Players dive in to experience Atomic Heart, a first-person shooter seemingly inspired by the hugely popular Bioshock franchise. However, Atomic Heart is not set in an underwater colony or a steampunk city in the clouds. The game takes place in a very different environment, and even in an alternate plane of existence and time. Players wondering what to expect in Atomic Heart will probably want to know that the game is set in an alternate version of 1955 Soviet Russia.
The main protagonist of the game is Sergei Nechaev, who is referred to as P-3 for most of the game. Although P-3 is not the most stable person, however, he is sent to sort out the situation at Facility 3826 Robots are the main enemies of the game, a setup that involves technology turning against its creators.
The period essentially exists in a bubble where Soviet Russia harnessed the power of artificial intelligence and lost control. The game plays with many aspects of the period, although it sometimes stumbles with the use of modern slang and other aspects that take the player out of the setting.
The time period featured is long after the end of World War II, but the game has also been criticized for choosing to depict an alternate version of Soviet Russia from the past. Developer Mundfish has been accused of having questionable ties to Russia, including providing data to the country and failing to condemn the war in Ukraine.
Related: Is Atomic Heart an open-world game?
Games that offer an alternate reality to past events are rare, and the Russian setting is rarely part of a narrative. The time period brings a lot of character and helps heighten the immersion of the chunky game while separating it from the games that inspired it.
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