Mundfish’s first-person shooter Atomic Heart is being criticized for showing a cartoon that contains a racist caricature. The game, which takes place in an alternate history when the Soviet Union won World War 2, was already facing controversy even before launch. Primarily, Ukraine has called for a ban of Atomic Heart, with the country’s Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs stating that the money made from its sale might be used to fund Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.
There has been both condemnation and praise for the game, which was created by Mundfish, a Russian developer that relocated its base of operations to Cyprus. Many have pointed to this move as a sign of the company’s duplicitous attempt to hide its origins. The situation hasn’t been helped by the Atomic Heart developer’s vague statements about the war in Ukraine, though Mundfish maintains that it solely intends to remain apolitical.
Now, a negative lens has once again focused on the game with the discovery that it apparently contains a racist caricature. Atomic Heart has safe rooms like those in Resident Evil, which give the player a chance to catch their breath, save their progress, and upgrade or craft items. In these rooms, there is a television that usually just shows a white screen. However, sometimes it displays an actual Soviet children’s cartoon called Nu, Pogodi!, which first aired in 1969 and has been compared to Tom and Jerry.
One of the episodes that appears on the screen in Atomic Heart’s safe room is called “Museum,” which dates back to 1978 and shows a racially stereotyped image of an African tribesman. These caricatures were occasionally seen in old cartoons from the era and were generally viewed as acceptable at the time. However, the appearance of this imagery in 2023 has resulted in anger from some people. It isn’t likely that Mundfish added that specific scene, out of 22 total episodes to choose from, without noticing the contents. So its inclusion has added fuel to the already existing controversy around Atomic Heart.
Perhaps the developer will see fit to remove the offending caricature from the game via an upcoming patch. There was already one update released shortly after launch, and there are undoubtedly more to come. Atomic Heart launched with known performance issues, particularly on Xbox Series S, which Mundfish explained would vary depending on whether the player character was inside or outside. The game also currently does not have ray tracing support on PC, a feature that was promoted as a selling point for Atomic Heart, and the developer has stated that it will be added at some point down the line.
Atomic Heart is currently available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Resetera (via PC Gamer)