Atomic Heart, the dystopian sci-fi shooter from developer Mundfish, has been released as the debut title for the studio. Although fans have been waiting quite a while to see this game finally realized, Atomic Heart seems to be drawing drastically different opinions on its gameplay, story, and characters. With critics so split on how this game stacks up to other, similar titles, it can be difficult for interested players to get a good grasp on whether they will enjoy the game or not.
Divisive games like Atomic Heart do not necessarily fall into the category of wholly good or wholly bad. Instead, it's often more indicative of a game being geared towards a specific type of audience, with those outside of that audience not finding the same things enjoyable about it. In other cases, it could mean that the good parts of the game are really good, but the bad parts can significantly detract from the experience and a player's opinion may depend on how much one can look past the game's shortcomings. Atomic Heart seems to fall into both of these categories, resulting in a mixed bag of reviews.
Atomic Heart Has Several Elements that Critics Can't Seem to Agree On
While there are a lot of things critics disagree on, there are a few points on which most can agree. The game's world and aesthetic are almost universally praised as hauntingly beautiful interpretations of the alternate history, atom-punk feel the game was going for. There has also been praise for Atomic Heart's technical performance being generally solid across the board, despite a few bugs and missing features. From a visual standpoint, critics are mostly in agreement that the game stands out as an example of fantastic world design.
Where things start to differ from critic to critic is in the nitty-gritty of the game's story, characters, and gameplay design. Many claim the game is held back by the over-the-top dialogue of its protagonist, P-3, while others don't mind the cliché quips. While some critics enjoy the game's combat, others find it lacks depth or impact, with melee combat in particular being both praised as the best aspect by some and criticized as lacking a satisfying oomph when hitting enemies by others. Enemies are another point of difference, where some enjoy Atomic Heart's bizarre enemies and bosses as others feel they lack depth and that combat encounters get repetitive too quickly.
Atomic Heart seems to be quite the ambitious title, to both its benefit and its detriment, which is likely the main cause of such a wide range of reviews. While pushing the envelope of the genre in a lot of ways, reviews for Atomic Heart make it clear that the game tries to include a lot of different mechanics, with some being more fleshed out than others. The result of this design choice, while impressive for Mundfish's first title, means that elements of the game will resonate differently with players depending on their preferred style of game.
The divide between critics seems to boil down to how much they appreciate the experience developer Mundfish has created for their debut title and how much they can look past its shortcomings. While Atomic Heart may be a flawed game, it still has its appeal as evidenced by the praise it has already received. For potential players trying to navigate the sea of conflicting reviews, the best course of action would be to keep expectations in check and decide what elements of a game they think are most important for an enjoyable experience.
Atomic Heart is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
