Everything you need to know before starting the game: weapons, elements, cassette modules, abilities, energy, skill points reset and more
Atomic Heart is a unique game, not only in terms of the setting, but also the mechanics used. While the basic gameplay formula will be familiar to anyone who has played Bioshock or Wolfenstein, certain aspects of the first-person shooter can be slightly confusing and at times annoying. Of course, the developers had a hand in the implementation of several interesting solutions in order to update the formula that has already been proven over the years. During the first hours in the game, tutorial tips pop up, but, unfortunately, you simply cannot return to them and re-read them again. Thus, if you missed something, then in the future, as they say, you will be left to yourself. Thanks to the tips below, you will know what to do and what to avoid when exploring this amazing post-apocalyptic world of the alternative USSR.
Weapon types and elemental damage
Weapons in Atomic Heart are divided into three categories: melee weapons, ranged ballistic weapons, and ranged energy weapons. All weapons, with the exception of the Railgun, can be upgraded with a wide variety of modifications. Ballistic weapons are the only ones that require standard projectiles and are also the only ones that don’t have an alternate fire mode or a special attack, although this is offset by increased efficiency and the ability to deal high damage from a safe distance. And freed from an alternative fire mode or other ability, the PKM allows you to conduct aimed fire. Energy weapons are the exact opposite, as you shoot exclusively from the hip, but each has alternate firing modes. The weapon does not need ammo, but it consumes energy,
In addition to physical damage, weapons in Atomic Heart can deal elemental damage. Energy weapons always electrify enemies, while the Sturdy Grenade Launcher is the only weapon with explosive damage. Other weapons deal normal physical damage, but they can be upgraded with a cassette module, after which special cassettes can be installed to deal fire, ice or electric damage. However, keep in mind that cassettes run out fairly quickly and need to be replaced frequently. Cassettes can be freely switched between weapons at any time. They can also be used in conjunction with melee weapons.
Ability Combinations
Some abilities work best in combination with other skills or elemental effects. For example, you can use AoE telekinesis to lift enemies into the air, then hit them with Electric Shock or Freeze them with Chill while they hover helplessly above the ground. However, you need to act quickly, as the opponents will start falling right after you switch skills. In addition, you can deal elemental damage to hovering enemies at a more leisurely pace using cassette weapons or energy weapon types.
Meanwhile, Polymer Throw can also be combined with Shocker or Chill to deal elemental damage or even stun certain enemies for longer periods of time. While there is no fire-based ability in the game, you can ignite a polymer jet using a weapon equipped with a fire cassette. After igniting, the combat polymer will burn for a while and will damage everything in the area of effect (even you, so do not climb into the fire). The electrification of the polymer will give a similar result, but on the frozen polymer you can move freely.
Keep track of your energy
Energy is one of the most important resources in Atomic Heart. As mentioned earlier, it is used as a source for energy weapons and depletes surprisingly quickly. While regular shots only drain a small amount of energy, a RMB-charged Special Attack drains a lot of it at once. Your character recovers lost energy over time, although at first, without special skills, this happens very slowly. Melee weapons regenerate energy with each hit and are a great way to increase reload speed naturally.
If you plan to focus primarily on the use of energy weapons, it is recommended to spend part of the neuropolymers on upgrades from the Character Energy tree. Among other things, you can add additional energy cells (maximum from three to six), increase the rate of energy recovery naturally, and increase the amount of energy restored by melee attacks. It is worth noting that there are some abilities that require energy. But there are very few of them (literally two or three), so most of the skills are limited only by reloading (cooldown). Use them without any worries.
Reset skills as often as needed
Speaking of abilities, Atomic Heart is much more generous in terms of “letting your imagination run wild” than many other games. The shooter does everything so that players can freely experiment. Gamers can use a resource known as a Neuropolymer to unlock new skills and abilities at one of the many Eleanor Terminals scattered around the world. You don’t have to worry about stat change penalties in this game – resources are returned in full – so feel free to switch between your skills and abilities as often as needed. Simply choose to activate a skill or ability and press the “Return” button (R on PC) to return all the neuropolymers spent on it.
Atomic Heart also uses a similar weapon system. You can craft weapons, consumables, ammo, or ammo using a combination of materials such as metal parts, superconductors, or energy modules. There are eight types of crafting ingredients in total. Anything that can be crafted can also be dismantled, and there are no penalties for doing so. You will receive all the materials you spent whenever you deconstruct something, including any resources invested in upgrades. Feel free to dismantle ammo for weapons you don’t use or consumables you have too much of.
Scan your enemies to reveal vulnerabilities and resistances
Scanning is a useful tool for navigating and detecting objects that can literally be seen through walls. More importantly, scanning can be used to identify enemies and reveal their vulnerabilities or resistances. Similar to enemies in games like Horizon, enemies in Atomic Heart are resistant to some elemental effects and vulnerable to others. Robots tend to be vulnerable to electrical damage, biological enemies to fire damage, and so on.
Using these strengths and weaknesses is especially important when fighting strong enemies, in particular bosses. While the Knowledge section of the journal lists various details about the enemies, it does not list their resistances and vulnerabilities. The only way to find out about them is to scan the enemy you are currently fighting or see on the screen.
Don’t Ignore Polygons
Proving grounds are like dungeons. Exploring the game world, you will find several polygons. Unlocking the entrance to the training ground usually involves solving some kind of puzzle, and there are even more puzzles and difficult tasks waiting for you inside. Although some of them can even be annoying, they are worth the time to solve, because inside the range you will find valuable items.
Hidden inside each range are three chests, each containing one or two weapon upgrades. You can find generic weapon mods just by exploring the world and opening discovered chests, however, many of the best weapon upgrades are hidden exclusively in ranges.
Out of the box thinking
You’ll spend most of your Atomic Heart walkthrough solving puzzles and mini-games. Snap your fingers to open doors or manipulate platforms with electricity and magnetism. While some of the inventive puzzles and mini-games are fun, others can be annoying and often require thinking outside the box.
Environment puzzles tend to be the most difficult of all. Be sure to scan the area whenever you find yourself in a cul-de-sac, as sometimes you may find hidden gears and wires that are hard to see with the naked eye. Often such puzzles contain some kind of platforming element, but it is worth noting that in some cases the platforms are only needed to mislead you. The solution to many puzzles in the game is not always obvious, so don’t be afraid to use all the tools in your arsenal. Dash jumps and Shocker effects are especially useful.
Don’t rely on stealth
Stealth is not the most important and mandatory part of Atomic Heart, and you will not be able to complete the entire game by attacking enemies from behind. Camomile’s cameras are placed almost everywhere, and open areas are usually controlled by the factory’s drones. After all, the game takes place in an authoritarian mode, so you are being followed everywhere. The Shocker is your best friend when it comes to disabling cameras, as one quick hit will disable them long enough for you to sneak into the right place unnoticed. Alternatively, you can simply destroy them, however this most often attracts unwanted attention from the robots.
Be sure to keep an eye on the level of anxiety, especially if you decide to go head-on. Hide if it exceeds even zero. As soon as the alarm level reaches “2”, capsules filled with enemies will begin to appear near you. Using the nearby control terminals, you can disable all enemies, towers and cameras for a while. Once the Vulture is down, you can climb on it and use the ziplines to quickly get across large chunks of the map or bypass certain obstacles.
Don’t try to kill everyone
Once you get to the surface from the Vavilov complex, you will quickly realize that it is simply impossible to kill all the opponents. As soon as you destroy the robot, repair drones will fly from the nearest nodes in your direction, which will begin its restoration. This process can be stopped by destroying the repair drones, but they will continue to arrive indefinitely. Therefore, move on instead of trying to kill everyone and wasting precious ammo! These drones also repair cameras, and although there are a limited number of them inside the dungeons, they spawn endlessly from nearby factories in the open world. Hubs sending drones are invulnerable and usually passive towards the player. However, if you decide to attack them, they will instantly deploy a squad of combat drones that can deal significant damage. Fortunately,
Some of the organic enemies in the game behave in much the same way. Occasionally, you will encounter enemies called cults, which will launch hostile sprouts at regular intervals. In this case, to prevent the emergence of new shoots, try to destroy the culms as soon as possible. And pay attention to the shoots, as they also generate sprouts. The sprouts are more dangerous than they might seem, as they can infect nearby corpses and turn them into mutants.
Swim in polymer
Much of the cutting edge technology found in Atomic Heart revolves around the polymer. This exotic material powers machines and unlocks new abilities, though it has many other uses as well. Sometimes, while exploring the world, you can find an unrefined polymer – both outdoors and indoors – and it turns out that the main character likes to literally swim through it.
Although the polymer may look menacing from the outside, it is actually completely harmless, so feel free to use it to get into some closed rooms and buildings. In fact, whenever you encounter a polymer in the wild, it is usually associated with some kind of puzzle, and this material can help you get to hard-to-reach places. Once inside, you can exit the polymer at any time by simply pressing the dash button/key.
