A hardcore work with a unique artistic temperament.
On the world line of "Atomic Heart", which was far from reality, the Soviet Union ushered in great technological progress.
In 1936, a scientist named Sechenov invented a new material called a polymer. Based on this almost universal magical material, the Soviet Union mastered nuclear energy and robotics within a few years, greatly increasing productivity and freeing the population from manual labor to artistic creation and scientific research.
In 1939, World War II broke out, and the Soviet Union single-handedly pushed Nazi Germany. In 1951, Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin entered space for the first time, 10 years ahead of the real world line, and soon after, the Soviets successfully landed on the moon, and the arrangement of colonizing Mars was also put on the agenda.
Robot Parade
Sechenov has also developed "big collective" technology, an artificial intelligence-based neural network capable of linking robots together. In 1955, the more powerful "Big Collective 2.0" was about to be launched, and humans could be linked to neural networks simply by polymer injection, not only to control robots directly, but also to learn college-level courses overnight.
However, two days before the "Great Collective 2.0" was popularized, the Soviet scientific research center 3826, which was headed by Sechenov, fell into unprecedented chaos.
Most robots suddenly lose control and attack humans like crazy. The plants studied in the facility for "interstellar colonization" release leaf buds that parasitize humans, transforming humans into zombie-like bloodthirsty creatures.
Sechenov sent Agent Sergei Nechaev, codenamed P-3, to resolve the mess at facility 3826. As players, we will witness the core technology of the Soviet Union through the eyes of P-3, and at the same time participate in a high-tech Soviet-style political conspiracy to uncover the clouds above utopia.
Atompunk
Atomic Heart is an "atomic punk" game that cannot lack a dystopian component. The Soviet Union, which still had two days to enter the Datong society, actually had a lot of hidden dangers.
Facility 3826 is not a single building, but a complex of six complexes on the ground, plus the city of Chelomey in the sky; There are large and small villages around the complex.
Chelome, the city in the sky
After the crisis, surveillance cameras throughout the facility, drone base stations, and "civilian" robots produced by robotic assembly plants, with the help of neural networks, joined forces to start an efficient slaughter of residents. A laser curtain wall is lit up around the facility, and mortals die when they touch it.
3D printing technology can quickly repair destroyed robots
Some robots are not out of control, but the algorithms that write dead make them seem dead-headed, often making the P-3 and me in front of the screen half angry. The major complexes on the ground are connected by maglev cable cars, and the robots that can manage the maglev cable cars are equivalent to artificial mental retardation, forcing P-3 to buy tickets and not to start, completely ignoring the fact that the conductor has long died.
The hidden documentation in the game also states that, just as in this worldline today, humans are abusing artificial intelligence algorithms. There is a national economic exhibition park in the main process, and the administrator in it is using monitoring and algorithms to divide the intelligence level of tourists into three, six and nine, and then implement personalized arrangement of the order of the content visited by tourists.
Although the unique artistic style of "Atomic Heart" is all taken from the real Soviet Union. From the classic "tube tower" to the towering futuristic building, to the propaganda posters on the walls, and the statues of great men scattered everywhere, and even condensed milk and vodka in the loot, players are reminded of this.
Statue of Lenin built by robots
Condensed milk produced in Russia
But the Soviet Union of "Atomic Heart" has little to do with the actual Soviet Union, and accusations such as "promoting the Soviet legacy" are even more false. What further distinguishes this Soviet Union from reality is another characteristic of "atompunk": grandiose creations in a high-tech style, alternating with retro products of the last century, creating a familiar but unfamiliar look and feel.
For example, on the streets of Ciudad del Chelome, dial-style telephone booths and holographic projection screens will appear at the same time. Civilian families used computers with simple graphical interfaces, but recordings relied on a mechanically constructed gold pocket watch.
"Chirp Table"
Humans have not yet used artificial intelligence mapping technology, but quantum computers have been able to calculate and synthesize "future music". However, with this setting as a support, the heavy metal or electric sound played in some battle scenes is not so inconsistent.
In another part of the scene, the background music is replaced with famous classical music and opera fragments. For example, in one battle, P-3 carried a shotgun to headshoot a plant parasite that rushed up, while the background music played "Blue Danube".
Russian humor
Compared with other games with the Soviet Union as a background or imagery, "Atomic Heart" focuses more on showing a unique worldview structure and visual design, with little reflection on history or solutions to real-world problems.
It is very different from the style of serious works such as "Disco Elysium" or "Metro", and embodies more of a scathing humor and irony, much like a lifelike science fiction story told by Maozi who is full of national curses, meat jokes and hell jokes.
Arm yourself with heavy firepower Soviet old ladies
The protagonist P-3 is such a hairy man, resembling the unorthodox protagonist in games such as "Duke Doom" and "Shadow Warrior". In the process of wiping his boss Sechenov and facility 3826, P-3 complained about his own experience almost every three minutes and cursed the street every five minutes. His mantra is "Jioba is crisp", which can be roughly understood as "finished calf" in Northeast dialect.
...... You'd better say about the USSR
He was accompanied only by a polymer glove "Charles" with artificial intelligence built into his left hand. Like a Soviet encyclopedia, Charles told the purpose of facilities, buildings, and equipment, as well as the ability to hack into equipment, complementing the P-3, a two-pole man who only knew how to carry out orders.
Mouth slut (worker intelligence) instigated
but unexpectedly capable
Charles's words The tuberculosis attribute often irritated the P-3. However, through crosstalk throughout the game, a special revolutionary friendship gradually developed between P-3 and Charles. During the investigation of the conspiracy, Charles provides and combs through the information for P-3, who is responsible for reasoning and integrating conclusions.
After the crisis, there were few living people left in the facility who could talk to P-3 normally. In addition to the important characters in the main story, P-3 and Charles have to search for clues and even talk to dead people. Some Soviets have been injected with neuropolymers, which retain some of the memories before death in the polymer, and the corpses still have a certain ability to communicate before the polymer dissipates.
Scientists who die and still think about contributing to the motherland
If you don't get it right, it's a spit of official employees
Among the robots that have not yet lost control and can communicate, female robots are the majority. I am ashamed to say that the first elements of "Atomic Heart" to catch out of the circle are Sechenov's two female robot bodyguards "Zuo Ling" and "Right Ling". Their gestures carry a ballet dancer beauty, and the CG of the plot in which they appear is full of sexual innuendo.
It is a pity that Sechenov's bodyguards must have used the most cutting-edge technology, which belongs to rare existences, but they have not been able to make human faces and skin. In terms of setting, it will take at least five years to fully free the civilian robots on the street from the uncanny valley effect - and it is still unknown whether the P-3 will survive these two days in the game.
The so-called "Atomic Heart" has 6 hours of unspeakable content" has been confirmed as a rumor. However, after the collapse of the neural network, the civilian female robot "Tereshkova", who was violently frightened by the male robot and could not express fear because of the algorithm, could all say meat jokes for up to 6 hours.
As for Nora, the computer in the game responsible for creating weapons and upgrading skills for P-3, she has to play bundled play with P-3 from the beginning. Tereshkova and Nora will privately fight for the P-3, which is somewhat trivial, but absurd, and enough to alleviate the blood, curiosity, horror and oppressive atmosphere along the way.
In order to upgrade weapons, selling oneself is also a last resort
Hardcore gameplay
The grandeur of "Atomic Heart" is amazing, some hidden documents and recording sheets are well detailed, and P-3 and Charles' crosstalk always makes me laugh even low.
It's just that these superficial efforts can't hide the fact that "Atomic Heart" is a hardcore FPS game specially provided by Maozi.
Part of the game design seems to be deliberately increasing the difficulty. For example, the "sprint" button does not make the P-3 run, but only performs a displacement, which has a certain cooldown. In terms of setting, P-3, as an elite agent, has learned rock climbing and is said to be able to run a full horse, but can only walk in the game.
Plateau jumps that raise blood pressure
The early battles in the game are also not easy to handle. In particular, robot enemies with thick skin and flesh are difficult to fight with unupgraded weapons at hand to make obvious hard straightness, and can only scrape.
Reinforced iron bone
While melee weapons and gun attacks leave visible marks on enemies, they can also cause partial damage, revealing mechanical structures or flesh and blood inside.
However, enemies with only emptied health will be affected by part destruction. Except for a small number of bosses, there are no health bars that visually indicate the enemy's health. When P-3 takes damage, there is no clear indication on the screen, and the direction of the damage source is not marked, making the early battle as weak as hammer cotton.
The tutorial mentioned the importance of sneaking, and the benefits of sneaking are not high, and you need to press QTE wildly, which detracts from the life of the keyboard or handle. Dive in doesn't offer additional rewards, and there are no skills on the skill tree that provide substantial bonuses to Dive play.
And because of the limitations of the P-3's backpack and load, before upgrading the backpack, it is necessary to coordinate the weapons manufactured, as well as the bullets and medicines picked up, and carry out grid space management, so that the early combat experience is not like "Resident Shock", which the game has been paying tribute to, and more like "Resident Evil".
The excess supplies can be delivered to the warehouse, but the proportion of medicines and ammunition carried needs to be trade-offs
Each enemy has patience and weaknesses, which are known at a glance by Charles' scanning function in the gloves. Robots are generally more afraid of energy weapons or electromagnetic attacks, and organisms parasitized by leaf buds are more vulnerable to live weapons or flames.
You won't be able to get a full range of weapons and skills until you unlock the game's semi-open world.
For example, live weapons are powerful and only consume ammunition. Energy weapons do not require ammunition and consume the polymer energy of the P-3 itself. Melee weapons have a limited range of use, but they can regain energy when attacking. Almost all weapons can be upgraded, polymer mods can be installed, and attribute attacks can be used like enchantments. In addition, Charles the Glove can also learn powerful abilities such as electric shocks, freezing, moving animals with his mind, and releasing shields.
The ability to lift enemies into the air is very useful
Oppressive boss battles
Players don't have to worry about clicking the wrong skill or installing the wrong weapon's upgrade mod. When dismantling weapons or washing skill points, Nora will return the full amount of the material, allowing you to try different left- and left-handed combinations at will to find the most effective way to unload enemies.
Of course, the design of low-mobility and high-HP enemies still does not make the P-3 as unique as the Doom. But Atomic Hearts isn't exactly an FPS version of the Soul game, and on medium difficulty, medicines and supplies are definitely enough as long as you patiently collect materials.
The scraping process did not require the P-3 to manually rummage through the cabinets. Charles's ability to suck supplies out directly and automatically stuff them into the P-3 backpack is a joy no matter how many times you watch it.
In addition to the battles in the main line, there are eight testing grounds that serve as branch collection elements. This testing ground combines a small number of battles and a large number of puzzles in a form similar to a dungeon, and can be completed in less than half an hour. The rewards for clearing the level are mainly blueprints for weapons and accessories, and the materials used to upgrade are also quite abundant.
A large map similar to Halo Infinite
Puzzles that require a certain amount of spatial reasoning to solve
Even if the P-3 is "crispy" halfway, he is not afraid. The game will be automatically saved at some important story points, and there are too many places for manual saving. In addition, the developers also left the option to adjust the difficulty of the game at any time in the options menu.
The entertainment room used for archiving will have a CRT TV that plays cartoons
epilogue
Atomic Hearts is not a perfect game. It has the hardcore temperament of a Russian game, but it also ignores some of the humane needs, exposing significant flaws:
The prologue is too long and informative, which can easily cause visual and mental fatigue; The open-world map does not allow the placement of navigation points or teleportation, and it is quite difficult to run; There is no option to adjust the line of sight (FOV), and when entering a partially confined indoor scene, it can cause 3D vertigo...
The car on the street is probably Maozi's last mercy
But I still played "Atomic Heart" for 20 hours against 3D vertigo, obsessively exploring every corner of facility 3826, and still did not feel monotonous and complicated.
Developers may be inexperienced, but their obsession with building content deserves credit. The game they presented was worthy of the seven-year wait and achieved what another setting-focused game, Contempt, tried to do: a compelling setting, plenty of details worth digging, and relatively fleshed out gameplay.
While the game's developer, Mundfish, has been plagued by politically sensitive issues, those issues have nothing to do with the fact that Russia's gaming industry has taken a solid step forward.