Atomic Heart is another highly-anticipated game that will potentially move into 2023. It is a high-action dystopian look at the 1950s.

Atomic Heart Finds a Publisher But Potentially Slides into 2023 Release Date

Developer Mundfish has finally announced its Western Publishing Partner in a recent press conference. It has been confirmed that Focus Home Interactive will be responsible for publishing the game. While Atomic Heart finally has a publisher, the announcement has come with a bit of bad news as well.

The title was originally slated for a 2022 release (after being developed for quite some time now). With the recent announcement, this might potentially change.

The Atomic Heart

The partnership announcement was made by the CEO of Mundfish, Robert Bagratuni. It has been five long years since he founded the company, and in those hard years the team has worked painstakingly hard to perfect this first-person action RPG. It is also high time that they put the finishing touches on their project, and release it into the wilds.

However, the statement also somewhat confirmed that the game might not see the light of day this 2023. As earlier mentioned, the game was scheduled for a release sometime this 2022, so anytime from now to November was likely. Now it has been confirmed to release “this winter” which is quite vague.

The winter season can be anytime from December 2022 to March 2023. It is unlikely though that such a high-profile game will get released in December, as historically most big releases get launched in November by the latest. This potentially puts us at an early 2023 release.

All Hail the Utopia

In case you missed it, Atomic Heart is a story of “what-ifs” at its heart. The game depicts an alternate reality set in the mid-1950s where the Soviet Union is quite literally a perfect utopia. Humanity is at its peak as highly advanced automatons have been developed as a result of World War II. Robotic machinations serve their human masters and create perfectly happy societies.

However, when you’re at the top, there’s no way to go but down. Something has gone terribly wrong in paradise, and the once peaceful machines have started an uprising against their former masters. Violent robots and horrific mutants will be the least of the player’s troubles.

Since the game takes place in a highly advanced version of the 1950s, it will look both retro and futuristic at the same time. It doesn’t hurt that Mundfish has chosen to make Atomic Heart’s visuals look absolutely gorgeous, colorful, and vibrant. Locales will range from highly advanced living spaces to secret laboratories, highways, museums, and other offices.

Fight Fire with Fire, and Lightning, and Ice, and More

Atomic Heart’s combat will be where the meat of the experience will lie, and if the latest combat trailer is anything to go by, then we’re in for a good time. At a glance, it looks like Atomic Hearts is somewhat emulating the systems that Bioshock 2 and Infinite use. That is, the player will have a powered-up left hand while the right hand is reserved for more traditional weaponry.

The player is named Agent Major P-3. He makes use of a powerful glove that has a multitude of uses. On one hand, it can hack directly into enemies’ USB ports and attempt to disable them entirely. It can also use the powers of telekinesis and fling enemies around like they were nothing. The glove can also be used to send out bursts of electricity or jets of flame.

Like many games, player creativity seems to be quite the highlight when it comes to combat. In addition to the magic science glove, players will have a generous mix of ranged and melee weapons. There will even be weapon “crafting” where you can duct tape together and create the perfect hodgepodge abomination of a club.

And finally, for some reason, Atomic Heart will have some elements of the “souls-like” genre. What this means exactly is anyone’s guess at the moment, as the Steam page doesn’t elaborate much further.

Into 2023 and Beyond

Next year is getting to be quite the jam-packed year for gaming. There have been a number of delays already, such as Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Starfield, Granblue Fantasy, and even Hogwarts Legacy. We also have Diablo IV, Final Fantasy XVI, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth to look forward to in 2023.

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For more news, check out The Witcher 3’s Next-Gen Update Still Coming in 2022 and Dead Cells Free Update “Enter the Panchaku” Releases on Consoles.