After rummaging through Russian developer Mundfish’s official website five months since my last coverage of Atomic Heart, some things have changed, while others remain the same.
Mundfish’s simplistic, albeit pertinent “We create videogames” tagline stands strong on Google search engine, along with their persistently vague and off-hands approach to community interaction. However, the official site has seen some obvious and arguably better changes in the last five months.
The Atomic Heat Discord community is substantially active with nearly three-thousand “comrades” and climbing. On the other hand, consumers no longer have the option to pre-order the game through the official Atomic Heart page, leaving them with the sole option of wishlisting it on Steam. This immediately brings to mind the question of where the early adopters’ money has gone, but if I’m being completely transparent, this question isn’t particularly as relevant as some other, more pressing ones.
Previously, Mundfish offered three distinct pre-order versions of the game, each unique in terms of the digital rewards one receives once the game launches. With pre-orders cut all together, the site displays email subscription opportunities, beautifully rendered screenshots, an RTX tech demo that has been around since the early days of the game, and oddly enough, a careers page. So…if you need a job, why not move to Russia?!
Just when we start to question the project’s development activity, Mundfish surprises us all with yet another vague, inexplicable and disappointingly trivial gameplay trailer. Similarly to other trailers released, Atomic Heart looks the part of a top tier, AAA game with a sizable budget, yet offers merely a droplet of new information. It’s clear that Munfish’s art department remains one of its most impressive divisions within the company, but it’s become rather worrisome that new information or any sort of explanation on what it is and how it plays are still missing.
I’m not one to believe rumours – especially the leaks revolving around Mundfish’s troubled internal shift – but the community has grown rather impatient. Though this patience is certainly wearing thin, hype remains high as people continue to make crude, yet justifiable comparisons to Bioshock, unofficially claiming it to be the “Russian Bioshock.”
The newest trailer, showcasing GeForce RTX raytracing, leaves us with no news on a potential release date, yet it’s always comforting to know that the grind continues. At the time of writing this, it’s uncertain as to whether or not the game will release on the next-gen consoles alongside the PC version. Since its announcement a few years back, Mundfish has targeted last-gen consoles, but considering the abomination that was Cyberpunk’s development cycle, I wouldn’t be surprised if those versions were cancelled.
If anyone from Mundfish happens upon this article, understand that we are immensely excited for Atomic Heart, but some new information and a little more transparency in its development would go a long way.
Atomic Heart releases eventually for PC and maybe a console or two!
