Atomic Heart Has Gone Gold

Gamers won’t have to wait much longer to hop into surreal Soviet sci-fi shooter Atomic Heart, as developer Mundfish announces the game has gone gold.

Following a protracted development cycle that saw developer Mundfish often go months or more without releasing new information about its highly anticipated sci-fi shooter, Atomic Heart, the developer announces that the game has gone gold ahead of its February launch. Anticipation for the stylish alternate history shooter grew to new heights early this year after a clip showing nearly 15 minutes of Atomic Heart gameplay leaked online, giving gamers a taste of what awaits them in the full release. With its striking visual style, unique setting, and fast-paced gameplay, Atomic Heart immediately captured the attention of gamers when it was first announced in 2018. Set in an alternate history version of the Soviet Union in 1955, the game tasks players with exploring a mysterious research facility that has descended into chaos after being overrun with rogue robots and biomechanical horrors. Though decidedly not a “boomer shooter,” the cheeky term coined to describe first-person shooters with gameplay and visual elements associated with genre entries from the 1990s, the fact that the corridor-heavy shooter and all planned Atomic Heart DLC will be purely single-player experiences is sure to excite gamers who miss the more focused and linear gameplay of that era. In a post from the official Mundfish Twitter account, the developer announced that Atomic Heart has gone gold ahead of its February 21 launch. Featuring an image of one of the game’s eerie automatons floating a gold disc between its hands, the tweet thanks the studio’s development partners and fans of the game for supporting them throughout Atomic Heart’s protracted development cycle. After facing a series of delays, with rumors that the game would be pushed back yet again, the announcement that players will soon be able to explore Atomic Heart’s Facility 3826 will likely be welcome news to many gamers. Fan response to the announcement of Atomic Heart going gold was generally positive, with many Twitter users sharing their excitement at the news. Exhibiting a surprising, and unfortunately far-too-uncommon for the industry, level of engagement with its fans, Mundfish responded to multiple tweets posing questions about the game or just congratulating the developer on Atomic Heart’s impending release. The developers answered questions about everything from confusion about the various console versions of Atomic Heart to localization options in the game, and even hinted in one response that VR support could be coming to the title down the line.

After waiting years to explore Atomic Heart’s weird world, gamers now only have a few weeks left until launch. Whether Atomic Heart can live up to nearly a half decade's worth of hype remains to be seen, but the sci-fi shooter certainly seems set to deliver a surreal spin on the genre when it launches in February.

Atomic Heart releases on February 21 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

CHRISTOPHER CASTELLAW ( January 27, 2023)

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