Moscow-stationed developer Mundfish has given us more insight into upcoming adventure first person shooter, Atomic Heart, by way of a new official trailer. For all intents and purposes, the short video is an all-out assault on the senses and is as perplexing as it is captivating.
Surreal is the name of the game. From singular structures and colossal statues, to drab gore and advanced robotics, all contending against a mother nature intent on a seemingly inexorable reclaiming of a Soviet Landscape, Atomic Heart is odd at its core. Dilapidated trains, ramshackle concrete buildings, and a white fluffy humanoid creature with an apple stuck to their head also work to carve out a unique atmosphere.
A backing track of fanfare polka doesn’t help matters either, sitting oddly well with the bursts of violence against an array of enemies, including demonic clowns, technologically-modified undead, and automatons, whose designs verge on caricatural.
Mundfish offers little information other than the game taking place in ‘an alternate universe during the high noon of the Soviet Union.’ Their website displays a few cryptic lines that gravitate around a facility and a robot uprising headed by ‘seeker bots’, capable of tracking down non-robot entities. A certain Dr. Stockhausen seems a crucial piece of the puzzle notably when it comes to shady experiments involving reviving corpses. Finally, there is mention of two facility employees whose love story forms part of the game’s narrative arc.
We can gleam that sleek guns, makeshift barb wire-wrapped maces, and axes are among the weapons at the player’s disposal. A pull out shot of a map suggests a sizeable playground to romp around. We also get a brief glimpse of a female character who may, or may not be, important.
The trailer immediately rang Bioshock-sounding bells in my mind, not just because of the surrealism portrayed, but also because there is a sense that something is amiss; someone has meddled with something they shouldn’t have and it has all gone awry. A hearty helping of Paradigm, last year’s idiosyncratic standout point and click adventure set in a dystopian Soviet-inspired reality, and Fallout are also apparent.
Set for release on PC, PS4, and Xbox, Atomic Heart doesn’t yet have a release date though the game’s Steam page indicates 2018. We strongly recommend you take a gander at the trailer. The sheer strangeness is sure to mesmerize.
