A couple of years ago, developer Mundfish revealed an FPS horror game called Atomic Heart that seemed to be blending elements of BioShock and Fallout. The game generated quite a bit of buzz with its initial reveal trailer, but has been seen sparingly since then. Now developer Mundfish has finally released a new trailer for Atomic Heart, this time showing off how the game utilizes ray tracing technology.
The trailer shows the Atomic Heart protagonist xploring a building filled with strange creatures. One such creature is a zombie-like monster with its intestines hanging out and plant leaves writhing on top of its head. A drone is also flying around, with glowing lights on it that brighten up parts of the room in a realistic manner. The trailer then pivots to some Atomic Heart gameplay, showing the protagonist fight supernatural beasts using the tools at his disposal.
As was the case with previous Atomic Heart trailers, the game should immediately bring to mind games like BioShock. The protagonist uses a magical attack to freeze an enemy, which looks a lot like when BioShock characters use Plasmids. Other parts of the trailer have more grounded combat, as the protagonist shoots enemies with a shotgun, though viewers are given a brief glimpse of some kind of anti-gravity power as well.
Unfortunately, the new Atomic Heart trailer doesn't give fans any better idea of when they will actually get to play the game. It was originally expected to launch in 2019 but has been delayed multiple times, and has since added the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X to its platform list. The latest information puts Atomic Heart's release date at some point in 2021, though it remains to be seen if it will meet that goal.
While the Atomic Heart delays may have disappointed some fans, others may be happy that the delays mean the game can be more technologically impressive. Had Atomic Heart launched a couple of years ago, it wouldn't have been able to use ray tracing for its graphics. Not only that, but it also wouldn't have been able to launch for the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Atomic Heart has no load screens on PS5 and Xbox Series X, so the next-gen version of the game should be superior right out of the gate.
It's not specified in the trailer if the PS5 and Xbox Series X version of Atomic Heart will have ray tracing or not, but if the game is coming in 2021 as expected, then more information should come to light sooner rather than later.
Atomic Heart is in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.