It doesn't take long for the speedrunning community to get to work on a new title, and someone has managed to beat Mundfish's Soviet-themed FPS Atomic Heart in a blistering time of seven minutes. With events like Awesome Games Done Quick raising millions for charity, a speedrun can be more than just a personal attempt at achieving greatness. There's some good to be had at the same time, so it's not surprising that many players take it upon themselves to get involved.
As for the game itself, Atomic Heart has been the subject of controversy pretty much since day one. With it being set in an alternate 1950s Russia, Ukraine has called upon the likes of Sony, Microsoft, and Valve to ban the game outright, owing to the ongoing conflict. On top of that, Mundfish recently issued an apology after it transpired that the game used footage from an old cartoon that many now see as offensive. It's not been a great start, but the game still has fans who are dedicated to kicking robot butt in Facility 3826.
It goes beyond simply playing the game as well, as an Atomic Heart player has uploaded a video to YouTube of them doing a speedrun of the FPS. YouTube user deLINO has so far only attempted to speedrun the game once, according to their channel, but they've managed to get an insane time. Their latest upload shows that they managed to get to the end credits in an eye-watering time of 7:06. It should be noted that the run only starts after the lengthy boat ride introduction, but the fact that they've managed to go through the game in less than 10 minutes is an immense feat. The user utilizes glitches in order to achieve this time, but it still shows the dedication that the speedrunning community has when it comes to setting and breaking world records.
At the time of writing, deLINO's record is at the number one spot on speedrun.com, with runner SeekerTV, who in the past has managed to beat Elden Ring in under five minutes, being second with a time of 7:09. There seems to be some competition at the moment to try and finish Atomic Heart as quickly as possible, and it will be interesting to see who will break this record or whether deLINO will hold that position for a good while.
It's unfortunate that Atomic Heart has been receiving mixed reviews. Like a lot of new releases, Mundfish's title had some notable performance issues and glitches, which probably didn't help matters. Still, it's at least offering something a little different in the first-person shooter genre, even if there is some controversy about some of its content.
Atomic Heart is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Speedrun