Rules have changed 👾

Dive into the new insane gameplay, come back to the mad world of Limbo and experience the contrast of worlds with unconventional mechanics selected to blow you away 🔥 Atomic Heart: Trapped in Limbo DLC2 releases February 6 ⏳

Concluding year 2023, we express heartfelt thanks for the tremendous support of our fans!
This year's achievements were not easy, but definitely well-deserved.

And that's just the beginning - expect from us more wild content in 2024🔥

We wish you a happy New Year🍾
-Mundfish Team

Hey, everybody!

First, we would like to say thank you for the overwhelming interest in our VOV-A6 creation story, at the end of which we asked what else you would like to know about.

We decided to continue this series with the story of the creation of our mascots
The Twins

One of the most popular questions regarding The Twins is what inspired these characters' creation. The answer may not be as obvious as it seems at first glance.

When creating them, we started with the character of Sechenov. Since he is a genius and an important figure in the world of the game, but only a scientist, he should have personal guards. He doesn't really trust people, and given the slight tension with the government, he wouldn't allow someone from the outside to be assigned to him.

So it would have to be robots.
They should look impressive, but not intimidating, because Sechenov himself is a man of peace and science, he has no purpose of scaring anyone. So the decision was to make his guards feminine and elegant, but yet dangerous and powerful.



Unlike the VOV-A6, whose design was approved almost straight away and didn't change dramatically, The Twins went through many iterations and the early concept design bears little resemblance to the final version.



It took the team about 8 months to finalize the character. Each element received 50 comments and edits. Ideas for the image were born literally on the fly - the movements, every small element of the costume from the joints to the horn coming out of the star in the forehead, was worked out meticulously.


Speaking of movements.
There has been a lot of speculation and conclusions about what The Twins' fighting style is inspired by. Collectively, our players concluded that it is ballet because the game features ballerinas with the same design as the Maya Plisetskaya Theater characters.
This statement is true, but only partially.

The first inspiration for the main fighting style for The Twins comes from rhythmic gymnastics, and only later on in the development was influenced by ballet.

In particular, rhythmic gymnastics with a ribbon seemed so elegant and smooth that the twins were added special manipulators, which turn into whips and become, literally, an extension of their hands.




Ballet dance is also emphasized by pointe shoes, which can transform into fight-oriented pointy heels, and the mirrored mask, which, in addition to its plot justification, is also symbolic.
Twins characters embody ballerinas and gymnasts who remain cool-headed while experiencing extreme pain and pressure, that is never shown in public. Each movement feels easy and light, no matter how hard it is to perform it.

To convey the ballerinas' movements as authentically as possible, we invited a real ballerina from the Bolshoi Theater to act as a mocap actress



We first introduced the Twins characters in a E3 trailer in 2021 and it immediately caused quite an unexpected stir.
You may also notice that the design of the Twins, which is only shown in one frame, is still different from the final design because we continued working on improving it and bringing it to perfection until the release.



We'll be honest, we didn't expect such positive feedback on The Twins, but are insanely grateful and happy that the work of so many months has paid off.

Of course, after the release and even a little before it, the Twins became cosplay favorites.
And with this article, we have prepared a cosplay guide, especially for you! Share your Twins with us!

DOWNLOAD IT HERE

Hey Kollektiv,

Final voting for Steam Awards 2023 has begun, in which Atomic Heart has received a nomination! We have already shown what our ATOMIC energy can do, and now we call you to show the true amount of all our beating HEARTs, and vote for our win in the “OUTSTANDING VISUAL STYLE” category!
Together we don't need a Thought Neuro-Controller to make this happen!

- Mundfish Team

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

We're thrilled to announce that the second phase of the Atomic Pass series of DLCs (included in the Gold and Premium editions) Atomic Heart: Trapped in Limbo will release on February 6!

It will take you back to the strange and colorful world of Limbo to uncover new mysteries and will come complete with amazing enemies and weapons of unique appearance, whose skins can be unlocked and equipped in the main campaign!

Check out the DLC's new insane gameplay with a fresh Gameplay Trailer!



Rules have changed. Atomic Heart: Trapped in Limbo DLC picks the story up immediately after the end of the main game, this time continuing a different ending from the one that the Annihilation Instinct DLC followed. It introduces new sections of the twisted Limbo world bursting with fan favorite challenges, but this time with a unique Limbo flavor! While diving into the new insane gameplay, you will be tasked with helping P-3 break through a series of dizzying obstacles, uncover the secrets of his past and the world of Limbo, and demolish uniquely looking opponents with marvelously looking weapons in a combat extravaganza.
A mysterious Limbo world with an inverted logic was created by the co-founder and Art Director of the studio - visionary Artem Galeev! And trying to survive in it is not an easy task.

Also, as you fight, run, jump and slide across the platforms, you will be collecting apples to unlock skills and weapons, as well as gold coins to unlock up to 7 unique skins that can be equipped in the main campaign!

In addition, Atomic Heart and its Atomic Pass are now available with up to 50% off (time limited offer)! Don’t miss your chance to grab it!

To get the latest info and upcoming exclusive offers for Atomic Heart, sign up as a Focus member!

The Atomic Heart: Trapped in Limbo DLC releases on February 6. We can't wait for you all to dive in!

Hello, everyone!
In case you missed our Discord Q&A that took place on November 30th, we share our answers with you here.
We received a lot of interesting and important questions, for which we thank you very much!
For your convenience, we have divided them into several categories.

Enjoy and hope to see you on the next Q&A!


1. What's up with Behind the Scenes? When can we expect the release?
Will it be a long video, like 3 hours, or a series of shorter ones?

It won't be that long, but it'll be very soon, we're already finishing the editing.


2. Is there a game roadmap?

By the end of the year, we plan to summarize the road so far and also show our plans for the future.


3. Will the next 2 DLCs and/or next game lean more into what the older versions of Atomic Heart was like, or will you stick with the style you have now for Аtomic Heart?
With the release of the game, the image of the world was finally formed, and we will develop it further.


4. Will there be a movie or other formats of content based on the Atomic Heart Universe?

We love our unique Atomic Heart universe and of course we're exploring various ways of expanding it. Let's see what the future brings us!


5. Are there ARG elements in the game? Will they come in later?

This is a very interesting and promising topic, and as Sechenov would say: "We're moving toward progress". Our team is already exploring this area!


6. What do you think about multiplayer?
In our team, we focus a lot on learning new technologies and are constantly expanding our expertise. Even if some technological solutions are not yet used in the current game, they often help us in developing our own innovations.


1. How many concepts were there, how many of them were discarded?
Are there any characters whose design has been confirmed from the very first developments?

Most characters have indeed gone through many different iterations. But for example, VOV-A6 design was confirmed right from the beginning.



2. It would be interesting to hear the history of the Twins. Were they originally designed as a marketing tool, and then a key aspect of the game, or the other way around?

Other way around! We plan to talk about they're development in our new material, so stick around.


3. Is it true that Atomic Heart was originally planned as a survival horror, not an FPS?

As we had originally planned, we incorporated horror elements into the game, and one of the important inspirations for us was the Dead Space series. But we didn't plan to make a full-fledged horror game.
It's much more interesting to play with contrasts: scary and fun, light and dark, good and evil. It's actually one of the main themes of our game.



1. Do you plan to add accessibility options like adjusting stick sensitivity or button remapping for controllers?

We want as many players as possible to enjoy the game and play it comfortably while maintaining the uniqueness of the Atomic Heart gameplay.
This is truly not an easy task, and so far not enough effort has been made on our part to improve the accessibility of the user experience.
We really appreciate players’ feedback and will take their wishes into account in further work on the project.


2. Will you be adding weapons and abilities from Annihilation instinct (as well as from the following DLCs) to other campaigns?

We create each weapon in such a way that it is correctly combined with the dynamics of the gameplay. And since the world of Limbo lives by its own rules, the weapons in it look correspondingly!


3. Will there be more content in the main world of the game?

Yes, there will be more content in the main world, but who knows where Nechayev will end up?


4. Will there be anything like new glove upgrades?

In Limbo, Nechaev does not exist in his material form, therefore all his abilities
from the real world are absent there. However, in the world of Limbo, a completely different system for improving your abilities will be available!


5. Will weapons cut from the game appear in the future?

We always remember all our cut materials and return to it if we think they could fit well into the current gameplay and content.


6. Will the Photo Mode be updated and a “Horde Mode” added?

These are still really cool ideas, but they're not a priority for the team at the moment.



Our team is still working to implement the ray tracing update, and we hope to share the news with you in the near future.
We understand that this has taken longer than originally planned and we appreciate your patience and continuous support.



1. Will the enemies and characters from the DLC be added to the "lore" menu section in the game?

Yes, we will try to keep this section updated as new characters and enemies appear in the world of Atomic Heart.


2. Will these DLC's have an effect on the future events?

Yes, all events will factor in to future work.


3. What endings will the DLCs expand on?
Great questions! We could, of course, tell you all our plans for the story, but we certainly don't want to spoil the fun. However, let us remind you that both endings are true 👌


4. Will Lebedev appear again in future DLC?

Not in the upcoming one, at least.


5. Will Ekaterina be a playable character or a part of another DLC?

Katya will remain an important character in the story.


6. Characters such as Vertoukhov and Pokryshkin from Artem Galeev’s “3826” project could appear in Atomic Heart in the future, or do they not fit into the concept/scenario?

It’s very cool that among the players there are people who have been following the history of development for so long!
But these characters are from very early game concepts that are not relevant at the moment.



7. Will we be able to see Zakharov himself? Is there a final battle planned with him?

You've definitely already seen him in the game😏
And whether there will be a final battle with him - who knows how the plot will turn....


8. Why did you take the "short" ending as the basis for the add-on? Why does the change in world order and the event, of which the game is called, take place somewhere off-screen?

As for the story - everything will become clearer as the next DLCs are released!
And about the gameplay - of course, we always keep an eye on all the feedback shared with us, so that in the future we can change what players didn't like so much and develop the elements they enjoyed.
Keep sharing your opinions, we really value them!


9. Is Sechenov coming back into the story, or is he dead after all, and there's no way he can come back?

That's a good question! As a reminder, there's nothing wrong with him in Annihilation Instinct :)


10. If CHAR-les was able to get into P-3's Limbo and spy on him through a white cat, can P-3 also get into another person's Limbo?

Answered by our Narrative team: "No, because CHAR-les is a more powerful unit in the Limbo world, he's an array of information, not the consciousness of a single person. Therefore, it has a lot more capabilities than P-3."


11. Do we get to know more details about the cat of CHAR-les?

We also love this mysterious character and will try to tell you more about him in the future.



12. How did the Facility respond to Stockhausen's death?

Michael died on June 12th, and the event ended on June 13th. So the information just hasn't gotten out yet.


13. Why was the battle with the Left necessary if it's not plot-driven in any way? After it, Sechenov still doesn't know we're against him. And during the game we see that the Twins always go in together.

Sechenov assumed that Nechayev would come after him. Since Sechenov cannot be left unguarded, the Twins split up: one stays with Sechenov, the other goes to prevent an attack.



1. Why did the Alyonka chocolate bar disappear from the Annihilation Instinct and wasn’t put into mass production?

The limited time of collaboration has come to an end.


2. Will the soundtrack for this new DLC include music by GeoffPlaysGuitar?

Yes!


3. What happened to Mick Gordon's song from the "Release Window Trailer"? Will this song ever be released?

Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, not all tracks make it to a full release, no matter how much we wanted it.


4. How did Mick Gordon get involved in the creation of the music? Which tracks from the game did he work with?

We've always been fans of Mick's work and we felt that his music coupled with his range of work would complement our soundtrack perfectly, so we were really happy to collaborate!
You can find his tracks on our OST albums that are available on streaming platforms.


5. In the future will there be art packs, like wallpapers and other things for us to use?

Yes!


6. Do you plan to make any form of platform to support fan driven content? Like mods, for example?

We love mods, just like we love and respect all types of fan content!
Therefore, we are already preparing something interesting on our part.
We hope to be able to share more details soon!



1. The events of DLC 2 will only take place in the world of Limbo?

Yes, all DLC 2 gameplay events will take place in Limbo!


2. Will there be any other characters appearing in DLC 2?

Yes, there will be a few familiar characters.


3. Will there be any battles in DLC 2?

Of course, there will be combat in DLC 2! We have only shown the tip of the iceberg in the teasers. More content to come soon.


4. Are the new DLC 2 weapons going to look like the usual ones we get in the main game and Annihilation Instinct, or will you make them look a bit weird and goofy, to fit the vibe of Limbo?

Yeah, the look of the weapons will have a unique Limbo style appearance.


5. Will we learn more about the world of Limbo?

You'll definitely learn a little more information about Limbo.


6. Will the Twins be in DLC 2?

We don't want to spoil, but regarding DLC 2 we'll say yes - in one form or another!


7. Will the new gameplay mechanics have a plot basis?

DLC #2 will be story driven and all new mechanics will be reflected in the story.


8. Will we learn more about Nechayev’s past?

You might learn a bit about the protagonist's past in DLC 2.


9. Why does the teaser show both Nechayev and Newton's hands?

We are very glad that we have such attentive players who analyze our teasers second by second and were able to notice this detail.
This is definitely not a bug, and you'll learn more as you play DLC 2.


10. Will Nechayev learn the truth about Katya like he did in the first DLC?

Like in DLC #1? No. But he will learn the truth in a different way!


11. Will the Goose be in DLC 2? And what is the duration of the DLC?

Yes, Goose will have an important gameplay and story roles in DLC 2!
As for the duration, we can say that this particular DLC will provide certain opportunities to return to already completed stages, so the final playing time will vary for all players.


12. Do you have a specific release date for the DLC 2 gameplay trailer?

We have a date :)


13. How much DLС 2 will cost?

Same as the 1st one!


14. When will the DLC 2 be released? Winter '23 or '24?

Yes

Hello Kollektiv,

The upcoming Steam Awards 2023 started swinging, and we encourage you to support us and show your Atomic energy! Show everyone the true power of the Kollectiv by recommending us as a nominee in the “OUTSTANDING VISUAL STYLE” category!

Together we will not allow any malfunctions at this facility!

- Mundfish Team

The Limbo world lives by its own crazy rules and everything there is connected by one ecosystem.
Take a look at its extraordinary beauty, as well as what you're about to encounter.
The continuation of the Atomic Heart story and a new gaming experience await you this winter!

Hello, everyone!

Almost 3 months have passed since the release of Atomic Heart: Annihilation Instinct, and lately we've started to gradually reveal more and more information about the second DLC!

We are sure that you have a lot of questions, that's why on November 30 at 6PM CEST, we will hold a text Q&A on our official Atomic Heart Discord server.

Prepare your hottest and most urgent questions about gameplay, art direction, soundtrack, development, you name it!
The mechanics of this Q&A are as follows:

1. 
   Send your questions to the channel ⁠❔-question-suggestion through the command /suggest.
   Important note: Live Q&A will be in English, so please send your questions in English. Also, we set a slowmod on this channel to avoid spam and flood.
   
2. 
   These questions will go to the ⁠❓-question-voting channel, where, you've guessed it, everyone can vote for the question that interests them.
   
3. 
   We'll select a number of questions with the most votes, letting you know in advance when we're done accepting questions.
   
4. 
   On Nov 30th, we will answer them on 📅qa-november-30th channel.
   Important note: Only answers asked in discord will be accepted

If, for some reason, you miss it, all answers from it will be published here on the next day!

So go for it!
JOIN OUR DISCORD SERVER
We know you have a lot of questions piled up!

Since VOV-A6 become one of the fan favorites in the Atomic Heart community, we decided to share some info about its design development.

Right from his appearance in the debut gameplay trailer, VOV-A6 look hasn't changed much. His simple but memorable design was immediately welcomed by the audience.



Narratively, the concept of this robot is that it was created for peaceful tasks and is not adapted for combat situations (at first...), so it should be trustworthy, reliable in operation and have a friendly appearance.



Like many other models in the Facility 3826 lineup, VOV-A6, despite his humanoid form, never looked fully human, creating an Uncanny Valley effect, but for good reason.
His design inspiration came from the Soviet UAZ SGR vehicle, which itself always looked a bit comical, but became classic over the years.
This design decision made the VOV-A6 more fun and friendly, which smoothed out its inhuman appearance, which itself eventually became, sort of, iconic in its own right.


Also, with such a simple character design, you can mold anything out of him.
For example, many people remember VOV-A6 at the Vavilov complex at the beginning of the game, playing the synthesizer.
This scene is important to us in many ways, because it refers to the Soviet band Alliance keyboard player look, in which he appeared on a TV show and became a kind of meme.



Facility 3826 has quite a large line of robot models and many stories behind their creation. Maybe you have a particular design preference - which one would you like to learn more about in the future?