Atomic Heart is one of the anticipated titles for 2023, and recently IGN got the opportunity to share a hands-on preview of the game, showcasing some new footage from its massive and beautiful world, and explaining more about what we should expect from the gameplay.
The new gameplay footage shows some never-before-seen locations and environments in the game that look truly beautiful, including some massive open areas with gigantic statues and facilities that somehow gives off the BioShock Infinite vibes, set in a dystopian Soviet Union with better visuals and a larger scale.
According to IGN, the combat system in Atomic Heart allows you to use a wide variety of ranged and melee weapons, and using both feels satisfying enough to push you for more creative ways to use your gear to slay the rogue robots. Next to these weapons, the player also has a special glove that enables some elemental abilities such as electrifying enemies, freezing them by spraying some cold moisture on them, lifting them up, and smashing them back to the ground, and some other abilities to deal significant damage to enemies.
That being said, Atomic Heart is not all about combat. The game features some significant environmental puzzles that require you to think and smartly use your glove abilities to solve them and proceed through the missions.
As IGN reveals, Atomic Heart is a hardcore experience, and despite featuring difficulty levels, the game still challenges you and publishes players for clunky timing in attacks or dodges, whether you are fighting with a giant boss or a massive amount of small robots.
Atomic Heart's world feels like it has much content to offer and the preview from IGN admits that you want to continue playing and explore more as you progress through the game. The open-world area allows you to take a break from the campaign missions and explore the world for defeating random regional bosses and looking for new gears to upgrade your stuff.
Overall, it seems like Atomic Heart is a promising and content-rich experience with quite satisfying visuals and art design that gives it a real dystopian look. You can expect to play it on PC or consoles on February 20 next year.