Atomic Heart

It just gets better and better
Disclaimer: I play with all assist on and on easy mode, life is stressful enough already. Don't be ashamed wanting to actually enjoy a game without it getting annoying.

Atomic Heart plays something like a mix between BioShock and Half-Life. While some aspects of the game are genius, others feel bafflingly amateurish.
On one hand you have the presentation. Mundfish takes some big swings and most of them connect. The visuals impress, both on a technical and design level. Environments and set pieces are detailed and often impressively creative. The sound also deserves mention. Music is eclectic, but the quality undeniable. You won't like every piece, but you're sure to love some of them.
On the other hand, you have the gameplay. Endlessly spawning, self-repairing enemies. Dull, tedious fetch quests and puzzles. Repeatedly entering/exiting different menus and rewatching long-winded animations. Several times I asked myself: "Am I doing this right? Is this really how I'm supposed to play?"
Despite introducing a lot of cool high-level sf concepts, the story somehow manages to feel quite uninteresting. It's also laughably contrived. Throughout the story, basically every named character is revealed to be working for the opposite side. I also found the tone a little strange, it definitely feels like something was lost in translation (and the English dub doesn't help).
A severely flawed but commendably bold and ambitious game. A unique experience. Weakest of recommends.
Good to know:
Quite difficult
Fully playable on the Steam Deck
100ish GB install

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☐ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☑ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☐ Big
☑ Will eat 15% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult

---{ Grind }---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☑ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☑ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☑ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☑ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10

Yes, after playing 310 hours, I finally decided to write something; not a traditional review, but something.
Though it has nothing to do with the time I spent playing, but the fact that Atomic Heart II was announced yesterday.

Honestly, the deserved success of this game - which was the first game Mundfish has made - allowing the developers to create a sequel is pretty touching, knowing the difficulties they had to go through along the way.

The misinformation, blind hate, xenophobia and entire smear campaigns aimed at the game and the developer team simply due to their ethnicity was very sad, even infuriating, personally.

Despite all the hardships they were faced with, Atomic Heart rightfully took its place as a great game, and perhaps the best one I've played in years.
It's not for everyone, I'll freely admit that. But damn was it exactly for me; not only thanks to the insanely fun and versatile gameplay mechanics, but due to the story, characters and world building containing certain aspects and cultural details which an Eastern European appreciates more. :)))

All in all, I'm extremely grateful for the game and its continued support, - DLC 4 will certainly be a blast - and wish the best to the Mundfish devs in the next few years while they're making Atomic Heart II!
Good luck guys!

Is it the best game ever? No.
Should you still play it? Yes.

Good:
+Solid shooter.
+Puzzles are good, some just way too easy.
+DLC 1: Alternative ending.
+DLC 2: Fun gameplay: Surfing, Subway Surfer and platforming while main plot continues.
+DLC 3: Main story continues in traditional gameplay but it's better than main game.
+Ballerinas

Neutral:
-DLC 4: Still in production so I have to wait for it.
-Door mini puzzles become boring after while (accessibility has option for auto solve).

Bad:
-Open world enemies get repaired (infinite respawn, you can just avoid them or blast them with end game weapons easily).

Other:
-Atomic Heart 2 and The CUBE has been announced, can't wait to play them.

I would probably give this a mixed/neutral rating if I could.
All you need to know is this was the devs first time working on a game ever. And it shows in the jank and design choices.
There will be some frustration, but the world and lore is pretty interesting.
Tip: In accessibility settings turn on auto puzzle solving. It just solves the stupid time waster lockpick door puzzles automatically. They appear too often and add literally nothing.

Verdict: ⭐⭐⭐ (3/5) – “A visual feast served on a plate of chores.”

Atomic Heart is a rare breed of game: it is simultaneously one of the most imaginative shooters in recent years and one of the most deeply irritating experiences to actually play. It feels like a high-budget Soviet fever dream that was built by geniuses but balanced by people who hate your free time.

The Good: A World Like No Other
Visually, the game is a 10/10. The "Soviet-futurism" aesthetic is breathtaking, blending 1950s utopia with terrifyingly sleek robotics. From the haunting ballerina twins to the booming industrial soundtrack by Mick Gordon, the atmosphere is thick, polished, and genuinely unique. When you are moving through the linear, underground story sections, the game feels like a worthy successor to BioShock.

The Bad: The "Repair Drone" Nightmare
The moment you step into the open world, the game’s "chore" factor skyrockets. The core mechanic—infinite repair drones—is a disastrous design choice for anyone who enjoys the "clearing out an area" satisfaction of traditional shooters.

The "Whack-a-Mole" Loop: You kill a robot, only for a drone to fix it 30 seconds later.

Inconsistent Stealth: The game demands stealth but gives you clunky tools to execute it, leading to "Alert Level" spirals that drain your ammo and patience.

Artificial Difficulty: Instead of smarter enemies, the game just makes them "bullet sponges" as you progress, turning combat into a resource-draining slog rather than a skill-based challenge.

The Ugly: The Identity Crisis
Atomic Heart doesn't know what it wants to be. It markets itself as a fast-paced action game, but it plays like a slow, punishing survival-horror game. The protagonist’s constant, aggressive bickering and the repetitive "fetch-key-to-open-door" mission structure make the mid-game feel like a literal job.