Dec 8, 2022

A new supercharged Atomic Heart trailer revealed at The Game Awards 2022 🤖

Atomic Heart - Hecate

Hey everyone, SURPRISE!

We're super thrilled to reveal a new trailer for our upcoming game Atomic Heart, the action-RPG set in the maaad utopia of an alternate post-WWII world. Check out the trailer for bombastic new footage shared at the Game Awards 2022!

Step into a mad, sublime and unforgiving world 🤖

Atomic Heart takes you to the 1950s, in an alternate history where servant robots became a reality. Humans and their robots seem to live in harmony, but when a sudden rebellion strikes, machines and other shrouded experiments have to be stopped from taking over…

That’s when you come in, engaging in visceral, spectacular combat against AI on the brink of madness, unsightly mutants and bloodthirsty machines that roam the lands, searching for prey. Adapt your fighting style, combine your skills and resources, use the environment and upgrade your equipment to overcome challenges and eradicate the evil.

Four editions to set your atomic heart on ❤️

Atomic Heart is available for pre-orders and players can choose from the following four editions:

The Limited Edition Bundle, exclusive to the Focus Entertainment Store, which includes the base game, a Steelbook®, a metal poster and the official artbook designed by Mundfish
The Standard Edition, which includes the base game
The Gold Edition, which includes the base game and the Atomic Pass
The Premium Edition, which includes the base game, the Atomic Pass, an exclusive digital artbook and extra cosmetics.
The Atomic Pass takes the Atomic Heart experience further with four DLCs, opening access to new areas and labs as well as new weapons, new enemies, bosses and more!

Get any edition of Atomic Heart copy to obtain the Labour & Science weapon skin pack bonus DLC.

Coming February 21 📅

Mark your calendar! Atomic Heart releases February 21, 2023 to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC, the game can be pre-ordered now. You can also sign up as a Focus member to get latest info and upcoming exclusive offers for Atomic Heart and the whole Focus catalog!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/668580/Atomic_Heart/

Jul 28, 2020

Atomic Heart Q&A: Part 2

Atomic Heart - GTB79

Greetings Comrades!

The 2nd part of the Atomic Heart Q&A is here for you all. This set will contain 19 more questions. We hope that we were able to answer many more of the questions you have been asking to your liking!

Thank you to everyone who participated in asking questions on Discord!

Can you play the game as a shoot and run game? Do you need to conserve ammo like Prey 2017 or will there be a lot of ammo like BioShock?
Atomic Heart in some sense, is a “run n' gun” game. But you must add “if” and “then”: “if you shoot then run. Everything is set up in a way that it’s not advised to make noise as the Kollectiv network has threat mechanics. The network will harshly react to perpetrators and a loud gunshot is a serious reason to react - by sending a new party of robots to your location. Nevertheless, you will have to shoot as sometimes it's a matter of survival. As for the consequences - you’ll handle that later.
Is the game gonna be an immersive sim?
We are not striving to match the genre to the letter and canonically follow it. However, we can say for sure that the game is perceived as a mixture of a hurricane melee combat, shooter, and immersive sim. At least everyone who has played games of this genre and tried Atomic Heart says exactly this :)
Will we have companions in the game?
There is one companion in the game. But he just keeps talking and talking. No one will help you finish the game, don’t get your hopes up. The artificial intelligence in the game, even if it pretends to be a companion, will still try to kill you in the end.
Is this going to be a full-on fiction soviet game or have some historical elements in it?
We are not trying to make a historically accurate game. The game tells about the events of those years such as the Great Patriotic War (World War ll for those born outside of the USSR) and other significant historical events. But there definitely will be people who will think that we have gone crazy and mixed the events of quite different years into a single tight bundle. We will not convince anyone - perhaps we are really crazy.
Will spears and polearms be used realistically? Like spears are almost only stabbing, and polearms like a halberd is a whirling storm of death and destruction?
Halberd? Whirling storm of death? In the USSR? Great, we’ll think about it!
Will there be optional or side quests available in the game?
Of course there are side quests. There are not many of them, after all the game is not about that - the side quests will complement the plot, reveal it a bit more. But there will be quite a few puzzles that will force you to properly strain your brain.
Will there be a perk/skill tree level-up system?
The player doesn't have levels but you can acquire skills with interesting mechanics that may be combined with each other.
How many guns and melee weapons will be available in the full game?
There will be at least 10 of each type.
Will there be any crafting system in the game?
Yes, surely, crafting will take a special place in the game. You can and need to craft quite many things during your playthrough and you’ll have to gather resources for that. We tried to make the crafting system as consistent as possible - there are no game conventions like in arcade shooters. A certain tactical approach is required to efficiently gather resources. Simply put - the harder you hit the robots, the more they break and the less useful resources they have, but on the other hand, this does not mean that the game provokes you for full stealth. Everything is much more flexible and more complicated.
Will there be stats on your character and/or on your weapons to make them better, like mods?
The system of modifications is called “cassettes”. We won’t elaborate on it for now.
How robust is the weapon customization gonna be? Is there going to be a weapon progression or an equipment based upgrade system?
The weapons could be upgraded and made stronger and more precise. You may install special modules in certain weapons for special attacks.
Will there be multiple endings and will your choices affect the story?
That’s a secret. ;)
Did you put hidden collectibles or easter eggs in the game?
Yes, we too love jokes and references to other legendary works!
Will there really be condensed milk in the game?
Atomic Heart is the most expensive ad for condensed milk on the planet. We’re joking! In the universe! Yes, there will be.
Will there be an opportunity to see more of the game soon? To the general public and the media?
There will for sure be more chances coming soon. Stay tuned!
Will there be a way to control the robots in-game to turn them against each other?
This mechanic is not as fun as it may seem. Surely, some of the robots may be set against each other but this cannot be done with all of them.
Is stealth a viable option for a playthrough?
You can go stealth in some places but to finish the game full stealth is not possible. We did not set such a goal and we don’t see much sense in it - the combat in the game gives a lot of pleasure in our opinion and depriving ourselves of combat for the sake of stealth is not the best solution for our game.
Does Atomic Heart have multiple difficulty levels?
There will be 2 difficulty levels in Atomic Heart.
The first one is “hardcore” difficulty for veterans of the Souls-like genre and those who like a serious challenge.
We use this mode as a reference when working on the balance and combat system of our game.

But we didn’t forget about other players as well. The second difficulty level is “Story playthrough”, in which we adapted gameplay so that the world of Atomic Heart could be enjoyed by a wider audience. There will be no hardcore challenges and no “platinum” trophy for completing the game as well. You can compare this level of difficulty with Bioshock.

However, the combat system and gameplay are thoroughly adapted to both difficulty levels for experienced and casual gamers to enjoy.
Will there be a photomode?
We didn’t plan it yet. But if we’ll have some time left we may try to add it, but let’s not make promises.

Jul 23, 2020

Atomic Heart Q&A: Part 1

Atomic Heart - GTB79

Comrades,

Recently we have collected all of your questions and put together detailed responses.

There is a lot of questions to go through so we will be releasing all of the answers throughout the week. Today we will be starting with 20 for you all.

Stay tuned as we will release more questions over the next few days!

What stage of development is Atomic Heart in?
All of the game’s functions, mechanics, and systems are written and functioning. Most of the features are polished and are already in the game. Currently, we are scaling the content, adjusting the combat, improving the shooting, adding micro-cutscenes where necessary, implementing story cutscenes, and everything related to the narrative of the game. This is the most important stage in terms of the direction of the game as a whole piece. We are quite close to the point where the game can be seen in its entirety, with highly detailed levels, mechanics, animations, and sound. This is a very important stage - it actually becomes clear how the game works in terms of their impact on the emotions of the player. This allows you to move from the perception of mechanics and individual levels - from particulars - to a more general understanding of things as a whole. It allows us to track things that were less clear from the closer view and improve them. In other words, the game is at the polishing stage.
Is the map concept you’ve shown on the first trailer (not the teaser) still the same? If we are talking about the visual concept of the map - it changed quite a lot - almost completely. At the moment of the trailer release, the map was working as it was shown but during development, it went through several iterations and was reimagined, and changed drastically, both technically and visually. We think that all the changes that happened to the map made it much better.
When will we see the first dev diaries (since they were confirmed a while ago)? Dev diaries are currently in the production and we are going to share them with you very soon. We have a particular concept of what we should include in the diaries - we want to show many aspects of the production and one of those aspects is the narrative, filming, and production of which is a thing of great interest for such a blog. Unfortunately, the pandemic took its toll and our filming plans moved quite a bit. Just be patient one last bit and your patience will be greatly rewarded!
What's the reason behind the sudden design changes with P3’s outfit? From a standard coat with leather gloves to a jumpsuit with one singular glove.
In 2018, during the trailer production, we haven’t finally decided where the game would start. It was an important question since it dictates what clothes would P3 wear. In the end, we decided that the game would start in the Vavilov complex, in the laboratory on the top floor of the research institute. That’s why he’s wearing a standard Facility worker outfit. Speaking of why P3 lost one of his gloves - it’s connected to the super abilities. Back then we thought that both of the hands would have the augmentations but during the development, we’ve come to the conclusion that only one left hand should be augmented. Hence, we took off his right glove.
What was the main inspiration for the game?
We don’t have a single source of inspiration, meaning our inspiration doesn’t come from a singular source. We’ve been influenced by many modern and not so modern works. Strugatsky brothers, TV series such as Black Mirror and games like Dark Souls or Dead Space. To be frank, inspiration comes to us from everywhere. Atomic Heart is a unique project in many ways. From a first glance, it may look like a Bioshock series - you may have such an impression from some of the trailers but as you dig deeper this appears to be only the first layer, and we have many more of those layers.
Will there be a new trailer released soon?
Yes, we will have a new one soon.
Who will be the voice of P3 (both English and Russian versions)?
P3 will be voiced by the actor who plays him in-game. No one will perform it better than him in Russian. We’ve checked many options but concluded that the most authentic way is to play yourself. We have not discussed the English version yet, it is better to film/voice-over all the narrative parts and then consider the best actor for the English version of P3.
Will there be a digital or maybe even physical soundtrack released along with the game?
We have lots of music - we compose it ourselves and work with famous authors. Even if the game won’t have a physical release we will add the soundtrack to some of the streaming platforms for sure. The question is what platform to use, but it’s too early to discuss this.
What developmental challenges have the Mundfish team had to face during the continuing production of Atomic Heart? What have you learned from these challenges?
During the development of such a large-scale project, there are always many challenges. One of the recent challenges is surely the Covid-19 pandemic - the pandemic has made its adjustments to the filming schedule of story cutscenes for the game.
Will the game’s combat feature gore?
The combat is quite gory, as well as the rest of the game. You will experience plenty of GORE!
Can you pet the dog?
No, we don’t have dogs. But you may pet a pig. Do you like petting pigs? You’ll know when you pet one in Atomic Heart.
How will the Lore be elaborated in the game?
Atomic Heart lore is developed as much as possible for a game of this genre. There are many different entities in the game variously intertwined with the complex systems and interconnections between each other. Some of the entities, such as the “Kollective” ecosystem affect how the robots interact with each other in-game and during the game, you can study how they work, try different interactions, and see how the system reacts to such actions. Each robot, each creature, and technology in the game has its own aim and purpose. All studies that were carried out at the Complex are described in great detail - each study had its own “initiator” - a scientist or an engineer with their own background, motivation, and social rating. The player often hears the radio broadcast which immerses him in the events of that time, he reads the correspondence of the perished employees. There you can hear the political debates on Polymer Education and so-called “attracting audio clips” (they avoided the concept of advertising), and these audio messages reveal the essence and purpose of the many technologies of the Facility.
At the main Exhibition - VDNKh - you may find lots of information about the lore of the game - it is probably the largest narrative-vise dungeon of the game.
About how large is the world planned to be?
The world size is not so huge for the modern standard but it is filled with absolutely incredible events. We strive not to spread the thinnest layer of butter over a tremendous piece of bread. We do the opposite - create concentrated pleasure for the player, bring them the experiences that they won’t get in other games. In such context size of the world no longer matters
How long will it take to finish the game? (approximately)
It will take 20 hours to finish the main story. But in order to properly understand it, most likely you’ll need to do it several times.
Will the game be dubbed in different languages or subtitled only?
We’ll have the subtitles on all main languages. Both Russian and English will definitely be dubbed. Voice acting for other languages is still under discussion.
Will Atomic Heart still have glory kills\ finishers?
Yes, we have finishers but mostly they will be used during “shock kills”. We also have the concept of a reverse finisher where players have dozens of ways to perish - we try to diversify these terrible demises to make them as impressive as possible.
Will the inventory be limited or can we use any amount of weapons, resources, and other
necessary items?
The inventory is not limited but will give you stamina debuff when you are encumbered which affects your agility and reaction. So tidying up your inventory is a must.
What kind of Robots will be featured? Will there be friendly bots to help you throughout the game or will all robots be hostile?
You’ll definitely find some friendly robots. But you will mostly find extravagant enemies that are fun to fight.
Will there be any player customization? Like clothing or hairstyles?
There is no hair and outfit customization. Major Nechaev has only 3 days to solve all the problems, he doesn't have time for dress up and haircuts.
Will there be a female playable character?
The plot was originally written from the point of P3, a man, KGB officer. In the early stages of the development, we considered the option to choose the player’s gender but in the end, we decided that the value of such choice is controversial in relation to the cost of voice-over, duplication of lore elements, filming, animations, and thousands of other things that this decision requires.

Nov 7, 2019

The profile of CPSU member Petrov Victor Sergeevich

Atomic Heart - Tanya

The system has successfully extracted the dossier of comrade Petrov Victor Sergeyevich, a member of the Communist Party and an employee of Facility 3826. Sending the data...

The profile of CPSU member Petrov Victor Sergeevich

The comrade Petrov V.S. born in 1910, Russian, military. Comes from the family of the military — teacher in the village Plesenskoye of the Naro-Fominsk district RSFSR. He has higher education: graduated from the Bauman Moscow Higher Technical School (BMHTS). Member of the CPSU since 1935, membership card 01730837. Since September 1933, he had worked as the researcher at Facility 3826. Since October 1940, he has been the head of the Robotics Laboratory.
Comrade Petrov has excellent general and political development. Professionally prepared and ideologically controlled.

In this position comrade Petrov proved to be a valuable employee and competent leader. From 1949 to the present, with the direct participation of the laboratory led by Comrade Petrov, 18 models of robots for various sectors of the national economy were developed and ran into production.

Also, comrade Petrov is one of the outstanding scientists of our country. Over the years of his professional activity, he has published over 27 scientific articles including 5 articles translated into foreign languages.

For well-known merits in the scientific and industrial activity, comrade Petrov was awarded the honorary badges “Merited Inventor of the USSR” 1 and 2 degrees, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and the State Prize of the USSR in 1959.
Comrade Petrov takes the active part in the party life of the Facility 3826. He is a member of the Bureau of the primary party organization of the Scientific Team of the Facility. Petrov has no party penalties.

<Photo is classified.>

Secretary Partorgan. ………. / Koritsky V.N. /

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Oct 19, 2019

Secret room on the roof of an administrative building

Atomic Heart - Tanya

Searching for request «Vavilov complex Laboratory». Processing...

The area shown in the Vavilov complex trailer is a secret room on the top of the closed administrative building in the Vavilov complex. The building was designed in a way that the upper floor can be seen from the outside, but from the inside, there’s no sign of the room above.

Employees of this complex simply call this place Laboratory, although it is not exactly that.

Many rumors are spread among ordinary workers of the Vavilov complex about what is happening there and whether it exists at all. The real purpose of this room knows only limited number of people — surgeons (all entire doctors of science) and laboratory assistants (no lower than candidates of science). In fact, the most advanced developments of Soviet medicine and technology are being implemented in this room.

A large space is divided into several zones fenced from each other by privacy screens: Operating Room, Department of Postoperative Rest and Rehabilitation Zone, combined with the Occupational Therapy Zone.

Some say that they don’t perform surgery on animals in this room (in attempt to increase milk or frost resistance) but in other secret laboratories of the complex. Here they are operating on agents using the latest methods that have successfully passed testing and have proven effective. Not a single death was recorded. At least officially.

Large robotic tractors from the Pavlov medical complex and the technical complex Popov fly to the operating room. However, they are not carrying containers with production, but neat cases made with heavy metal. Only containers with drugs or some parts developed in Popov can fit in this. If you aim to calculate the number of arriving robots, you will notice that a third tractor is mooring on the roof, carrying an oblong container exactly to the size of the human body. Obviously, cured patients are also taken away by air, because they have never been seen on the territory of the Vavilov complex.

The entire tech staff are robots to prevents the possibility of the leak of sensitive information. Robots perform simple actions: clean rooms, bring the equipment, carry heavy loads. Some robots, trained in more complex operations, help laboratory assistants: sort flasks, control a centrifuge, measure doses of drugs, etc.

The passage to the Laboratory is hidden from workers. Ordinary employees of the administrative building don’t even know that a future is happening above their heads. The laboratory floor is covered with soundproofing material.

A secret passage leads from the Laboratory to the administrative part (in case of fire alarm). Laboratory assistants sometimes pass through it, although this is forbidden. Drugs and patients (as well as personnel) are delivered by flying robotic tractors. This is done to eliminate errors of the human factor, and also because of secrecy (there is no need to take a non-disclosure agreement with the driver, accompanying persons, etc.). Since such tow robots are used to transport goods and cattle, their appearance in Vavilov is not suspicious for ordinary workers of the complex — they often fly over their heads.

The only ones who can speculate about the arrivals of transport are bored sentries who watch the landscape of the complex behind the gates for hours. Often they are the ones spreading rumors and legends. Especially those who see at night how the large windows of the secret room (many think it's just a glass roof) light up with a mysterious light.

Someone believes that they grow special tomatoes and cucumbers for members of the Politburo — incredibly sweet and full of vitamins. There are many supporters of the idea that this is the observatory for monitoring American spy satellites or establishing contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. And others just say that the wife of the Head of the complex and other "close ones" take sunbathe there. But in fact, few people think about it. The architectural solution and no more. Well, roof is a roof.

Laboratory assistants sometimes ask themselves: why was such a strange place chosen to house the operating room? The agricultural complex, and even on the roof — such an uncomfortable logistics. They have to get up early to catch the air transport, which takes them from the hostel of the Pavlov complex (where the medical staff live), but the place is far away. Therefore, latecomers are forced to rush into the Vavilov and secretly dive into the secret passage to the laboratory, risking being noticed and getting a severe reprimand. Older surgeons and professors only smirk pointedly at them in return. Maybe they just occupied an empty room, as they often do. Or maybe, and most likely, they placed the laboratory where it would be least looked for — in the gray administrative building of the agricultural complex.

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Oct 11, 2019

Archive documents: Weaponry

Atomic Heart - Tanya

A record of the chief engineer dated February 16, 1939 was found. Uploading data from the archive... Please wait…

In Atomic Heart game weapons help in battles as faithful comrades. That’s why players will be able to customize almost every detail, change the appearance or even functionality. Searching through locations, the Agent will find details and recipes that are needed for crafting on special devices. If you wrap the handle of an ax with electrical tape, you’d increase strength, and if you hammering nails to it, it’d increase damage. Each element of the weapon can be improved separately — sight, clip, range of attack and so on. The required materials won’t always be at hand, so don’t rush using all the details at once.

Weapon choices affect gameplay. Imagine you find a powerful pistol with only a couple of bullets left, but it kills enemies with only two shots. Or you craft a weapon with low damage, but it allows your character to move faster and deftly kill enemies. It opens up new perspectives and options: play stealth and surprise your enemies or rush ahead.

Love your weaponry like your first woman, but don’t be upset if you had to choose another. Change your playstyle from melee to range depending on your preferences and game situation. Soviet military engineering will make sure you experience dynamic battles and spectacular final strikes.

The model of PTRD rifle was found in game files. Uploading... That quality and level of detail will be shown in the game.

Oct 3, 2019

Q&A: inspiration, localization and Matryoshka dolls

Atomic Heart - Tanya

Loading the new chapter of Questions and Answers. Loading completed.

1. Which languages will be available in the game? (Voice over/interface)
The main languages will be Russian and English, but we’ll try to add subtitles of all popular languages.

2. How many weapons will be available in the game?
The game will have dozens of types of both firearms and melee weapons with a different rarity. Players will be able to add modifications to the weapon that increase its characteristics. We have a lot more interesting information about this system that we’ll share in future updates.

3. Is the plot of the game linear or can it be completed in different ways?
The game has a linear dramatic plot. The player is experiencing a made character story, as it is in God of War. There is no way to go through it differently from the plot point of view, but there will be different gaming experience. The game implements the unusual ecosystem of robots that reacts differently to different player actions. Thus, the same combat situation can be overcome in several, very different from each other, ways. That is the most interesting part — Atomic Heart is a highly replayable game and we will maintain this standard by adding the variety of available tools.

4. Is it possible to upgrade the digital edition to collector’s edition?
At the moment, the easiest way to change the pre-order edition or platform is to return funds through Xsolla and purchase again. Since we use a partner’s payment solutions, it may be a problem to set up an extra payment from a technical point of view.

5. What aspect brings the most fun when working on the game?
We like to create things and watch how the world reacts to it. We follow comments on our social networks very closely. The way it develops and begins to live an independent life after publication is perhaps the most interesting aspect (of course, after the development of the game itself). As an example, our fans from Belarus simply sent us a weapon as a gift, which was shown on one of the screenshots. Weapons was welded in a garage made of skates and nails. Can you imagine how cool it is to keep what literally some time ago was just an image on the screen?

6. Will vodka be the key to survival?
No. Vodka will definitely help to survive, but this is not a key consumable. In the game you can eat many things. We don’t want Atomic Heart to be associated exclusively with vodka. This is too flat for us. :)

7. What is your inspiration for developing Atomic Heart?
Literally everything. We are in one long stream of creativity, and everything that comes to mind, all cool ideas, especially those that can complement the plot, are tested by the narrative team. Of course, the Soviet period itself is shown in detail in literature and movies, as well as in historical materials about the USSR, and our alternative universe is created taking into account what took place in real history. However, we don't pursue the accuracy of all the facts. This is still a game, not a documentary. It must achieve its main goal in the first place — to entertain the player.

8. Will there be a stealth system in the game?
The player himself chooses the style of playing. But the ability to be quiet and invisible is very important and more profitable in Atomic Heart. The player has several different devices to deactivate robots. But it only works against mechanical enemies. Biological enemies are much more difficult. The game for players who go right ahead will be tough because monsters and robots react to your presence. They have both vision and hearing. Moreover, they are connected to one common network called the Team. This is more like Skynet from the Terminator, which connects them through special communications network into one single ecosystem. Due to this, the world seems absolutely alive and the level of feedback of the game to the player’s actions is very high.

9. How will the character move around the game world? Will there be trains or other fast travel?
In some locations, there are special devices that speed up movement, including by air. Trains and fast travels will be available.

10. What difficulties did you face when creating Atomic Heart?
The biggest difficulty is the consistency of the setting. Taking into account the ambitious ideas of the whole game — it is necessary to achieve the level of detail in the entire setting that the whole world will be perceived holistically. This is an extremely difficult task even for us, the authors of this idea. We do not copy — we create a new world, and this is both the main feature and the main difficulty in developing the game.

11. Will there be a bestiary and anatomy of monsters in the game?
Yes, there will be a dossier with profiles for various types of machines and creatures found in the game. Of course, this is an important part of the game’s story, and it’s very interesting to study.

12. Will there be enemies Matryoshka dolls in the game?
No. :)