Game On: Atomic Heart confidently fills the void left by BioShock

There’s a particularly compelling brand of science-fiction first-person shooters out there, and they don’t come often. It’s been ages since there was a new System Shock, BioShock has been absent for a decade following the disassembly of developer Irrational Games, and Arkane Studios’ excellent Prey (2017) seems to have been a one-off.

So while we all wait for BioShock creator Ken Levine’s new game Judas to launch most likely in 2025 – seriously – or for Cloud Chamber Collective to deliver some sort of news about the fourth BioShock game beyond rumors and speculation, fans of the genre have to make due with what they can get their hands on. Atomic Heart was released on Tuesday, Feb. 21, and players are already calling it “BioShock in the USSR.”

Atomic Heart has big shoes to fill, and in my opinion, it mostly manages. These sci-fi shooters have some common elements: an immersive, imaginative historical fiction setting, pseudo-science magical powers and a story with lots of twists. They also love to get gamers thinking about the morality of scientific advancement.

In the case of Atomic Heart, it’s set in 1955, in the hypothetical scenario where the USSR wins World War II thanks to its scientists’ development of a liquidized programmable module called Polymer, which leads to breakthrough advancements in the fields of energy and robotics. In true communist fashion, the Soviet goal is to use these robots to create a post-labor world.

Things take a quick downward turn when a prison-colony scientist manipulates the artificial intelligence network, “Kollektiv 2.0,” to turn the legions of robots into aggressive killing machines. Gamers control special forces operative Major Sergei Nechaev (aka Agent P-3), who is deployed to clean up the mess alongside Charles, a powerful experimental glove with artificial intelligence. True to the genre, the mission gets increasingly complicated as society plunges further and further into chaos.

The gameplay loop is tried-and-true: explore a facility overrun with enemies, upgrade your weapons and magic-like powers and uncover shocking truths. Although the action borrows most heavily from BioShock, its 1950s post-WWII aesthetic is reminiscent of Fallout. Comic relief is frequent and sassy despite the increasingly-bleak scenario Agent P-3 finds himself in.

But that’s not to say that Atomic Heart is goofy, because the game does a great job of weaving a compelling narrative that questions the morality and potential consequences of AI. Given the recent release of ChatGPT and other impressive AI algorithms, it couldn’t have come at a more relevant time.

Puzzlingly, some critics are panning the game for lacking original ideas while also complaining about its quippy dialogue and platforming segments – you know, the exact elements that set it apart from its contemporaries.

I’ll be honest, Agent P-3’s constant profanities and bickering with his sentient glove did wear on me at times, but I’m equally sick of the “silent protagonist” shtick that so many first-person games lean into. Just because it worked for Half-Life, a series designed to feel pensive and lonely, doesn’t mean it should be applied to every FPS ever.

The platforming is a bit clunky at times, but it also adds elements of verticality and problem-solving to Atomic Heart in the same way the Gloo Cannon did in Prey (2017). Scaling walls and making tremendous jumps feels gratifying, and your exploration is usually rewarded with various weapon components, blueprints, etc.

Besides these unique elements, I believe the developers also made the conscious decision to try and set the game apart by introducing a heavier focus on close-quarter encounters. There are four different melee weapons with a variety of moves available for each, but all of them feel incredibly clunky. The moment I acquired a firearm, I began using melee only as a last resort, and given the relative scarcity of ammo, that happened more often than I liked.

That’s hardly enough to ruin the experience however, and I recommend Atomic Heart wholeheartedly to anyone who enjoys a single-player FPS with a good story. Between breathtaking graphics, an immersive setting and an enjoyable gameplay loop, the game earns high marks all around.

Riordan Zentler can be reached at riordanzentler@gmail.com.