Atomic Heart Review
Atomic Heart is a first-person shooter set in an alternate timeline where the soviet union flourished after World War 2. They have flying cities and advanced robots to do all the work so humans can focus on art and science. As usual in a socialist society those with power want total control over society and to bend everyone to their vision of how things should be. As usual in a game like this, things go wrong. Either accidentally or intentionally the robots go crazy and begin killing humans. You, as a military specialist with some gaps in your memory, are tasked with sorting things out by your boss who is also the big brain behind these modern marvels that have run wild.
Visually, the game looks fantastic. It's very colorful with a good amount of detail in the environment. The NPCs and voice acting are well done with some unique and witty characters such as your glove that gives you advice and abilities. There is also a vending machine that you use to upgrade your glove and weapons seems downright demented. She sounds as if she wants to murder you as well as have sex with you. It's very unnerving yet hilarious.
The gameplay has decent shooting mechanics and a healthy variety of weapons and powers are all upgradeable. I started my original playthrough on normal difficulty but found it rather tough. The robots are extremely fast and mobile making it very hard to dodge or hit them. If a humanoid robot grabs you there are two chances to escape it if you miss timing a button press, it kills you. I ended up having to restart on the easy difficulty because I was dying too often and it was costing too much ammo to take down an enemy. There is a stealth element where you can sneak up on enemies and take them out but rarely an opportunity to use it.
On a scale of one to ten, I would give this game an eight. It's good but not perfect. I would definitely recommend playing it if you like first-person shooters. The game is frustrating on harder difficulty settings and it's rarely clear what to do with some puzzles and boss fights but all can be figured out with some repetition. And if you're bad with things that require accurate timing, the lock-picking aspect of the game will drive you nuts. Atomic Heart is now available on game pass, so if you have a subscription you should definitely try it. Otherwise, wait for it to go on sale.