Players got their hands onAtomic Heartthis past week, and reception to the title couldn’t be more mixed. While some critics praised the game’s setting andBioShock-inspired gameplay, others claimed thatAtomic Heart’s bloated narrativeand dialogue overwhelm the experience. The game’s protagonist, P-3, proved to be one ofAtomic Heart’s biggest problems, as his con nonsensical cursing and witty banter interrupted the sense of immersion for many players. Because of this,Atomic Hearthas been drawing negative comparisons to another recent release,Forspoken, which suffered significant backlash due to its dialogue in pre-release footage.
Atomic Hearttakes place in an alternate history USSR during 1955. In the game, the Soviets won WWII, leading to a 1950s in which the Soviet Union is a global superpower, with advanced scientific technology and a reliance on robotics. An experiment attempting to allow humans to control robots with their minds backfires, and the robots turn on humanity. The game’s protagonist, P-3, and his glove AI, Char-les, work together to defeat the corrupted robots and prevent an information leak that could threaten the entire planet. It is the interactions between P-3 and Char-les that draw the biggest comparisons toForspoken.Though similarities exist,Atomic Hearttakes out-of-place dialogue to the extreme.
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Atomic Heart’s Dialogue Has Fewer Excuses Than Forspoken’s
Forspokendrew a lot of pre-release attention because of its protagonist, Frey, and her conversations with her wrist-worn companion, Cuff, supposedly clashing with the game’s fantasy-inspired world. However, players who finished the game found that some ofForspoken’s “worst” dialogue proved essentialto its plot. In addition, Frey’s cursing and phraseology could be attributed to the character having been transported to Athia from modern-day New York City.Atomic Heart’s dialogue, on the other hand, failed to justify its inclusion in any way.
The dialogue is a major reason whyAtomic Hearthas split critics. The title’s protagonist stands out due to his incessant, unique cursing and modern phraseology despite the game taking place in 1955. Unlike Frey, P-3 is supposed to be a character from within the game’s setting, making his dialogue even more jarring as players navigateAtomic Heart’s Soviet landscape. Likewise, his banter with glove-AI Char-les, much like Frey’s with Cuff, leaves little room for interpretation.
Nearly every step of the campaign’s journey is marked by a curse or comment from P-3 toward Char-les. Whereas Frey used appropriately modern, albeit juvenile, language that some could consider situationally appropriate, P-3’s dialogue is among the most over-the-top and out-of-place in modern memory. Out of place lines are uttered by P-3 at the slightest hint of inconvenience, removing any ties toAtomic Heart’s setting. There are no excuses as to why the character was written this way, but some players hope the game’s DLC will see the problem remedied.
Atomic Heart’s Comparisons are Holding It Back
Much likeForspoken,Atomic Heartsuffers from the weight of expectations. SinceAtomic Heartwas announced in 2017, players have eagerly awaited a title that promised to be the next big RPG shooter. Now that it’s in their hands, some players are disappointed byAtomic Heart’s reliance on its sci-fi shooter predecessors. The influences of the Bioshock era permeate nearly every inch of its gameplay, resulting in a game that looks modern but feels like a relic of the past. That, combined with its jarring similarities toForspoken’s dialogue and support character, is leading some players to skip the game altogether.
Atomic Heartis not altogether a bad game, but comparisons to other titles are warranted. DeveloperMundfish is working to improveAtomic Heartin response to technical player feedback. However, the title’s most significant problems lie in its foundation. Future plans for DLC offer the chance for Mundfish to align the game’s dialogue and setting more naturally. AsAtomic Heartis incredibly divisive, it’s unlikely that tweaks to the title can please everyone. Fans on both sides eagerly await updates toAtomic Heartand hope to see the game overcome its areas of weakness.
Atomic Heartis available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
