Atomic Heart News

Atomic Heart is still pumping along, and there's a new gameplay sequence available now that features some irritable plants, upsetting models, and a vicious-looking boss made of tendons and hatred. The video, which developer Mundfish posted yesterday, also features a score by Doom composer Mick Gordon. Let's dive right in, shall we?

Atomic Heart is a surreal Bioshock-style game set in a strange and mysterious Soviet sci-fi world. We don't know a whole lot about the game yet, but it's a first-person shooter that has you exploring research facilities crawling with the products of various experiments. You see a lot of those in the footage below: as our hero enters the lavishly appointed facility, he's quickly set upon by some extremely hostile potted plants.

Interestingly, the demo only shows off melee combat, even though the protagonist starts out holding what looks like a railgun of some kind. When the houseplants attack, he pulls out a two-handed weapon topped with two rotating circular saw blades. It's heavy and slow, and the footage shows a lot of missed swings in the heat of combat.

Read the rest of the story...

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• Can you play the game as a shoot and run game? Do you need to conserve ammo like Prey 2017 or will there be a lot of ammo like BioShock?
  Atomic Heart in some sense, is a “run n' gun” game. But you must add “if” and “then”: “if you shoot then run. Everything is set up in a way that it’s not advised to make noise as the Kollectiv network has threat mechanics. The network will harshly react to perpetrators and a loud gunshot is a serious reason to react - by sending a new party of robots to your location. Nevertheless, you will have to shoot as sometimes it's a matter of survival. As for the consequences - you’ll handle that later.
  
  
• Is the game gonna be an immersive sim?
  We are not striving to match the genre to the letter and canonically follow it. However, we can say for sure that the game is perceived as a mixture of a hurricane melee combat, shooter, and immersive sim. At least everyone who has played games of this genre and tried Atomic Heart says exactly this :)
  
  
• Will we have companions in the game?
  There is one companion in the game. But he just keeps talking and talking. No one will help you finish the game, don’t get your hopes up. The artificial intelligence in the game, even if it pretends to be a companion, will still try to kill you in the end.
  
  
• Is this going to be a full-on fiction soviet game or have some historical elements in it?
  We are not trying to make a historically accurate game. The game tells about the events of those years such as the Great Patriotic War (World War ll for those born outside of the USSR) and other significant historical events. But there definitely will be people who will think that we have gone crazy and mixed the events of quite different years into a single tight bundle. We will not convince anyone - perhaps we are really crazy.
  
  
• Will spears and polearms be used realistically? Like spears are almost only stabbing, and polearms like a halberd is a whirling storm of death and destruction?
  Halberd? Whirling storm of death? In the USSR? Great, we’ll think about it!
  
  
• Will there be optional or side quests available in the game?
  Of course there are side quests. There are not many of them, after all the game is not about that - the side quests will complement the plot, reveal it a bit more. But there will be quite a few puzzles that will force you to properly strain your brain.
  
  
• Will there be a perk/skill tree level-up system?
  The player doesn't have levels but you can acquire skills with interesting mechanics that may be combined with each other.
  
  
• How many guns and melee weapons will be available in the full game?
  There will be at least 10 of each type.
  
  
• Will there be any crafting system in the game?
  Yes, surely, crafting will take a special place in the game. You can and need to craft quite many things during your playthrough and you’ll have to gather resources for that. We tried to make the crafting system as consistent as possible - there are no game conventions like in arcade shooters. A certain tactical approach is required to efficiently gather resources. Simply put - the harder you hit the robots, the more they break and the less useful resources they have, but on the other hand, this does not mean that the game provokes you for full stealth. Everything is much more flexible and more complicated.
  
  
• Will there be stats on your character and/or on your weapons to make them better, like mods?
  The system of modifications is called “cassettes”. We won’t elaborate on it for now.
  
  
• How robust is the weapon customization gonna be? Is there going to be a weapon progression or an equipment based upgrade system?
  The weapons could be upgraded and made stronger and more precise. You may install special modules in certain weapons for special attacks.
  
  
• Will there be multiple endings and will your choices affect the story?
  That’s a secret. ;)
  
  
• Did you put hidden collectibles or easter eggs in the game?
  Yes, we too love jokes and references to other legendary works!
  
  
• Will there really be condensed milk in the game?
  Atomic Heart is the most expensive ad for condensed milk on the planet. We’re joking! In the universe! Yes, there will be.
  
  
• Will there be an opportunity to see more of the game soon? To the general public and the media?
  There will for sure be more chances coming soon. Stay tuned!
  
  
• Will there be a way to control the robots in-game to turn them against each other?
  This mechanic is not as fun as it may seem. Surely, some of the robots may be set against each other but this cannot be done with all of them.
  
  
• Is stealth a viable option for a playthrough?
  You can go stealth in some places but to finish the game full stealth is not possible. We did not set such a goal and we don’t see much sense in it - the combat in the game gives a lot of pleasure in our opinion and depriving ourselves of combat for the sake of stealth is not the best solution for our game.
  
  
• Does Atomic Heart have multiple difficulty levels?
  There will be 2 difficulty levels in Atomic Heart.
  The first one is “hardcore” difficulty for veterans of the Souls-like genre and those who like a serious challenge.
  We use this mode as a reference when working on the balance and combat system of our game.
  
  But we didn’t forget about other players as well. The second difficulty level is “Story playthrough”, in which we adapted gameplay so that the world of Atomic Heart could be enjoyed by a wider audience. There will be no hardcore challenges and no “platinum” trophy for completing the game as well. You can compare this level of difficulty with Bioshock.
  
  However, the combat system and gameplay are thoroughly adapted to both difficulty levels for experienced and casual gamers to enjoy.
  
  
• Will there be a photomode?
  We didn’t plan it yet. But if we’ll have some time left we may try to add it, but let’s not make promises.
  

• What stage of development is Atomic Heart in?
  All of the game’s functions, mechanics, and systems are written and functioning. Most of the features are polished and are already in the game. Currently, we are scaling the content, adjusting the combat, improving the shooting, adding micro-cutscenes where necessary, implementing story cutscenes, and everything related to the narrative of the game. This is the most important stage in terms of the direction of the game as a whole piece. We are quite close to the point where the game can be seen in its entirety, with highly detailed levels, mechanics, animations, and sound. This is a very important stage - it actually becomes clear how the game works in terms of their impact on the emotions of the player. This allows you to move from the perception of mechanics and individual levels - from particulars - to a more general understanding of things as a whole. It allows us to track things that were less clear from the closer view and improve them. In other words, the game is at the polishing stage.
  
  
• Is the map concept you’ve shown on the first trailer (not the teaser) still the same? If we are talking about the visual concept of the map - it changed quite a lot - almost completely. At the moment of the trailer release, the map was working as it was shown but during development, it went through several iterations and was reimagined, and changed drastically, both technically and visually. We think that all the changes that happened to the map made it much better.
  
  
• When will we see the first dev diaries (since they were confirmed a while ago)? Dev diaries are currently in the production and we are going to share them with you very soon. We have a particular concept of what we should include in the diaries - we want to show many aspects of the production and one of those aspects is the narrative, filming, and production of which is a thing of great interest for such a blog. Unfortunately, the pandemic took its toll and our filming plans moved quite a bit. Just be patient one last bit and your patience will be greatly rewarded!
  
  
• What's the reason behind the sudden design changes with P3’s outfit? From a standard coat with leather gloves to a jumpsuit with one singular glove.
  In 2018, during the trailer production, we haven’t finally decided where the game would start. It was an important question since it dictates what clothes would P3 wear. In the end, we decided that the game would start in the Vavilov complex, in the laboratory on the top floor of the research institute. That’s why he’s wearing a standard Facility worker outfit. Speaking of why P3 lost one of his gloves - it’s connected to the super abilities. Back then we thought that both of the hands would have the augmentations but during the development, we’ve come to the conclusion that only one left hand should be augmented. Hence, we took off his right glove.
  
  
• What was the main inspiration for the game?
  We don’t have a single source of inspiration, meaning our inspiration doesn’t come from a singular source. We’ve been influenced by many modern and not so modern works. Strugatsky brothers, TV series such as Black Mirror and games like Dark Souls or Dead Space. To be frank, inspiration comes to us from everywhere. Atomic Heart is a unique project in many ways. From a first glance, it may look like a Bioshock series - you may have such an impression from some of the trailers but as you dig deeper this appears to be only the first layer, and we have many more of those layers.
  
  
• Will there be a new trailer released soon?
  Yes, we will have a new one soon.
  
  
• Who will be the voice of P3 (both English and Russian versions)?
  P3 will be voiced by the actor who plays him in-game. No one will perform it better than him in Russian. We’ve checked many options but concluded that the most authentic way is to play yourself. We have not discussed the English version yet, it is better to film/voice-over all the narrative parts and then consider the best actor for the English version of P3.
  
  
• Will there be a digital or maybe even physical soundtrack released along with the game?
  We have lots of music - we compose it ourselves and work with famous authors. Even if the game won’t have a physical release we will add the soundtrack to some of the streaming platforms for sure. The question is what platform to use, but it’s too early to discuss this.
  
  
• What developmental challenges have the Mundfish team had to face during the continuing production of Atomic Heart? What have you learned from these challenges?
  During the development of such a large-scale project, there are always many challenges. One of the recent challenges is surely the Covid-19 pandemic - the pandemic has made its adjustments to the filming schedule of story cutscenes for the game.
  
  
• Will the game’s combat feature gore?
  The combat is quite gory, as well as the rest of the game. You will experience plenty of GORE!
  
  
• Can you pet the dog?
  No, we don’t have dogs. But you may pet a pig. Do you like petting pigs? You’ll know when you pet one in Atomic Heart.
  
  
• How will the Lore be elaborated in the game?
  Atomic Heart lore is developed as much as possible for a game of this genre. There are many different entities in the game variously intertwined with the complex systems and interconnections between each other. Some of the entities, such as the “Kollective” ecosystem affect how the robots interact with each other in-game and during the game, you can study how they work, try different interactions, and see how the system reacts to such actions. Each robot, each creature, and technology in the game has its own aim and purpose. All studies that were carried out at the Complex are described in great detail - each study had its own “initiator” - a scientist or an engineer with their own background, motivation, and social rating. The player often hears the radio broadcast which immerses him in the events of that time, he reads the correspondence of the perished employees. There you can hear the political debates on Polymer Education and so-called “attracting audio clips” (they avoided the concept of advertising), and these audio messages reveal the essence and purpose of the many technologies of the Facility.
  At the main Exhibition - VDNKh - you may find lots of information about the lore of the game - it is probably the largest narrative-vise dungeon of the game.
  
  
• About how large is the world planned to be?
  The world size is not so huge for the modern standard but it is filled with absolutely incredible events. We strive not to spread the thinnest layer of butter over a tremendous piece of bread. We do the opposite - create concentrated pleasure for the player, bring them the experiences that they won’t get in other games. In such context size of the world no longer matters
  
  
• How long will it take to finish the game? (approximately)
  It will take 20 hours to finish the main story. But in order to properly understand it, most likely you’ll need to do it several times.
  
  
• Will the game be dubbed in different languages or subtitled only?
  We’ll have the subtitles on all main languages. Both Russian and English will definitely be dubbed. Voice acting for other languages is still under discussion.
  
  
• Will Atomic Heart still have glory kills\ finishers?
  Yes, we have finishers but mostly they will be used during “shock kills”. We also have the concept of a reverse finisher where players have dozens of ways to perish - we try to diversify these terrible demises to make them as impressive as possible.
  
  
• Will the inventory be limited or can we use any amount of weapons, resources, and other
  necessary items?
  The inventory is not limited but will give you stamina debuff when you are encumbered which affects your agility and reaction. So tidying up your inventory is a must.
  
  
• What kind of Robots will be featured? Will there be friendly bots to help you throughout the game or will all robots be hostile?
  You’ll definitely find some friendly robots. But you will mostly find extravagant enemies that are fun to fight.
  
  
• Will there be any player customization? Like clothing or hairstyles?
  There is no hair and outfit customization. Major Nechaev has only 3 days to solve all the problems, he doesn't have time for dress up and haircuts.
  
  
• Will there be a female playable character?
  The plot was originally written from the point of P3, a man, KGB officer. In the early stages of the development, we considered the option to choose the player’s gender but in the end, we decided that the value of such choice is controversial in relation to the cost of voice-over, duplication of lore elements, filming, animations, and thousands of other things that this decision requires.