Quick Look: Atomic Heart

Finished this the other day and I have no idea how I managed to get through such a tedious, frustrating, and buggy game with awful mechanics, half-baked ideas, and terrible writing.

Not playing this game cause of the weird shit around it involving the Russian gov... def think this is weirder to buy than Hogwarts Legacy

Did the devs do anything other than pay taxes that go to the russian government? I can understand people being iffy on the game if the devs outright said some stuff that's bad, but we can't really blame them for being born russians.

I know i'm going to get shit for this, and I swear I'm not trying to be a troll here, but if we don't buy this game because the devs are russian tax payers then we really should not be buying games from studios that pay taxes in the US. I'm not trying to say which is worse here, but the USA's impact on the world and it's own citizens insn't super peachy.

This is all moot if the devs actually did bad shit that I'm just not aware of tho.

Aside from the subtitles not having decent size options (hopefully that's a patch), there's NO reason to not use the Russian voices. Like you normally wouldn't complain when the English dub of Like A Dragon is all American-sounding guys, why is this any different? As for the dialogue and story, it's not great but it doesn't seem anywhere near as bad as Jan and Jeff are making it out to be? Mainly because it seems super self-aware. Like I think it wants to be Wolfenstein but ends up halfway to sounding like Duke Nukem but manages to split the difference just fine. It has this cloying propaganda-movie campiness that fits the setting and characters kind of perfectly.

Complaining that the characters don't have a Russian accent is a very silly complaint. They're Russians with an American dub, not Russians speaking English.

This looks great, in my eyes the voice director of this game told the protagonist to watch Giant Bomb quick looks for shitty Xbox 360 shooters and just go off the voices the crew would make when mocking the voice overs in whichever game they were covering, it’s really that silly. It’s not like the actual narrative aside from the voice work seems all that good, but it seems like there is fun to be had playing a Shock-alike game anyway. I’ll definitely get this on sale someday.

Oh so you liked it?

Ah yes. A country committing literal text book definition of a genocide with hundreds of thousands of people dead and millions forced out of their homes in Ukraine is not reason enough to boycott this game. The profits that this game generates will be used directly to buy bullets and bombs that kill civilians. But I guess the important thing is that they haven't said anything mean on Twitter (except they very likely have given that Russian troll farms tend to post the most destructive and divisive content you see on the Internet).

Came here to comment something similar. Considering how GB already has a long history of refusing to cover certain games due to their questionable connections and sometimes even being very vocal about how much they are against it, I'm very disappointed to see them giving a platform to this one. Not only is their hypocrisy saddening to see, but it also seems that they didn't even consider for a second that some of the people who watch them are currently dealing with the effects of this awful ongoing war.

I'm glad I'm no longer a premium subscriber of this website, if I was I would cancel it right now. I refuse to support a website that apparently is fine with the genocidal killing of thousands of people and the destruction of a country.

This is such a weird connection to make. What the hell are russian game devs supposed to do? Storm the kremlin and topple putin? Why don't we apply the same logic to every other studio in the world who's taxes go to fund illegal wars?

I'm 100% behind not buying hogwarts legacy to not send money to JK Terfling. The studio was under no obligation to work with her. But punishing people for existing in one country makes no sense, especially when we don't apply the same logic to the rest of the world.

@megamelozzar: It's not that they just happen to be from the same country and there's nothing they can do. That would be understandable. But there are way more connections that the game/studio has with the Russian government. That's the issue.

Maybe that's fine for Americans, but I and other people much closer to the war take these things more seriously.

I haven't seen anything other than the fact that they are russian, but I'm always open to learn, and I'm not from the US either. I won't be buying this game in the end, but more because of how bad the writing seems.

I have to agree people not wanting to cancel this game. Just because the developers are Russian, doesn't mean they agree with what their leader Putin is doing. Think of it this way, a lot of foreign countries could and often do blame America's leaders for a lot of stuff, some founded others unfounded, but this doesn't stop American people from being able to make a profit overseas in most cases, because one doesn't have anything to do with the other. I myself, play Genshin Impact, which is a game by a Chinese developer, and I don't blame them for the actions of their leader. The only exception, is if the developers themselves have given statements supporting the oppressive actions currently happening in both countries. If that happens, then the boycotts of the games are justified.

JKR has made it clear, even in 2023 where she stands in the Trans issue and her being against them. So there is a paper trail of her actions, which is why people choosing not to support Hogwarts Legacy makes sense.

@thefurrytroll: Not really. Its pretty much the same. This game wasn't made by Putin. Hog Leg wasn't made by JK.

Should we have boycotted all games made by american developers while Trump was president???

That being said, I have zero interest in this game. Only reason it has any kind of relevance to me is because of the "controversy."

100% with apewins and BrainScratch on this one. This is my first time post but I am a long time supporter who have now canceled my premium (as well as my gamepass). Between this and the fact that so many people have left or been let go I am also out. The whataboutism on this forum is seriously troubling. If you cant see the difference between a liberal west EU/USA and Russia may i suggest you go to russia. I live in a neighboring country to russia and have traveled all over the world. Every country has its problems but russia is a mafia state. The ONLY sacrifice you had to make on this one was to not play a shitty game but that is obviously too hard for “GAMERS”.

I am really disappointed in everyone at GiantBomb who thought it was a good idea to cover this game. I have always thought them to take the right stance on issues. There are actually hundreds of thousands of people dying in this war. Russia have established outright concentration camps and are killing civilians and kidnapping children from occupied territories.

The choice here is easy. Don’t give ANY russian ANYTHING until they take control over their country or flee and denounce their leadership. This is not putins war, this is russias war.

@thefurrytroll: "I have more of a problem with an unclear and shady link to a foreign government than I do with open transphobia and the denial of people's existence and identity" is a pretty telling take.

@c_toc: sure, let's just ignore the part about how that "foreign government" just so happened to have started a genocidal war that is still going on, killed thousands of innocent people, and left other thousands homeless with no resources to survive. Not to mention all the kidnappings, war crimes, concentration camps, or homicides disguised as suicides of their own innocent citizens.

I didn't even want to make a comparison between the two because there's no reason for having to pick just one thing to have a problem with, but thinking that the shitty opinion of a rich privileged white lady is worse than the literal deaths of innocent children is also a pretty telling take.

@av_gamer, @legitlakers: Once again, the problem isn't that they are from the same country, that's fine. The problem is the direct link to investments connected to their government and shady links to where the profits of the game might go to.

I'll say I didn't mean to start any arguments and support ppl boycotting whatever they want... I just personally think one is worse than the other and getting less attention. I'll also say the idea that JK is more transphobic than the Russian government is pretty funny.

You know. Maybe Jan should train his dog to not bark for no reason. Its relatively easy to do and would make his life (and recording videos) a lot better

As an additional note to the conversation on this one, something to maybe worry about if you're in the States - what is going on with Disney and the Florida GOP is the infant form of what Russia has done for quite some time. I expect a lot of you, based on what you said here, to start researching any Florida connections on games you want to play going forward.

Always funny to see Americans or their Western European pals complain about sales of this game possibly funding genocide in other countries with zero self awareness. Following that logic maybe GB should stop covering all video games (which at the rate this site is going might actually be soon).