![]() I’ve even been told there’s a racist caricature hidden away somewhere in the cartoons that run on loop in this game. This is not to mention the way female-coded robots are sexualized, and the apparent presence of anti-Ukrainian propaganda. There’s the undercurrent of nationalism and of anti-collectivism. The messages, vapid as they are, are hammered repeatedly and obnoxiously, conveying its shitty politics piecemeal. I think the glove literally quotes Animal Farm at you. It’s the most run of the mill sci-fi plot you could have cooked up for this game. I’m withholding some of the absurd spoilers, but there are a few moments that had me laughing to myself, saying, “I hate this game.” And god, it really is not that original. Some twists are cribbed directly from Bioshock. ![]() All of its twists are predictable and none of its ideas are new. The game is very much interested in its plot and its plot fucking sucks. I tried to play the game with Russian audio but the constant chattering made the game almost impossible even with subtitles. The motherfucker keeps saying “crispy critters” like he’s trying to make it a thing. It does the time honored faux pas of complaining about mechanics it makes you perform. It’s annoying bland protag never stops talking. The problem is that this game never shuts the fuck up. Hell, I might be doing a cheeky review of Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother, instead. If this game was all looks and middling gameplay, I wouldn’t be writing this. That’s why this game’s trailers blew up: it looks sick. The robot designs are creative and eerie (and sometimes horny), and the environmental design is almost Seussian at times. And, if nothing else, Atomic Heart has a stunning visual style. Like, look, aesthetics count for more than most of us want to admit. But it’s just not.ĭumb games aren’t intrinsically bad, but I think Atomic Heart is. So I just land on this: Atomic Heart is not very smart. ![]() Okay, maybe, but it definitely seems to be trying to. So, maybe it’s not sophisticated enough to have a message. Everything has an ideology, and this game often makes it very clear where it’s coming from. At first I say that Atomic Heart isn’t sophisticated enough to really have an ideology, but that’s not true. I struggle to explain the exact way this game is so facile. It wants badly to be able to be superficial. It is trapped pining for the aesthetics of past without its politics. It loves the utopic visions of Soviet communism, but is disgusted by its own nostalgia. Marx statues and Lenin busts are easy to find, but they’re just set dressing. The game is fascinated by Soviet aesthetics, the socialist realism, the hammers and sickles, but rejects the values that formed them. But Atomic Heart is the most I’ve ever seen it manifest. Anyone who wants it restored has no brains.” I doubt I will ever really understand this sentiment I’m not Russian and my ancestors left there long ago. There’s that famous Putin quote, “Anyone who doesn't regret the passing of the Soviet Union has no heart. So what of Atomic Heart? What happens when you imitate an imitation? When it comes to depth, these are the equivalent of a Road Runner tunnel painted on a wall. And this hit an apex with Bioshock Infinite, a game I truly despise, which was utterly vapid and utterly hateful. The Bioshock series (itself deferred to System Shock 2) is sort of messy, wrapped up in gestures towards depth, both narratively and mechanically, that are ultimately flat. It oozes it from the first seconds of the game, pushing you through an idyllic world-building hallway in a floating city before everything turns to shit and the havoc begins. Atomic Heart wants desperately to be like Bioshock Infinite.
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