The alternate history action role-playing game Atomic Heart by Russian developer Mundfish has been in development since 2018 and, according to a new FAQ posted to the company’s Discord, the game is now at the polishing and final assembly stage. With that, a little more information has been shared about the game’s release date, DLC plans, and storyline.
In an alternate reality set sometime around the year 1955, a system failure at a Soviet facility has caused the machinery to rebel against humans, and the player is tasked with investigating the sudden radio silence, cleaning up the aftermath of the catastrophe, and preventing the leak of classified information. Players take on the role of an unstable KGB agent known only as P-3, who must rely on his skills to improvise weapons from scraps found onsite.
According to the FAQ released on August 9 by Mundfish, the story of Atomic Heart will feature two endings. Although the majority of the game is strictly linear and has little story variability, the player will be required to make a difficult but important moral decision near the finale. The hope is that the two potential paths will lead to discourse among the game’s community members and a discussion of the themes laid out in the story of Atomic Heart.
As for the game’s release, Mundfish is still not ready to provide a definitive date. According to the developer, companies often give a release date without really being certain if it is attainable. Then the video game has to be delayed, which demoralizes the development team and disappoints fans. In answer to the question about DLC or addons, the developer will not consider additional content until after the main game has been released. One thing that Mundfish will definitively say: “The game is ready… The long wait is almost over, we promise.”
As announced at E3 2021, Atomic Heart will be launching on Xbox Game Pass on release day, but it will also be available on other platforms. Although the PS5 and Xbox Series have been out for a while now, the developer is not abandoning last-gen consoles. The PS4 version has good and stable performance, and Mundfish is working to reduce the minimum hardware requirements for PC players who don’t have the most powerful configurations.
When the first trailer for the game debuted in 2018, Atomic Heart was compared to BioShock. For a title from a new studio, this seemed too good to be true, and many were skeptical that the trailer’s gameplay would reflect the final product. While the game has changed somewhat since then, the trailer showed at the Xbox-Bethesda showcase at E3 2021 revealed a game that may meet fan expectations, complete with raytracing, a photo mode, vehicles, and a robust crafting system.
Atomic Heart is currently in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Discord