The game is riddled with easter eggs that only people knowing Soviet culture will understand. For example, devs put entire Soviet classic animated series of short comedy films called "Nu pogodi" ("Just you wait"). Fans of classic Tom and Jerry should really enjoy this. Hope Western audience will check this out via in game tv lol
@@deft4184 highly positive is a bit too optimistic. I do hope they can hire better translator and voice actor in the future, because they're horrendous in this game.
The opening reminds me of Bioshock Infinite in terms of structure and artstyle which i really like. I love when games take the Half Life approach and take some time off to show you this gorgeous and well designed world the devs have so meticulously created instead of thrusting you into combat right off the bat.
Oh man I've played Prey for the first time recently and I just can't play other story fps anymore. It set the bar of immersion and story telling IN-GAME so high I can't even see a cutescene and menu anymore.
@@ThumpertTheFascistCottontail that's fine though. These sections aren't meant to provide gameplay variety, they're there to introduce you to the world and immerse you, you're supposed to move around and take in everything slowly and interact with the NPCs and some of the stuff present in the world.
I don't think so, I mean in the Witcher 3 oe Skyrim, would it really be better to just walk in a small room and press 1 button to collect absolutely everything at once?
@@amadeusoasis5358 No it would not, that'be idiotic if you use your brain to think about it, you would NEVER need to actually go into the rooms, just go into the doorway, press f to loot and walk away.
I was playing this game in Russian but with English subtitles and I actually loved how they managed to deliver some cultural names and phrases translationwise. But still.. there are thousands of references only Russian speakers 30+ yo will understand.
@@EpoxydeableI'm not sure what he meant but there are a lot of things and small details that really existed in the USSR. Like, for example, in the very beginning, when a flying robot offers you a soda drink, it pours it an a thick glass. Such soda machines (not flying robots of course, but regular ones similar to vending machines) were scattered all over the country. They died out in early 90s. And yes, there was ONE glass for everyone. So, you insert some coins, get some soda, drink it and put the glass back for the next customer. Naming in the game is also meaningful. Vavilov facility is an agricultural complex. And it was named after an actual Russian/Soviet agricultural scientist Nikolay Vavilov.
@@DiedFromCringe23 If you mean something like that, then true, there is a lot of references. Like street and location names after real people, like Pavlov or Tsiolkovsky, cars, posters, cartoons, architecture or amusement park attractions design. I was particularly interested in the 30 yo + part. But maybe I'm just really that old.
@@Epoxydeable by 30+ yo I meant not only references to some names and locations from soviet times but mostly different songs in general/ lines from songs/ phrases from movies which were popular among people 20 years ago and more. Of course some young people may know them and understand the particular reference but most of them didn't watch these movies already (didn't hear songs or don't know old Russian memes for example). That just what I noticed. For instance not everybody understands that the robot playing the synthesiser in the beginning is a reference to a guy from Alyans music band which was popular 30 years ago although it is relatively known across the internet even now. And there are a lot of such things.
If there's a pet peeve I have about modern first person games, it's protagonists constantly narrating my own feelings and intentions to me while I'm looking through their eyes and controlling them. I know I'm kicking robot butt, I'm the one doing it, you don't have to say "wew this is some robot butt kicking" over and over.
Metroid Prime was ahead of its time. Playing the Remastered release this month made me miss having games without voice acting. I can't remember a game where voice acting during gameplay helped my immersion or matched my behavior. I hadn't been so immersed in ages and it was only text and visual storytelling.
It's a zoomer thing. Low attention span to commit to following the story within their own mindscape, and constant need for drippling instant gratification at their fingertips. Smarthpnes and mobile internet ruined virtually every mass market movie, tv series and game that has to compete with it after 2010. Never mind books
Забавно, что эти самые игроки отвечают на русском, посмотрев получасовое видео на английском без субтитров. Ин совьет раша лангуагу знают больше человек, чем за бугром знают русский, так что это не проблема, чаще всего. З.ы. удачи тому, кто решит воспользоваться транслэйтом
@@bad_kojima фишка в том что если смотреть видос - ты слушаешь и все нормально переводишь в мыслях, а вот когда ты в игре и одновременно нужно вести машину или стреляться и в это время диалог - это неудобно
Back in the day (2000-2012), we were grateful to get these quasi AA-AAA games that scored somewhere in the 6.5 to 7.5 range out of 10, because they often provided enough new experiences to overlook their obvious shortcomings.
@@inendlesspain4724games have gotten too complex and ambitious, forcing developers to work overtime near deadlines and become burnt out. Not to mention, pleasing investors.
Back then, those scores are good. But now, people always rate things 0 or 10. I think it's the hype culture that lets people to exaggerate their opinions and put it in a high pedestal over everyone else.
My experience playing this game really gives off late 2000s/ early 2010s vibes and it's really what I needed, feels weird to be forced into cut scenes and QTEs' again
16:07 There is an in-game explanation by the glove when Major asks about why he can't just zap the water wondering if all of the water in the area is distilled. If i remember correctly his explanation is that the electricity is sealed off in the polymer particles that are being shot from the glove so it doesn't react with the water. Something along those lines
@@Fat_xeno I know, it's just that it looks really odd to see a static puddle or a lake after seeing a very detailed enviroment, even Half life 2 in 2004 had pretty realistic water animations.
i had the concern that its going to suck and that deep down it was gonna be a complete buggy mess because it just kinda looks like one of those games that would suffer from it but it turned out to be pretty good
If you read the tips on the loading menu they talk about a a physicist in hazard suit being very effective which I’m assuming they’re throwing a nod at Gordon freemen from half-life which is dope
One of the rare cases where knowing russian language comes in handy. Dialogue makes more sense in russian since it was the original language, less weirdly structured sentences / weird phrasing, plus MC sounds like he's supposed to instead of the most american guy ever
@@meursault7030 Most of us tend to hear about, try watching the show, and then just not really like it that much. At least in my experience with other nerds who have even heard of it.
Haven't been able to watch Dr Who yet. But once I do get around to it, I definitely want to watch the early seasons. The more recent ones seem far too woke
I think gameplay wise it's 8/10 but aesthetic wise it's 20/10. Such a unique game with such a unique artstyle and future techno Soviet union. I absolutely love all the details in the game like the communist decors, propaganda and all that. The developers really knew what they were doing and the aesthetic they were going for.
I feel the same, there's a few rough edges here and there but is for the most part an extremely enjoyable game, and it's aesthetics are uniquely unparalleled. The graphics are incredible enough but the world building is just stunning, I love the level design, the lighting, the buildings, pretty much everything. It's definitely one of those games that has that ohh-so-coveted "feel" that leaves you blown away by the experience.
The graphics/art style look like a combination of fallout 4 and bioshock combined. I have wanted to play this game for at least 2 years now but I'm on the fence do to the underwhelming reviews. I'll probably pick it up when it's 40-50% off
Being from post-soviet block I can tell you this game looks 100% how I would imagine Fallout 3 as created on the other side of the Iron Curtain by some Ivan Karmacki, Ivan Romerov or some such (music by Nikita Reznov, of course). None of the cars or locations in Fallout 3 look familiar to me, but these props and locations... are like items I remember from childhood. :)
You can only use shock to bring those pillars up? And not only that but you have to like align yourself and move around the pillar awkwardly trying your best to hope for the ball crash into the pillar? The melee monster is actually kinda easy. Just drink a vodka and use fire. But the last like 2-3 bosses LITERALLY has no weakness. And we’re immune to everything. More specifically the whale robot boss and the twins
Yeah haha. After like 15 mins of struggling with the twins. I drank some canned milk and crafted like 15 rockets. I literally ended the fight In like less than a minute 💀. But my main point is that the scan shit that tells you the elemental weaknesses. Didn’t show what they were weak too.
7:26 you missed the part where the traitorous hacker used an override to give every bot a combat personality. There was no combat personality for Nora type of bots, so he altered a pleasurebot one and injected into her. Later in the story the change gets reversed. 9:50 She literally tells you her name is "Zinaida", and tells you to call her "Grandma Zina" instead.
Also, there were complaints about not being able to explore because the robots you kill just get repaired. If you open the grey hut in the area and overload the hawk, all robots in the sector shut down and only attack you if you attack them. This lasts like 30 min, which is plenty of time to loot In peace or get to your objective.
Regarding the Shield being useless: If you upgrade all the way to the right, it regens health. It will also regen energy. I beat most of the bosses after the one outside the theater with the Shield and my club and the EMP blast from the energy pistol. If you needed to heal you could always put polymer on the floor, electrify it and stand in it with the shield. I barely used ammo and had a lot of med kits left.
@@spiritwaker9595 Both Mick and Geoff worked on it. Most of the remixes of the Russian songs were done by Geoff while most of the original tracks were done by Mick. Alex Terrible, a prominent Russian Deathcore vocalist known best for being the singer of Slaughter To Prevail, was also featured in some of the tracks.
Pretty cool that they got "Nu, Pogodi!" footage to use on the television at 19:38. I saw a few of its episodes for the first time a couple of months ago in a barbershop, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun it was to watch for someone unfamiliar with both the language and show itself. Atomic Heart has one hell of a premise. If there's anything to be said about it, it's that it's nice to see such a strange, outlandish take on a traditional formula. Something familiar, but in a league all its own. Thanks for the great video on it!
2:10 Bruv that's a Fahrenheit 451 reference that every science fiction dystopia-based stealth sim has referenced. System Shock was just one of the earliest examples of doing that reference.
I'd hazard a guess that the lack of enviromental interactivity is a result of developers running out of time and having to release the game. It sure smells like it. On the plus side I guess I'd be happy that they prioritized other aspects like getting the game to run stable while also making it look good. A lot of developers have rather crappy priorities by comparison.
Oh ya dude 100% feels like they had to rush. The last hour of the game was such a balls hit cause it pulled a sony walking and talking for like 30 min then you black out then wake up near the final area to fight the boss . Which sticks out like a sore thumb cause the rest of the game never did this they always kept u in the same location or show the character leaving so it felt all connected.Not the ending though you start having lore dumps and "strokes" that felt very left turn cause u never seen the strokes happen before. Then they also used AI generated images for the end screens which doesn't even make sense unless they were forced to rush. Cause they were able to afford a top tier actor get real life weapons made at a forge and so on. Sucks cause up to the last hour of gameplay the game at least to me was solid as shit i loved the puzzles i vibe with the combat and i love the world and the world building/monsters and found the story goofy enough to stick out for it and i honestly think this game is a very solid 8/10.
I remember my frustration at the old PUBG days where the game was just shit but then they acted like it was good news they managed to put the frying pan into the game.
@@Sparrow5206 yeah, it's very sad that their own government (which this game is sponsored by) is invading another country and they fully support that :)
I was super skeptical about this game because of the reviews but it’s so fun and I feel like if they made a second one where they fixed those flaws it has it would be an instant classic
I stopped trusting all kinds of reviews a long time ago. There's too much weird shit going on around some games that sometimes it becomes too much like a conspiracy theory.
@Limen Ciel all the reviewers did this time was give ridiculously low scores but not admit the real reason why. And a ton of idiots fell for it hook line and sinker.
@John Dodo I'm gonna say what everyone tries to leave unsaid - it's because the developers are Russian. If the developers were Ukrainian everyone would be giving the game 9/10 and calling it "super unique" lol
The game definitely seems ambitious (maybe too ambitious), but considering the development hell and the fact this is apparently the studio's first ever game, this definitely seems better than what you'd expect. Definitely have seen more experienced studios with more manpower and money do way worse in recent years. Also, it being on game pass probably helps.
Since it's a UE4 game theoretically it should be pretty easy to mod. The first couple of basic mods I'd like is one to mute the protagonist and another to disable head bob/camera shake (assuming those don't have a slider of course).
I've been dreaming of this game since it's reveal over 5 years ago just from the concept alone. Glad to see it's good and I'll be playing it tonight on gamepass.
You may be disappointed by the end result. I encourage you to replay bioshock/prey (2017) an then re-evaluate your feelings about this media product. Have a nice day.
@it's Morbin Time I guess I'll find out tonight. I'm not expecting it to be better than those games I just want it to be good and frankly I thought the combat would be way worse than this so this exceeds my expectations on that front.
@@Kane.JimLahey. Well, I've always known that it would not be going to be a 100% Bioshock spiritual successor. The developers mentioned that they were only inspired by Bioshock, not directly lifting them into a new universe. It's a mixture of many different things (Dying Light, Fallout, Wolfenstein, etc) and it performs most of them beautifully. Your expectations were just misplaced just like me. In fact, I literally thought it was going to be a Bioshock-style game, only to get something else in the end.
I remember seeing concept videos for this game at least five years ago and was immediately hooked. I hope that they still have kept the semblance of survival horror they had in those old videos, that kind of Bioshock-esqe tone would work wonders.
@@drpolarbeer Seems like the direction has completely changed somewhere around 2019 or 2020. If I remember correctly, Atomic Heart used to be a darker and more surrealistic horror game with higher emphasis on resource management, a trippy atmosphere, and weird-looking creatures. I mean, just look up some of the old screenshots of Atomic Heart and compare them to the final release.
What immediately struck me about this game was the graphics on Series X, and the damage effects. Every axe slice or gunshot leaves a realistic wound. And grabbing components from bodies shows the hole you ripped it from. Aside from the glaring lack of environmental destruction, it all seems a very high quality experience with decent attention to detail. And detail to me is a huge factor in my overall enjoyment of a game.
Noticed "Ну, погоди" (Just Your Wait) animated series references. At 10:15 you can see Robo-hare from episode 14. It was so fucking scaring in childhood and still is. At 19:50 ep. 7 can be seen on TV. Bad writing is unfortunately not a reference, but a common problem with contemporary Russian cinematography, both for entertainers and dramas (historical etc.)
@@ВиконтдеСлизерин ah ok, i've heard that russian "have a way with words" in their literature, i didn't think it would extend to mediums that requires for character to speak normally
@@piscessoedroen I haven't played the game, so I don't know whether original game texts are ok. Actually, localizations to Russian can also be... enigmatic, if translator did something wrong.
The moment @5:47 about the cookie is genuinely one of my favorite lines in the game. P3's randomness and Char-les lack of a reaction fits their characters very well.
If the game had environmental fx they could have tied that into the boss fights. Like you zap some water as the rolling boss goes into it which stuns him, or throw explosive barrels at the weak to explosives boss for those that don't have the rocket launcher.
@@Epoxydeable Yeah, it is my problem and problem of majority of current fanbase of this game. It didn't have enough advertisment, that is just a straight fact. The war and anti-russian sentiment just gave this needed advertisement for free for majority of people.
23:10 and this is where the polymer ability comes in. If you hit the big enemies with that before freezing them, it actually works. Using that, you can win every boss fight by standing next to it (or running around it in a circle), pressing q and e and hitting it with your melee weapon. That is how I beat the natasha boss :D
Was literally in the process of reading a post about the game and I swear I just thought “I’ll wait for Gman’s review” then this notification popped up. You can’t beat that timing
I just randomly discovered this as well. I noticed a couple benchmark videos in the past few games had a game I did not recognize. Today when I saw a clip again I instantly tried to google around and only found a few videos on youtube that are in english, but there was this one. Because I literally played a couple hundred shooters, anymore can usually tell I will like a game by seeing an in-game clip.
@@pauls4522 that’s how I am too, I like to listen independent reviewers like Gman to see if there is any bullshit I need to know about and watch some gameplay. That’s normally enough for me
@@JackEverton101 Must be an early reveal. He did mention the spores at 19:30 though, and my assumption is that the story has to do with the robots wanting to take over organic life somehow. Be it a malfunction or an extreme miscommunication.
Who cares? Scientists accidently unlock a gate to another dimension. Scientists accidently unlock a gate to hell. Scientists accidently unleash murderous AI. If you can enjoy Half-life and Doom you will enjoy Atomic Heart.
Gotta give em credit for letting me fight the omnidroids somewhere in the Soviet Union, without being Mr Incredible, and without being that unreasonably difficult Incredibles video game back in 2004
I love to see the Strugatsy Brothers being referenced in gaming. The Chirper: Monday Starts on Sunday is a reference the book with the same name. The whole game has taken much inspiration from some of the best authors eastern Europe has to offer.
@@outerspaceoutlander My English translation is called Monday Starts on Saturday, but I think your right the original is called Monday Begins on Saturday.
I actually love the pacing, on hard it feels intense and dangerous in all the right ways to me. Plus there are spots where repair bots are seemingly infinite and they drop polymer to upgrade your character and abilites so sometimes when I really want an upgrade I just chill and murder repair bots for 20 minutes.
I have to disagree on the shield being useless. After some upgrades, it's really overpowered. It's basically rechargable temporary invulnerability that deflects attacks back to sender and also heals you.
Great review Gman. Well, played AH for 4 hours so far. It's clear the developers put heart and soul into it. Yes, some minor issues exist but overall amazing experience for me. Certainly recommend it.
Nice review! The looting mechanic in this game is by far my favorite over any game I've played, not only is it aesthetically satisfying but it's also not tedious. Looking through every nooks and cranny is my favorite pass time. The interesting part is that you can tell the main character is being control by something implanted in his head that altered his personality. You'll notice it at the beginning when a vendor asked you to try one of his free head band. I've also notice when they're riding the flying car, Charles was surprised P-3 never ride one before. At granny Xena hut, he mentioned about his head injury and losing some of his memory. Spoiler Speaking of Granny Xena, the reason why she keep asking for the gold ring earlier was because she want to free her daughter Katya (the robot twins) and she didn't trust P-3. I wish she did by telling the whole truth. This prevent Charles from convincing P-3 to throw away the rings into the ocean. *Update How did granny Xena knew P-3 location and how did she able to drag his body to her place after Sechenov took control of P-3 to killed Tarissa? Anyway I'm interested to find out why Viktor Petrov sabotaged the robots to make them killed his own people? P-3 and Petrov could be good friends if they had a chance to talk. The game simply won't allow it beside turning them into rivals. P-3 shouldn't raise his gun, but talk to Petrov like a regular person. Tarissa was only there to stop Petrov from killing P-3 as he's being strapped to a bed. She didn't even try to save P-3. Walking away won't bring back all the dead. What she should have done sit down with Petrov and explain everything to P-3, starting with the mind control, the rings and the magical glove name Chariton because now I realize Petrov wanted the US to know that the Russian are creating sophisticated killer robots that disguised as janitors and chubby bartenders. When Petrov fake his own death to stop P-3 from going after him, this prove he's really smart. The most intriguing and underrated feature is the talking glove call Charles. A true genius! I wonder why only the main character has it. Update. As I'm getting deeper into the game, I've learned that the glove is the bad guy and it was giving to P-3 by his boss (Dmitry Sechenov). I haven't beaten the game yet. I'm still at the quest call Made in USSR, but found a spoiler that answered some of my questions regarding the P-3 memory lost. It turn out the robot twins, one of them is P-3 wife. They're being used as sex slaves for his boss and other Fembots for the Russian Elite. Knowing one of the robot twins is P-3 wife, I always hoping to see one of them slowing turn their head to look at you lol. As for the horny fridge, it was Charles the glove who able to tamed/hacked her, why was she attracted to P-3? I like to see a Nora make over. When she open her truck. It should be slimy and pink. Note 2 self. The red blob scene is a tribute to Breaking Bad when Jesse fills the bathtub with acids to dissolved a dead body. Sechenov calling it "Data Storage" could also mean Unit 731 where scientists tag their victims as logs. Unit 731: The Forgotten Asian Auschwitz Under the leadership of Dr. Shiro Isshi, Unit 731 subjected 3,000-250,000 innocent men, women, and children to cruel experiments and medical procedures that were carried out by the brightest medical students and staff that Imperial Japan had to offer. A little about my playstyle and build. I'm old fashion and invested all the points into health and elemental/physical resist. For damage I maxed my electro pistol and swirling axe. I like to imagine I'm playing the Barbarian from Diablo 2, using whirlwind to vanquished my foes. Quick draw against flying units with my Electro. This game is part RPG, part shooting and part puzzle. For RPG I always looks for large horde of robots to farm. The only thing I don't like is lack of robot to kill. Atomic heart is my Half Life 3. Currently playing the dev build without any navigation marker. Future suggestions. - We should able to pick item to tame certain enemy, like a toy for the Plyusch. - Hack enemy to make them fight for you. Pet master - Have more choices for an alternative ending like making friend with Petrov.
Great review but i have a couple corrections here and there. Like at 26:31. There are a couple upgrades in the character section that lets you run faster and do a double dash. Both of which makes parkour easier. And personally i never really had any problem with breezing through the door locks and the laser puzzles.
Thank you for doing your review but you seem to have missed one thing. What about the 6 hour long adult scene with the twin ballerina robots? 🤣 Seriousness I'm really happy that you replayed BioShock recently before playing AH. You're probably one of the few reviewers that can actually played through Bio Shock in the last 10 years so you could do a good side by side comparison :D
For a studios first game, especially given the context around developing through the pandemic and having to shuffle things around completely to avoid fallout from the war in Ukraine, I’m not really surprised that this game has flaws and is lacking in certain areas. That being said, I think the scorn comparison is perfect with this one. Much like Scorn, I never expected this to be a 10/10 but AH is obviously a work of passion and I’m going to support it for its creativity and originality, and the fact that the game was released in a complete playable state at launch, since we need more of that in the gaming industry especially for higher profile releases.
I love how the game looks but the main investors in this game are also big sponsors of the Russian militaire. So you're indirectly helping the Russian military by buying this game. Off course it's your own choice but it's important to know.
Reviewers are much harsher and more critical than they used to be on video games. It's kind of astounding how much effort these new devs put into their craft only to be crapped on because it's not as polished as what juggernauts in the industry put together. I remember when buggy, blocky, short, poor story games got good reviews (not that they necessarily deserved it). Just saying now you have to have a near perfect experience in every regard or there will be even "professional" reviews giving less than average scores. People don't realize how good they have it until it's gone.
There’s something about a game that can deliver a sense of “presence” within the world where it’s almost the game’s setting is a character in and of itself. This game looked so unique from the first trailer drop that I’ve been dying to finally experience for it myself.
To be fair, I see a lot of Arkane Studio's Prey influence the artstyle. Where Prey had a more of a cassette-futurism, this has a raygun gothic feel to it. But that is what I feel like.
Clipping your own voice in the same video the clip originated from. Ten seconds after. That's how you know you're still having fun after all these years. I always love a Gman review !!
At 19:38 - there is a TV with 'nu pogodi!' playing in the background, I love that little detail, it takes me back when I used to watch them all the time as kid
This has been one of my most anticipated games in the past decade, and one I would have been devastated about if it bombed. I wasn't expecting it to be GOTY material, but so happy it's solid enough. It seems like a game that knows its strengths and plays into them, very, very well. Going to be jumping right into it once my work week is over.
I feel it'll be much better if the devs get around to fixing all the issues, such as the janky physics, lack of transportation/ridiculous amount of enemies, and pointless dialogue
@@compatriot852 Perhaps, they are planning 4 DLC drops so they're not done with the game by any means. All else fails I have a feeling this game will develop a bit of a modding community behind it.
Honestly, I believe the humor in High on Life is generally determined by whether or not you actually enjoy Justin Roiland's writing style (and to a lesser extent, Rick and Morty in general). Or maybe I just don't have enough IQ to fully appreciate High on Life's sophisticated sense of humor.
@@ilhambrewok7860 no you're right, but I was just jabbing him for covering yet another fps where too much humor was put into characters who love the sound of their voices
"controversy surrounding this game" had to Google what it even was. Damn I feel like every game nowadays has some controversies I wish we all just could go back to the time where we could enjoy a game just for what it is instead of trying to push our ideologies into the games
@GmanLives There is a way to shut down those robots and cameras in some zones. There is one tower that can control cameras on the specific zone. Scroll one of them until you find a control room using your X-Ray and open the door. When you get in there, the little spider thingy comes out from his arm that gives you two options and one of them can disable all machines in one area.
Hoo boy! I was really excited for this one. It clearly takes inspiration from the earlier side of the Strugatsky works like Monday Starts On Saturday and Noon: 22nd Century. As mentioned in the video, they're not exactly subtle about their references either. at 5:40 you can see a reference where it references the book Monday starts on Saturday, but replacing saturday with sunday.
That 0451 isn't a System Shock reference. It's a Farenheit 451 reference that all first person RPGs use by tradition for their first unlock code. The other Bioshock games did it too, Deus Ex games, Dishonored, who knows how many dozens of others
I'm glad you worded it the way you did because I still remember when it was a mystery horror game and was looking forward to that. But if you like the direction the game went then I guess it is good.
Really. I kinda wish that the developers should've went for that dark and serious atmosphere from the 2017-2018 trailers instead of whatever we got in the final release. What's funny is that one of the old screenshots actually spoiled the true main antagonist of Atomic Heart. Also, remember that old Soviet Lunapark VR game?
The electro pistol is actually a good fall back weapon and you get an upgrade that gives an emp blast to stun robots. The last melee weapon has a cool flying saw blades ability which is pretty at damaging bosses. I also kind of compare atomic heart to doom 2016 where the gameplay and enemies gets pretty intense. I stream this game with often these using those weapon at tight situations.
You know I can only speak as a fan of Warlockracy but a lot of these eastern titles have a certain way of going about dialogue that i can't really place. Tehsnakerer has a video on a game called Neuro that has it going on super hard as well actually.
I think part of it comes from being both from an entirely different cultural background, and from a native language that is very unrelated to English English is already a bad language to translate into due to how limited it was, but the very base of speech patterns and syntax is completely different in those languages as well, so some stuff can't really be ported directly and just ends up being odd
@@silverhand9965 I think you're 100% correct, but I do think that the cultural aspect plays a larger part than English being suboptimal for Russian translations
Every time I see this games's review, players always use different combat style. While gman used ice, I used polymer+shock combination to stunlock and damage enemies. Shock will stay inside polymer if you add more of it while it lasts. I also upgraded telekinesis to raise heavy enemies which came in handy during the hedgehog fight as telekinesis stops her vacuum.
Anyone else notice how...Concerningly similar some of the player's animations are to the ones you'd find in Dying Light? 17:45 through 17:52 The swinging looks extremely similar to Crane's, same with the charged spin attack.
I love the art style it’s absolutely beautiful and just love the graphics, not to mention there is a Soviet robot twin wives so that’s definitely a plus
10:37 Gman discovers average eastern block-era driving experience also - dat roundhouse chainsaw swing around is similar to Shadow Warrior 2 And it would be great if those small walking sawblade mobs could dig and attack from the ground, like Screamers Why new games have less features that older games had? One word - bloat. In the code, engines, game framework... adding something new is risky, might create bugs, or they have no idea how to implement it from technical and gameplay perspective. Older games could do that because (a) they made their own engines, so adding some features would not cause problems later or (b) they found the way to put it in the game without causing problems like bugs... and had time, resources and competent people to do it.
"Persecution of Russians" lol shut up. Thousands of dead and somehow the worst thing in the world is everyone stopped pretending Russian culture was this transcendent thing.
yea like shame on them being from russia... let us hate every single russian person just cause their stupid governments decisions... seems fair. people are so messed up.
The polymer is best used on the ground in combination with shok, you can stunlock most enemies with electricity and then keep wailing on them. Lasts longer than the other ways you can lock enemies down, and you can even just spray it on the ground again as it starts wearing off to keep them stunlocked indefinitely.
As someone from the Balkan region I actually do feel like the humor and the dialogue is a bit more focused towards our region than it is worldwide. But to be perfectly honest I came for the sexy robot ladies, stayed for the sexy Jensen Ackles ad.
Shield works great for a fast high damage mele build. At higher upgrades it recharges your health and energy, on top of reflecting damage. There are multiple ways to defeat the sphere too. You can make it hit all of the statues to kill it instead of shooting it. Also, you can disassemble your weapons and they give you back ALL of the components you have invested into them.
Hey guys, this video may contain MINOR visual spoilers. Nothing major, but keep that in mind!
Knew you would play mate 🤘
@@vngxrd
I don't know you boot licking busy body, how much money does your mom give you a week for allowance?
@@vngxrd yes he can, to buy some kangaroo hookers. Are you for real, mate?
Would you say this Game is more inspired by System Shock?
thanks
So let me get this straight. I’m in 1950s Russia. I’m seeing robots. I’m talking to a freakin’ glove. And I can move stuff with my mind.
I HATE FORSPOKEN I HATE FORSPOKEN
@@jackknoxartz5853 It's Forespokin' Time!
I hate myself for understanding this.
I love that ive never evn touched forspoken but it was so legendary cringe i know exactly what youre talking abiut
Okay, that is something I do now!
The game is riddled with easter eggs that only people knowing Soviet culture will understand. For example, devs put entire Soviet classic animated series of short comedy films called "Nu pogodi" ("Just you wait"). Fans of classic Tom and Jerry should really enjoy this. Hope Western audience will check this out via in game tv lol
In my contry it's called vlk a zajac(wolf and rabbit) and it was my fav childhood cartoon also with Tom and Jerry
It used to telecast in India! I loved that show as a kid!!!
@@Christmasko what country is that
I only watch Shoe and Shoelace. One is meaningless without the other.
I'm just joking, man. That's awesome and I can't wait to find it.
@@Christmasko no, its called "Nu pogodi"
Atomic Heart's scores may be mixed but considering this is Mundfish first marketable game, I’m really excited to see what they can do in the future.
It's barely even mixed, straight up highly positive.
It's mixed mostly because of Ukrainians constantly crying about everything related to Russia
@@deft4184 highly positive is a bit too optimistic. I do hope they can hire better translator and voice actor in the future, because they're horrendous in this game.
@@zoinksscoob6523 They are Russian... for them, is a miracle that their game could be sold in today's politics. That was already hard
@@Dan_Kanerva rip
The opening reminds me of Bioshock Infinite in terms of structure and artstyle which i really like. I love when games take the Half Life approach and take some time off to show you this gorgeous and well designed world the devs have so meticulously created instead of thrusting you into combat right off the bat.
Looks a quite limited gameplay wise though.
Oh man I've played Prey for the first time recently and I just can't play other story fps anymore. It set the bar of immersion and story telling IN-GAME so high I can't even see a cutescene and menu anymore.
It looks like bioshock and farcry 4 snorted a huge line of eurojank and went to russia.
@@ThumpertTheFascistCottontail that's fine though. These sections aren't meant to provide gameplay variety, they're there to introduce you to the world and immerse you, you're supposed to move around and take in everything slowly and interact with the NPCs and some of the stuff present in the world.
Bioshock and Prey was the developer inspirations
That looting mechanic needs to be in more games
What looting mechanic?
@@IskenderCaglarM41B441 11:13
I don't think so, I mean in the Witcher 3 oe Skyrim, would it really be better to just walk in a small room and press 1 button to collect absolutely everything at once?
@@finnish_hunter Yeah here’s the thing bud,
YES IT WOULD.
@@amadeusoasis5358 No it would not, that'be idiotic if you use your brain to think about it, you would NEVER need to actually go into the rooms, just go into the doorway, press f to loot and walk away.
I was playing this game in Russian but with English subtitles and I actually loved how they managed to deliver some cultural names and phrases translationwise. But still.. there are thousands of references only Russian speakers 30+ yo will understand.
References like what ? Could you give a few examples?
@@EpoxydeableI'm not sure what he meant but there are a lot of things and small details that really existed in the USSR. Like, for example, in the very beginning, when a flying robot offers you a soda drink, it pours it an a thick glass. Such soda machines (not flying robots of course, but regular ones similar to vending machines) were scattered all over the country. They died out in early 90s. And yes, there was ONE glass for everyone. So, you insert some coins, get some soda, drink it and put the glass back for the next customer.
Naming in the game is also meaningful. Vavilov facility is an agricultural complex. And it was named after an actual Russian/Soviet agricultural scientist Nikolay Vavilov.
@@DiedFromCringe23 If you mean something like that, then true, there is a lot of references. Like street and location names after real people, like Pavlov or Tsiolkovsky, cars, posters, cartoons, architecture or amusement park attractions design. I was particularly interested in the 30 yo + part. But maybe I'm just really that old.
@@Epoxydeable by 30+ yo I meant not only references to some names and locations from soviet times but mostly different songs in general/ lines from songs/ phrases from movies which were popular among people 20 years ago and more. Of course some young people may know them and understand the particular reference but most of them didn't watch these movies already (didn't hear songs or don't know old Russian memes for example). That just what I noticed. For instance not everybody understands that the robot playing the synthesiser in the beginning is a reference to a guy from Alyans music band which was popular 30 years ago although it is relatively known across the internet even now. And there are a lot of such things.
Consider yourself lucky. In the US, the Russian version is NOT AVAILABLE. That's how ridiculous this Western idiocy is.
If there's a pet peeve I have about modern first person games, it's protagonists constantly narrating my own feelings and intentions to me while I'm looking through their eyes and controlling them. I know I'm kicking robot butt, I'm the one doing it, you don't have to say "wew this is some robot butt kicking" over and over.
think that's why this game is good, I can't remember the last time I heard in combat dialogue in it lmao
The glove is such a boon. It has you avoid internal dialogue, yet fills the void of internal dialogue
Metroid Prime was ahead of its time. Playing the Remastered release this month made me miss having games without voice acting. I can't remember a game where voice acting during gameplay helped my immersion or matched my behavior. I hadn't been so immersed in ages and it was only text and visual storytelling.
It's a zoomer thing. Low attention span to commit to following the story within their own mindscape, and constant need for drippling instant gratification at their fingertips. Smarthpnes and mobile internet ruined virtually every mass market movie, tv series and game that has to compete with it after 2010. Never mind books
Bro life aint that bad yall dont got to hate everything
“It would be difficult to concentrate on a game and read subtitles”
Russian GTA players: “oh, seriously?”
Да, особенно водить машину и читать субтитры одновременно
Ahahaha
Забавно, что эти самые игроки отвечают на русском, посмотрев получасовое видео на английском без субтитров. Ин совьет раша лангуагу знают больше человек, чем за бугром знают русский, так что это не проблема, чаще всего. З.ы. удачи тому, кто решит воспользоваться транслэйтом
@@bad_kojima the translator works just fine and even catches onto some slangs, its come a long long way.
@@bad_kojima фишка в том что если смотреть видос - ты слушаешь и все нормально переводишь в мыслях, а вот когда ты в игре и одновременно нужно вести машину или стреляться и в это время диалог - это неудобно
Back in the day (2000-2012), we were grateful to get these quasi AA-AAA games that scored somewhere in the 6.5 to 7.5 range out of 10, because they often provided enough new experiences to overlook their obvious shortcomings.
And most big industry games coming out today are not only creatively bankrupt, but aren't even good enough on a technical level to even be 6/10.
@@inendlesspain4724 Yes.
@@inendlesspain4724games have gotten too complex and ambitious, forcing developers to work overtime near deadlines and become burnt out. Not to mention, pleasing investors.
My 360 shelf is mostly made of weirdo titles from obscure studios, and I'm even proud that I played games like Metro 2033 when they came out.
Back then, those scores are good. But now, people always rate things 0 or 10. I think it's the hype culture that lets people to exaggerate their opinions and put it in a high pedestal over everyone else.
Bizarre and videogames are pretty much like peanut butter and jelly.
It's so weird, it's a sugar sandwich when you think about it
So… disgusting?
@@j.a.weishaupt1748 Any and all opinions from this point forward are now irrelevant
Never ate that together so I don't know what you talking about.
My favorite one of those is deadly premonition back on the ps3. The bizarreness of twin peaks and ps2 jank survival horror mechanics.
Im worried this never shutting up thing is going to be a long lasting trend its awful
It's designed to hurt your brain
Eh idk... this one looks more like its the result of a bug or developer oversight tbh
Makes you wish that the Atomic Heart should've went for the "silent protagonist" route like in Bioshock 1-2, huh?
If you allow silence for two seconds gen z and there attention span of a goldfish will lose interest
The MCU effect.
the boss fight against the robot twins is the hardest one in the game, you can only play with one hand
Loooool
28:07
SHUTUP
@@ciscornBIG no
Yes ;)
Damn, this is like Singularity meets Bulletstorm and Bioshock
bulletstorm hell yeah bro
@@arsenelupin9697 Singularity is super underrated. If the Microsoft deal goes through I hope they give that game a second chance.
Man, singularity is amazing. It should've gotten a sequel.
@@arsenelupin9697 Do you also remember timeshift?
@@IskenderCaglarM41B441 at the very least, Singularity should get a remaster/re-release. It's the definition of a hidden gem.
It wins my heart just by its artistic craziness, as long as the game is decent to play, the visual shit alone makes it worth.
Graphics don't make for a good game. Never hedge your bets on that alone.
@@eurosonly Artistic style =/= Graphics
A game can be all pixels and have an amazing art style, like Dead Cells or Hades.
@@damazywlodarczyk its literally on gamepass, you can play it and finish it for a dollar...stop being a little puss
Ya it’s refreshing to see a lot of creativity
@@damazywlodarczyk so your point is that it’s hard?
My experience playing this game really gives off late 2000s/ early 2010s vibes and it's really what I needed, feels weird to be forced into cut scenes and QTEs' again
16:07 There is an in-game explanation by the glove when Major asks about why he can't just zap the water wondering if all of the water in the area is distilled. If i remember correctly his explanation is that the electricity is sealed off in the polymer particles that are being shot from the glove so it doesn't react with the water. Something along those lines
that's a nice way not to bother yourself with a mechanic
So, they couldn't do water properly, got it.
@@Lilithia01 Pretty much, yeah. Water Physics are out of the window which could also be seen in the intro
@@Lilithia01its not that big of a deal
@@Fat_xeno I know, it's just that it looks really odd to see a static puddle or a lake after seeing a very detailed enviroment, even Half life 2 in 2004 had pretty realistic water animations.
"...it's not a bad game." That's all I was looking to hear. Thank you.
i had the concern that its going to suck and that deep down it was gonna be a complete buggy mess because it just kinda looks like one of those games that would suffer from it but it turned out to be pretty good
@@ActionAbe1 true
@@ActionAbe1Yeah i’m having fun 3 hours in
the endings are bioshock infinite quality, but the overall game is fun
If you read the tips on the loading menu they talk about a a physicist in hazard suit being very effective which I’m assuming they’re throwing a nod at Gordon freemen from half-life which is dope
Thats right
One of the rare cases where knowing russian language comes in handy.
Dialogue makes more sense in russian since it was the original language, less weirdly structured sentences / weird phrasing, plus MC sounds like he's supposed to instead of the most american guy ever
There are Russian actors available in the West. FFS, just tap Makarov's VA or half the guys from the Metro dubs.
I also like the German voices; the robots sound less strange, mc sounds more normal, and it helps me get familiar with the language I'm learning.
Never expected Gman to be a classic who fan
Would be surprised if he weren't.
Only Americans think it's quirky or unusual to have some knowledge of Doctor Who.
Commonwealth I guess
@@meursault7030 Most of us tend to hear about, try watching the show, and then just not really like it that much. At least in my experience with other nerds who have even heard of it.
Haven't been able to watch Dr Who yet. But once I do get around to it, I definitely want to watch the early seasons.
The more recent ones seem far too woke
I think gameplay wise it's 8/10 but aesthetic wise it's 20/10. Such a unique game with such a unique artstyle and future techno Soviet union. I absolutely love all the details in the game like the communist decors, propaganda and all that. The developers really knew what they were doing and the aesthetic they were going for.
Underated comment
We see Western retrofuturism so often in media, it's very rare that we see something like this - it's truly unique.
story wise 2/10
I feel the same, there's a few rough edges here and there but is for the most part an extremely enjoyable game, and it's aesthetics are uniquely unparalleled. The graphics are incredible enough but the world building is just stunning, I love the level design, the lighting, the buildings, pretty much everything. It's definitely one of those games that has that ohh-so-coveted "feel" that leaves you blown away by the experience.
The graphics/art style look like a combination of fallout 4 and bioshock combined. I have wanted to play this game for at least 2 years now but I'm on the fence do to the underwhelming reviews. I'll probably pick it up when it's 40-50% off
Being from post-soviet block I can tell you this game looks 100% how I would imagine Fallout 3 as created on the other side of the Iron Curtain by some Ivan Karmacki, Ivan Romerov or some such (music by Nikita Reznov, of course).
None of the cars or locations in Fallout 3 look familiar to me, but these props and locations... are like items I remember from childhood. :)
Lol Gman, during that first boss you can use your abilities to raise obstacles out of the ground to make it stop and reveal it's weak spot.
Not only that, the tentacle boss is not immune to explosive. Equip a fatboy and just blast it.
@@nsomjimi not only that the tentacle boss is also weak to fire so pop a canister on your melee and watch it burn bonus points if you poly jet it too
You can only use shock to bring those pillars up? And not only that but you have to like align yourself and move around the pillar awkwardly trying your best to hope for the ball crash into the pillar? The melee monster is actually kinda easy. Just drink a vodka and use fire. But the last like 2-3 bosses LITERALLY has no weakness. And we’re immune to everything. More specifically the whale robot boss and the twins
@@nd_kui1772 whale robot boss can be stunned into oblivion using poly jet and frost on a melee, twins are weak to explosive
Yeah haha. After like 15 mins of struggling with the twins. I drank some canned milk and crafted like 15 rockets. I literally ended the fight In like less than a minute 💀. But my main point is that the scan shit that tells you the elemental weaknesses. Didn’t show what they were weak too.
7:26 you missed the part where the traitorous hacker used an override to give every bot a combat personality. There was no combat personality for Nora type of bots, so he altered a pleasurebot one and injected into her. Later in the story the change gets reversed.
9:50 She literally tells you her name is "Zinaida", and tells you to call her "Grandma Zina" instead.
Also, there were complaints about not being able to explore because the robots you kill just get repaired. If you open the grey hut in the area and overload the hawk, all robots in the sector shut down and only attack you if you attack them. This lasts like 30 min, which is plenty of time to loot In peace or get to your objective.
Nice spoilers
@@Joespart9010 thats literally in the first of the games locations.
@@Joespart9010 it’s not really a spoiler it happens early in the game
Regarding the Shield being useless: If you upgrade all the way to the right, it regens health. It will also regen energy. I beat most of the bosses after the one outside the theater with the Shield and my club and the EMP blast from the energy pistol. If you needed to heal you could always put polymer on the floor, electrify it and stand in it with the shield. I barely used ammo and had a lot of med kits left.
happily surprised to see Mick Gordon's talents in another game.
Fun fact: It's not Mick Gordon. It's GeoffPlaysGuitar, a UA-cam Channel that does Argent Metal covers of songs, like the Halo Theme (In Doom)
@@spiritwaker9595 Mick did work on the game though, he and Geoff both worked on it
@@spiritwaker9595 Both Mick and Geoff worked on it. Most of the remixes of the Russian songs were done by Geoff while most of the original tracks were done by Mick. Alex Terrible, a prominent Russian Deathcore vocalist known best for being the singer of Slaughter To Prevail, was also featured in some of the tracks.
Can we take a moment to appreciate the most realistic arm hair ever in a videogame
Overused comment.
@@z4id4n42as if "players/devs completed/made game with one hand" wasnt overused to you?
Metro exodus did it better
@@adat81 No,no,you got it all wrong,this comment format used many times,it spread across UA-cam like a virus.
no, why don't you do it by yourself
Fun fact, in russian Charles is voiced by the same guy, who voiced Roy Batty in Blade Runner's russian dubbing.
They should have modeled the character after him then
@@padnomnidprenon9672 he is
@@padnomnidprenon9672 what
Cool, how gay of you.
Yes. And it's a Russian dub actor for Christoph Waltz. So double awesome.
Pretty cool that they got "Nu, Pogodi!" footage to use on the television at 19:38. I saw a few of its episodes for the first time a couple of months ago in a barbershop, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun it was to watch for someone unfamiliar with both the language and show itself.
Atomic Heart has one hell of a premise. If there's anything to be said about it, it's that it's nice to see such a strange, outlandish take on a traditional formula. Something familiar, but in a league all its own. Thanks for the great video on it!
Be careful, you may find yourself falling in love with Russia. You wouldn't want to be canceled for that, would you?
10:47 I like how when he's escaping a burning car that's about to explode, he takes extra time to close the door.
He's a model citizen and a model badass
2:10
Bruv that's a Fahrenheit 451 reference that every science fiction dystopia-based stealth sim has referenced. System Shock was just one of the earliest examples of doing that reference.
I'd hazard a guess that the lack of enviromental interactivity is a result of developers running out of time and having to release the game.
It sure smells like it. On the plus side I guess I'd be happy that they prioritized other aspects like getting the game to run stable while also making it look good. A lot of developers have rather crappy priorities by comparison.
Oh ya dude 100% feels like they had to rush. The last hour of the game was such a balls hit cause it pulled a sony walking and talking for like 30 min then you black out then wake up near the final area to fight the boss . Which sticks out like a sore thumb cause the rest of the game never did this they always kept u in the same location or show the character leaving so it felt all connected.Not the ending though you start having lore dumps and "strokes" that felt very left turn cause u never seen the strokes happen before. Then they also used AI generated images for the end screens which doesn't even make sense unless they were forced to rush. Cause they were able to afford a top tier actor get real life weapons made at a forge and so on. Sucks cause up to the last hour of gameplay the game at least to me was solid as shit i loved the puzzles i vibe with the combat and i love the world and the world building/monsters and found the story goofy enough to stick out for it and i honestly think this game is a very solid 8/10.
Theres a dead corpse you can talk to called
“Dead game developer” and he goes on about being crunched..
@@Krejii05 Smoking gun 😄
I remember my frustration at the old PUBG days where the game was just shit but then they acted like it was good news they managed to put the frying pan into the game.
Well said
Honestly, I liked the constant dialogue, really helped me get into the story. Loved the game
That “I mean look!” Towards the end of the video, Gman hit a note I’ve never heard in any of his other vids.
Literally sounds like the Gordon Ramsay clip
For the first game of mundfish, they may have a bright future
they just should!
Well, half of the team have a problems because a war. That sad. It can be they're first and last game
@@Sparrow5206 yeah, it's very sad that their own government (which this game is sponsored by) is invading another country and they fully support that :)
Well ukraine wants them off steam...
@@justaverage7610 wont work, and second that a game platform no space for political stuff, the urko bots can cry as much they want
I was super skeptical about this game because of the reviews but it’s so fun and I feel like if they made a second one where they fixed those flaws it has it would be an instant classic
I stopped trusting all kinds of reviews a long time ago. There's too much weird shit going on around some games that sometimes it becomes too much like a conspiracy theory.
Never ever trust reviews. Ever
@Limen Ciel all the reviewers did this time was give ridiculously low scores but not admit the real reason why. And a ton of idiots fell for it hook line and sinker.
@@johndodo2062 because Russia bad etc etc!
@John Dodo I'm gonna say what everyone tries to leave unsaid - it's because the developers are Russian. If the developers were Ukrainian everyone would be giving the game 9/10 and calling it "super unique" lol
The game definitely seems ambitious (maybe too ambitious), but considering the development hell and the fact this is apparently the studio's first ever game, this definitely seems better than what you'd expect. Definitely have seen more experienced studios with more manpower and money do way worse in recent years. Also, it being on game pass probably helps.
It's actually one of the best games on game pass
The boss fights were actually really thrilling, I loved them.
Would love to see what modders can do to this game in the coming years.
Since it's a UE4 game theoretically it should be pretty easy to mod. The first couple of basic mods I'd like is one to mute the protagonist and another to disable head bob/camera shake (assuming those don't have a slider of course).
Undress ballerinas would be first xd
@@MrValgard You're going to be disappointed with what's under there. You've seen mannequins undressed right?
@@ArawnOfAnnwn don't underestimate modders, they would get womans skin texture
day 1 FOV mod
Thanks for the really thorough review! Loved it. I’m gonna give this game a shot.
nahi chahiye ji
Didn't expect to see you here, pewdiepie.
Sir you are also a gamer, man of culture ☺️☺️😍
@@munehboi *PewDiePie Light
Wtf since when you watch a video game reviews? What other games you played if i may ask?
Bizarre/weird games are better than repeating/common gameplay. Always makes it interesting 👍
Thr gameplay is nothing special though
I've been dreaming of this game since it's reveal over 5 years ago just from the concept alone. Glad to see it's good and I'll be playing it tonight on gamepass.
You may be disappointed by the end result. I encourage you to replay bioshock/prey (2017) an then re-evaluate your feelings about this media product. Have a nice day.
@Jim Lahey honestly I will not lie quite the weird response I love Bioshock and this maybe fun.
@it's Morbin Time I guess I'll find out tonight. I'm not expecting it to be better than those games I just want it to be good and frankly I thought the combat would be way worse than this so this exceeds my expectations on that front.
@@Kane.JimLahey. what the fuck are you talking about
@@Kane.JimLahey. Well, I've always known that it would not be going to be a 100% Bioshock spiritual successor. The developers mentioned that they were only inspired by Bioshock, not directly lifting them into a new universe. It's a mixture of many different things (Dying Light, Fallout, Wolfenstein, etc) and it performs most of them beautifully. Your expectations were just misplaced just like me. In fact, I literally thought it was going to be a Bioshock-style game, only to get something else in the end.
I remember seeing concept videos for this game at least five years ago and was immediately hooked. I hope that they still have kept the semblance of survival horror they had in those old videos, that kind of Bioshock-esqe tone would work wonders.
Ahh yes the "Snake gun"
From the constant commentary made by the player character it doesn't seem like it.
It's an action game, not survival horror. Just a really off the wall crazy action game.
@@drpolarbeer Seems like the direction has completely changed somewhere around 2019 or 2020. If I remember correctly, Atomic Heart used to be a darker and more surrealistic horror game with higher emphasis on resource management, a trippy atmosphere, and weird-looking creatures. I mean, just look up some of the old screenshots of Atomic Heart and compare them to the final release.
@@ArawnOfAnnwn If you watched the old trailer footage, you'll notice that there was originally going to be Glory Kill-style kill animations.
What immediately struck me about this game was the graphics on Series X, and the damage effects. Every axe slice or gunshot leaves a realistic wound. And grabbing components from bodies shows the hole you ripped it from.
Aside from the glaring lack of environmental destruction, it all seems a very high quality experience with decent attention to detail. And detail to me is a huge factor in my overall enjoyment of a game.
Noticed "Ну, погоди" (Just Your Wait) animated series references. At 10:15 you can see Robo-hare from episode 14. It was so fucking scaring in childhood and still is. At 19:50 ep. 7 can be seen on TV.
Bad writing is unfortunately not a reference, but a common problem with contemporary Russian cinematography, both for entertainers and dramas (historical etc.)
wait, you mean characters just keep blabbering on is just the norm in russian art culture?
@@piscessoedroen Russians are talkative, but I only meant the quality of dialogs and scenarios.
@@ВиконтдеСлизерин ah ok, i've heard that russian "have a way with words" in their literature, i didn't think it would extend to mediums that requires for character to speak normally
@@piscessoedroen I haven't played the game, so I don't know whether original game texts are ok. Actually, localizations to Russian can also be... enigmatic, if translator did something wrong.
@@piscessoedroen Also, yes, for average Russian English is too strict and dry as a language.
Them robussys got me acting wrongheaded
The moment @5:47 about the cookie is genuinely one of my favorite lines in the game. P3's randomness and Char-les lack of a reaction fits their characters very well.
If the game had environmental fx they could have tied that into the boss fights. Like you zap some water as the rolling boss goes into it which stuns him, or throw explosive barrels at the weak to explosives boss for those that don't have the rocket launcher.
Just makes me think that games given time to be fully developed will actually look and sound amazing
The war probably made this game possible but also made it rushed
@@magnem1043 In which way it made this game possible?
@@Epoxydeable Because in previous years no one even heard about this game. And now, it is "infamous pro-russian propaganda, sponcored by Kremlin".
@@natanhale7680 Nonsense. If you haven't heard of it years ago, its a you problem.
@@Epoxydeable Yeah, it is my problem and problem of majority of current fanbase of this game. It didn't have enough advertisment, that is just a straight fact. The war and anti-russian sentiment just gave this needed advertisement for free for majority of people.
23:10 and this is where the polymer ability comes in. If you hit the big enemies with that before freezing them, it actually works. Using that, you can win every boss fight by standing next to it (or running around it in a circle), pressing q and e and hitting it with your melee weapon. That is how I beat the natasha boss :D
Hahaha I legit spat out my drink at the bit where he was casually talking politics while getting choked out.
Great metaphor for the West.
Was literally in the process of reading a post about the game and I swear I just thought “I’ll wait for Gman’s review” then this notification popped up. You can’t beat that timing
I just randomly discovered this as well. I noticed a couple benchmark videos in the past few games had a game I did not recognize. Today when I saw a clip again I instantly tried to google around and only found a few videos on youtube that are in english, but there was this one. Because I literally played a couple hundred shooters, anymore can usually tell I will like a game by seeing an in-game clip.
@@pauls4522 that’s how I am too, I like to listen independent reviewers like Gman to see if there is any bullshit I need to know about and watch some gameplay. That’s normally enough for me
Wait… Did I miss the part where he tells us if the story is any good?!?
He did say the story is good, and that the other dialogue sucks. Guess he didn't go in-depth to spare us from spoilers.
He said the main story was good but the mid-combat dialog is not
@@ded5351 So that was it then? I thought I had missed an entire section of his video lol
@@JackEverton101 Must be an early reveal. He did mention the spores at 19:30 though, and my assumption is that the story has to do with the robots wanting to take over organic life somehow. Be it a malfunction or an extreme miscommunication.
Who cares? Scientists accidently unlock a gate to another dimension. Scientists accidently unlock a gate to hell. Scientists accidently unleash murderous AI. If you can enjoy Half-life and Doom you will enjoy Atomic Heart.
Gotta give em credit for letting me fight the omnidroids somewhere in the Soviet Union, without being Mr Incredible, and without being that unreasonably difficult Incredibles video game back in 2004
Oh shit, that's what the Rolly Polly ball reminded me of!!
I love to see the Strugatsy Brothers being referenced in gaming. The Chirper: Monday Starts on Sunday is a reference the book with the same name. The whole game has taken much inspiration from some of the best authors eastern Europe has to offer.
After watching the playtrougth for a an hour or two , it is filled to the brim with references
The book's name "Monday begins on Saturday"
@@outerspaceoutlander My English translation is called Monday Starts on Saturday, but I think your right the original is called Monday Begins on Saturday.
Gman: Atomic Heart is the most BIZZARE game I've ever played.
TOGETHER BnB: Finally! A worthy opponent!
Cruelty Squad: "First time?"
I actually love the pacing, on hard it feels intense and dangerous in all the right ways to me. Plus there are spots where repair bots are seemingly infinite and they drop polymer to upgrade your character and abilites so sometimes when I really want an upgrade I just chill and murder repair bots for 20 minutes.
Same. Seems like he rushed through the game
Actually you can disable them for 10 minutes so they won't spawn infinitely
I have to disagree on the shield being useless. After some upgrades, it's really overpowered. It's basically rechargable temporary invulnerability that deflects attacks back to sender and also heals you.
THE very vital thing most "i wish i new it before" vid miss: regen takes you only to 20% health, but shield heals you completely!
Three words: DLC, BEAD, colossus.
You won't survive without a shield. Even more, I finally managed to defeat it when I chose a pistol.
@@Ajoura Good thing DLC gives you the shield almost from the start...
So basically singularity + .75 bulletstorm? I'll get it for the summer sale. Looks like a solid 8/10
They had me at Mick Gordon
Free if you have gamepass!
And honestly, for a first title by Mundfish, an 8/10 is impressive.
@@mjay6245 gamepass isn't free, and I like owning my games
1 Part Singularity, 1 Part We Happy Few (just in the since they are in roughly the same time period, but in another part of the world)
10:01 it's actually really common to refer to old ladies as "babushka(s)" in eastern europe which translates to "grannies"
Okay, 5 minutes in and I already know that I need to play this myself, for the gorgeous artstyle alone!
Great review Gman. Well, played AH for 4 hours so far. It's clear the developers put heart and soul into it. Yes, some minor issues exist but overall amazing experience for me. Certainly recommend it.
Nice review!
The looting mechanic in this game is by far my favorite over any game I've played, not only is it aesthetically satisfying but it's also not tedious. Looking through every nooks and cranny is my favorite pass time.
The interesting part is that you can tell the main character is being control by something implanted in his head that altered his personality. You'll notice it at the beginning when a vendor asked you to try one of his free head band. I've also notice when they're riding the flying car, Charles was surprised P-3 never ride one before. At granny Xena hut, he mentioned about his head injury and losing some of his memory.
Spoiler
Speaking of Granny Xena, the reason why she keep asking for the gold ring earlier was because she want to free her daughter Katya (the robot twins) and she didn't trust P-3.
I wish she did by telling the whole truth.
This prevent Charles from convincing P-3 to throw away the rings into the ocean.
*Update
How did granny Xena knew P-3 location and how did she able to drag his body to her place after Sechenov took control of P-3 to killed Tarissa?
Anyway I'm interested to find out why Viktor Petrov sabotaged the robots to make them killed his own people?
P-3 and Petrov could be good friends if they had a chance to talk. The game simply won't allow it beside turning them into rivals. P-3 shouldn't raise his gun, but talk to Petrov like a regular person.
Tarissa was only there to stop Petrov from killing P-3 as he's being strapped to a bed. She didn't even try to save P-3.
Walking away won't bring back all the dead.
What she should have done sit down with Petrov and explain everything to P-3, starting with the mind control, the rings and the magical glove name Chariton because now I realize Petrov wanted the US to know that the Russian are creating sophisticated killer robots that disguised as janitors and chubby bartenders. When Petrov fake his own death to stop P-3 from going after him, this prove he's really smart.
The most intriguing and underrated feature is the talking glove call Charles. A true genius! I wonder why only the main character has it.
Update. As I'm getting deeper into the game, I've learned that the glove is the bad guy and it was giving to P-3 by his boss (Dmitry Sechenov).
I haven't beaten the game yet. I'm still at the quest call Made in USSR, but found a spoiler that answered some of my questions regarding the P-3 memory lost. It turn out the robot twins, one of them is P-3 wife. They're being used as sex slaves for his boss and other Fembots for the Russian Elite.
Knowing one of the robot twins is P-3 wife, I always hoping to see one of them slowing turn their head to look at you lol.
As for the horny fridge, it was Charles the glove who able to tamed/hacked her, why was she attracted to P-3? I like to see a Nora make over. When she open her truck. It should be slimy and pink.
Note 2 self.
The red blob scene is a tribute to Breaking Bad when Jesse fills the bathtub with acids to dissolved a dead body. Sechenov calling it "Data Storage" could also mean Unit 731 where scientists tag their victims as logs. Unit 731: The Forgotten Asian Auschwitz
Under the leadership of Dr. Shiro Isshi, Unit 731 subjected 3,000-250,000 innocent men, women, and children to cruel experiments and medical procedures that were carried out by the brightest medical students and staff that Imperial Japan had to offer.
A little about my playstyle and build. I'm old fashion and invested all the points into health and elemental/physical resist. For damage I maxed my electro pistol and swirling axe. I like to imagine I'm playing the Barbarian from Diablo 2, using whirlwind to vanquished my foes. Quick draw against flying units with my Electro.
This game is part RPG, part shooting and part puzzle.
For RPG I always looks for large horde of robots to farm. The only thing I don't like is lack of robot to kill.
Atomic heart is my Half Life 3. Currently playing the dev build without any navigation marker.
Future suggestions.
- We should able to pick item to tame certain enemy, like a toy for the Plyusch.
- Hack enemy to make them fight for you. Pet master
- Have more choices for an alternative ending like making friend with Petrov.
Great review but i have a couple corrections here and there. Like at 26:31. There are a couple upgrades in the character section that lets you run faster and do a double dash. Both of which makes parkour easier. And personally i never really had any problem with breezing through the door locks and the laser puzzles.
Thank you for doing your review but you seem to have missed one thing. What about the 6 hour long adult scene with the twin ballerina robots? 🤣
Seriousness I'm really happy that you replayed BioShock recently before playing AH. You're probably one of the few reviewers that can actually played through Bio Shock in the last 10 years so you could do a good side by side comparison :D
I FOUND YOU AGAIN YOU THIRSTY MAN!!
That's an easter egg for the modders to find.
My favorite part about Atomic Heart was when P3 says "It's Atomicin' Time!" and atomiced all over the robots. Truly one of the games ever made.
If it lasts more than four hours, you need to see a doctor ASAP.
Not the scene, the thing that happens because of it.
@@HankJWimbleton-v1m Nah, I liked the part where Sechenov told P3 that "I am the Atomic Heart."
For a studios first game, especially given the context around developing through the pandemic and having to shuffle things around completely to avoid fallout from the war in Ukraine, I’m not really surprised that this game has flaws and is lacking in certain areas.
That being said, I think the scorn comparison is perfect with this one. Much like Scorn, I never expected this to be a 10/10 but AH is obviously a work of passion and I’m going to support it for its creativity and originality, and the fact that the game was released in a complete playable state at launch, since we need more of that in the gaming industry especially for higher profile releases.
I love how the game looks but the main investors in this game are also big sponsors of the Russian militaire. So you're indirectly helping the Russian military by buying this game. Off course it's your own choice but it's important to know.
@Joost Floot not really. Lots of interests sponsor Call of Duty and games like that too, gamers aren't responsible for what they do either.
@@joostfloot5279 Whatever dude, the game looks fun and can't wait to play it. Would you advocate not playing games that fund China?
@@joostfloot5279 lmao people like you said the same shit to china gaming company and than procced to invest in genshin impact😐
Reviewers are much harsher and more critical than they used to be on video games. It's kind of astounding how much effort these new devs put into their craft only to be crapped on because it's not as polished as what juggernauts in the industry put together. I remember when buggy, blocky, short, poor story games got good reviews (not that they necessarily deserved it). Just saying now you have to have a near perfect experience in every regard or there will be even "professional" reviews giving less than average scores. People don't realize how good they have it until it's gone.
There’s something about a game that can deliver a sense of “presence” within the world where it’s almost the game’s setting is a character in and of itself.
This game looked so unique from the first trailer drop that I’ve been dying to finally experience for it myself.
I never thought I'd say this but those female robots looks damn sexy...
Damn right
Amen! Love me some good looking robot girls.
To be fair, I see a lot of Arkane Studio's Prey influence the artstyle.
Where Prey had a more of a cassette-futurism, this has a raygun gothic feel to it.
But that is what I feel like.
Imagine if we actually got a sequel to both Deathloop or Prey (2017).
Game is in development long before Preys release. The style also doesn't match, it's clearly influenced by Bioshock Infinite thoigh.
Clipping your own voice in the same video the clip originated from. Ten seconds after. That's how you know you're still having fun after all these years. I always love a Gman review !!
Come on, the whole Soviet art style, especially futuristic poster and stuff are so vibe
Can't wait to see what it's like. I haven't seen too much of the game.
@I'll say when it's time stfu
At 19:38 - there is a TV with 'nu pogodi!' playing in the background, I love that little detail, it takes me back when I used to watch them all the time as kid
This has been one of my most anticipated games in the past decade, and one I would have been devastated about if it bombed. I wasn't expecting it to be GOTY material, but so happy it's solid enough. It seems like a game that knows its strengths and plays into them, very, very well.
Going to be jumping right into it once my work week is over.
I feel it'll be much better if the devs get around to fixing all the issues, such as the janky physics, lack of transportation/ridiculous amount of enemies, and pointless dialogue
@@compatriot852 Perhaps, they are planning 4 DLC drops so they're not done with the game by any means.
All else fails I have a feeling this game will develop a bit of a modding community behind it.
Cyberpunk 2077
@@compatriot852 Don't forget how they advertized 50 different types of weapons according to the website and only kept like 12 weapons at launch.
Those 4 dlc better be great because the ending fucking sucked
Between this and High on Life I think this might be your new favorite type of shooter, the ones where they never shut up
Honestly, I believe the humor in High on Life is generally determined by whether or not you actually enjoy Justin Roiland's writing style (and to a lesser extent, Rick and Morty in general). Or maybe I just don't have enough IQ to fully appreciate High on Life's sophisticated sense of humor.
@@ilhambrewok7860 no you're right, but I was just jabbing him for covering yet another fps where too much humor was put into characters who love the sound of their voices
That cigarette flick and the line, "what a goddamn cluster fuck." gave me total Duke Nukem vibes
"controversy surrounding this game" had to Google what it even was.
Damn I feel like every game nowadays has some controversies I wish we all just could go back to the time where we could enjoy a game just for what it is instead of trying to push our ideologies into the games
No shaming, just gaming 😏
Games Done Quick just banned anyone from playing Harry Potter games at it's events. Postal 2 is okay though lmfao.
@@GangsterFrankensteinComputerSpeedrunning is such a bizarre hobby. It's no coincidence big parts of that community took the T route and freaked out
@@GangsterFrankensteinComputer what a joke...
@GmanLives There is a way to shut down those robots and cameras in some zones. There is one tower that can control cameras on the specific zone. Scroll one of them until you find a control room using your X-Ray and open the door. When you get in there, the little spider thingy comes out from his arm that gives you two options and one of them can disable all machines in one area.
Hoo boy! I was really excited for this one. It clearly takes inspiration from the earlier side of the Strugatsky works like Monday Starts On Saturday and Noon: 22nd Century. As mentioned in the video, they're not exactly subtle about their references either. at 5:40 you can see a reference where it references the book Monday starts on Saturday, but replacing saturday with sunday.
Honestly this looks fire I wanna play it
cant wait to see a speedrun of atomic heart ngl
Its on Gamepass
Can't wait for tonight work needs to hurry up, glad I took a couple days off for the RE4 Remake lol.
Played a couple hours, honestly pretty good
Update: it is fire, go play it
"In Soviet Russia, Bio Shocks you!"
I'm actually laughing out loud at this one.
That was pretty good.
Funny af
It's Bioshockin' Time!
That 0451 isn't a System Shock reference. It's a Farenheit 451 reference that all first person RPGs use by tradition for their first unlock code. The other Bioshock games did it too, Deus Ex games, Dishonored, who knows how many dozens of others
It’s literally a system shock reference. Even Warren Spector confirmed it had nothing do with that book.
Confirmed here: ua-cam.com/video/aTVBSxnwiCo/v-deo.html
Now shut up about it.
That thing you said about weird dialogue, and that scene about lasers, lemme explain real quick: we Slavs like to be ironic/cynic a lot. :D
I'm glad you worded it the way you did because I still remember when it was a mystery horror game and was looking forward to that. But if you like the direction the game went then I guess it is good.
Really. I kinda wish that the developers should've went for that dark and serious atmosphere from the 2017-2018 trailers instead of whatever we got in the final release. What's funny is that one of the old screenshots actually spoiled the true main antagonist of Atomic Heart. Also, remember that old Soviet Lunapark VR game?
@@ilhambrewok7860 which screenshot was that? Who was revealed as the main antagonist?
@@frosty925 Jelly Man, which is actually Charles's true form. Who could've guessed that our sidekick turns out to be the villain all along?
The electro pistol is actually a good fall back weapon and you get an upgrade that gives an emp blast to stun robots. The last melee weapon has a cool flying saw blades ability which is pretty at damaging bosses. I also kind of compare atomic heart to doom 2016 where the gameplay and enemies gets pretty intense. I stream this game with often these using those weapon at tight situations.
You know I can only speak as a fan of Warlockracy but a lot of these eastern titles have a certain way of going about dialogue that i can't really place.
Tehsnakerer has a video on a game called Neuro that has it going on super hard as well actually.
+1 for both, they have great reviews.
Just wish that Tehsnakerer uploaded something...
I think part of it comes from being both from an entirely different cultural background, and from a native language that is very unrelated to English
English is already a bad language to translate into due to how limited it was, but the very base of speech patterns and syntax is completely different in those languages as well, so some stuff can't really be ported directly and just ends up being odd
@@silverhand9965 I think you're 100% correct, but I do think that the cultural aspect plays a larger part than English being suboptimal for Russian translations
@@imagine_you_are_a_burger for the content of the dialogue, absolutely. You're straight up missing context if you aren't from the right few countries
@Silverhand lol English is not a limited language. Next you're going to tell me French is expressive and nuanced.
Every time I see this games's review, players always use different combat style. While gman used ice, I used polymer+shock combination to stunlock and damage enemies. Shock will stay inside polymer if you add more of it while it lasts. I also upgraded telekinesis to raise heavy enemies which came in handy during the hedgehog fight as telekinesis stops her vacuum.
People who understand Russian are probably having a better time than other people
Man, the english voices in this game are so generic gonna run this witv russian and subtitles for the full experience.
Russians are famous for broken English insert any multiplayer games European server here especially the likes of world of tanks
I don't know haven't played it yet but some of the English translated sentences sound hilarious to me
Just like Metro series. English dub is crap.
Kacapian
Anyone else notice how...Concerningly similar some of the player's animations are to the ones you'd find in Dying Light?
17:45 through 17:52
The swinging looks extremely similar to Crane's, same with the charged spin attack.
I love the art style it’s absolutely beautiful and just love the graphics, not to mention there is a Soviet robot twin wives so that’s definitely a plus
And a crafting machine with the personality of a horny dominatrix.
Spoiler
The twins only appear for like 10 minutes
@@Nonexistentbystanderhere that’s probably the most they could get away with without drawing their government’s attention
@@minibotas9496 Wasn't this game sponsored by the Russian government in the first place?
@@TarkasBane No, stop believing in lies
10:37 Gman discovers average eastern block-era driving experience
also - dat roundhouse chainsaw swing around is similar to Shadow Warrior 2
And it would be great if those small walking sawblade mobs could dig and attack from the ground, like Screamers
Why new games have less features that older games had? One word - bloat. In the code, engines, game framework... adding something new is risky, might create bugs, or they have no idea how to implement it from technical and gameplay perspective.
Older games could do that because (a) they made their own engines, so adding some features would not cause problems later or (b) they found the way to put it in the game without causing problems like bugs... and had time, resources and competent people to do it.
They got you Gman, there’s a dialogue between P3 and Charles going over why Shok doesn’t work on water
You gotta love it when people actively calling for persecution of russians all over the world, call anybody racist or oppressive over a videogame.
Plot twist - Twitter warriors are full of double standards. Who didnt know?
"Persecution of Russians" lol shut up. Thousands of dead and somehow the worst thing in the world is everyone stopped pretending Russian culture was this transcendent thing.
yea like shame on them being from russia... let us hate every single russian person just cause their stupid governments decisions... seems fair. people are so messed up.
What's the controversy about?
@@yogxoth1959 something about the devs being russian and that the revenue goes to the war against ukraine
I'd be interested in a follow-up video later in the year to see if the issues got fixed and what changes were made
The polymer is best used on the ground in combination with shok, you can stunlock most enemies with electricity and then keep wailing on them. Lasts longer than the other ways you can lock enemies down, and you can even just spray it on the ground again as it starts wearing off to keep them stunlocked indefinitely.
You played "Cruelty Squad" and claim that "Atomic Heart" is the MOST bizarre?
Now I have to play this🤣
As someone from the Balkan region I actually do feel like the humor and the dialogue is a bit more focused towards our region than it is worldwide.
But to be perfectly honest I came for the sexy robot ladies, stayed for the sexy Jensen Ackles ad.
I love how all the bioshock/systemshock like games always gotta throw in that 0451 reference
Shield works great for a fast high damage mele build. At higher upgrades it recharges your health and energy, on top of reflecting damage.
There are multiple ways to defeat the sphere too. You can make it hit all of the statues to kill it instead of shooting it.
Also, you can disassemble your weapons and they give you back ALL of the components you have invested into them.