Games worth discovering

Atomic Heart first impressions

4K View2023-02-23

Publisher: Focus Entertainment, 4Divinity

Released: 20 Feb, 2023

Price: $60 USD

This has been one of those games that has been heavily discussed in recent years, before falling silent and then ultimately being released to the public.

I've honestly grown increasingly dissatisfied with all of these "open-world" games. I tend to limit my excitement because these types of games aren't often what they claim to be & instead are merely experiences with lots of limitations.

I truly believe that games like this have a lot of potential, but that they are either frontloaded or heavily deficient in the beginning before fully opening up later.

The Intro

I'll be completely honest. I enjoyed the introduction, the world, the people, the dialogue, and the tale. It feels somewhat faultless in certain places while being a little underwhelming in others. But not by much as they are rather irrelevant.

The audio and visuals were great, with no defects or problems.

I can't really complain, and as many people in the game's community already know, the anatomically correct bodies of the robots Left and Right are very lovely, even if they are more sexualized than I would prefer.

Nevertheless, I am concerned that this is all the game has to offer, as I see some parallels with previous games in which they load you up with a great opening and turn gears to leave you with a deserted mid game experience.

Combat

So far, I'm unimpressed

I've concluded that I'd rather play with melee weapons and never bother with ranged weaponry. Thus far, the experience has been positive, with the exception of a few issues with the flying machines.

The combat gameplay thus far has consisted of me simply strafing and leaping around to avoid the vast majority of any damage dealt to me while hitting striking with a fully charged up melee swing. It get's rather repetitive and boring after a while.

Music

It's quite good when there's music. Mick Gordon from the award-winning Doom series composed many of the tracks like in the above video gameplay.

But, there isn't much music playing outside of important events, and you're just going around inside bunkers in what appears to be a locked off "open-world" with very little to interact with 7 hours into this game, which is upsetting.

It's possible that it will open up later, but I'm not counting on it.

Abilities & Crafting

It's fairly straightforward

If you want to create something, you must first obtain the blueprints for it; this is where the "open-world" component of the game comes into play.

Click "show on map" and it will show you exactly where you need to travel to collect this blueprint. It's not in a specific location, but rather in a box someplace in that area that you may simply get and then depart.

Upgrading requires blueprints as well as the components required to create it. This is abundant throughout your experience. If you run out of materials, you can simply disassemble items that provide you with what you require. To be honest, aside from a gun and ammo, there isn't much else you need to keep.

Conclusions

I feel like I won't be impressed

I've only played for a few hours, but the most of it has been enjoyable. I haven't tried to break the game much in terms of pushing its limits, but I'll include that in the comprehensive review shortly, so keep an eye out for that.

But I enjoy what the game has to offer up to this time. I believe the game will receive a low rating from me, in part because it feels frontloaded as hell.

Video game devs must comprehend what their games promise to be, and an open world experience is a game with a big and dynamic universe, complete with creatures, quests, tales, and personalities. This feels more like a few dispersed robots and loot boxes to slow you down to extend the games time.

It's neither open nor does it feel like a sandbox game. You are heavily limited.

My initial thoughts on this game come to a close with the caveat that, while others may disagree, that is what makes gamers unique. You don't have to share their interests or agree with them and are welcome to critic me on mine.

If you want to catch me on one of my streams or locate me on social media, you may do so at the following locations, I'm always playing something new.

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Steam Curation (Giving away a copy of this game)

- Pawkt

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