amenities, enjoying rigorously to its core theme. It would have made a typically pleasing recreation right into a memorable one.