Atomic Heart: Blood on Crystal picks up where the story last left off, with our ragtag group of heroes regrouping on a beach before they decide on their next move. In case you might have forgotten certain plot elements, thankfully, there’s even a recap video at the very beginning that provides a broad strokes-styled summary of the entire plot leading up to this moment. The DLC also assumes that P3 has been through all of the previous content after wrapping up the base game’s story, which also means that he’s at his most confident, and his allies are at their strongest when we start out.

"There isn’t much new happening there either, and the big betrayal is telegraphed so heavily from the opening cutscenes that I found myself yawning by the time the story finally pulled the trigger."

The story makes its intentions clear right from the start. P3 has just about had it with primary antagonist CHAR-les and has decided to shut down his operations once and for all. Before we can head to his base for one final assault, however, the beach where our heroes are regrouping comes under siege, forcing them to retreat.

Blood on Crystal’s pacing immediately slows to a crawl after this, with characters taking their sweet time to discuss the next steps of a plan that largely revolves around destroying things, while protagonist P3 is given a new companion in the form of NORA, now installed in his glove. This also sets up an eventual betrayal that is far too obvious. After being rescued from an ambush by Granny Zina, our heroes decide on a plan of action, which revolves around taking the fight to CHAR-les directly, right down to his secret Crystal Complex.

There isn’t much new happening there either, and the big betrayal is telegraphed so heavily from the opening cutscenes that I found myself yawning by the time the story finally pulled the trigger. Thankfully, not every aspect of the DLC is dull. It has some of the best boss fights of the entire game, with your final encounter against CHAR-les being especially noteworthy. Similarly, some of the environments can also look quite impressive at times, especially as you get further into the story.

Ultimately, Blood on Crystal’s story is held back by the same issue that has long made much of Atomic Heart’s narrative feel dull. Sure, there are a few characters that can be quite interesting, and the voice acting is often phenomenal.

However, the characters also have the tendency to not really take things seriously enough at times, which can lead to mid-combat dialogue that often feels ripped right out of a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie in all of the worst ways. Those attempts at humor also undercut the DLC’s few moments of genuine pathos, because scenes that are meant to be emotional can only go so far when one of the central characters is an AI living inside a weapon vending machine.

"The entire DLC would have benefited from removing respawning enemies entirely"

This emphasis on wrapping up the main story also means that, outside of its story content and new levels, there isn’t much that feels fresh in Blood on Crystal. Sure, there are a few new enemy types here and there, but during the roughly four hours it takes to finish the DLC, you’ll still spend most of your time fighting the same bland robots with the same weapons you’ve been using since the start of Atomic Heart. Being stripped of your inventory at the start of the DLC was another point of frustration for me; you’ll spend a considerable amount of time with just your hammer and the Secateur, which also has the side effect of making early fights quite boring and forgettable. Getting your arsenal back to where it likely was by the end of the previous DLCs would require plenty of grinding and scrounging for crafting materials.

The poor pacing doesn’t just affect the story either; the level design can also feel sluggish, with simple puzzles often forcing you to backtrack just to make sure you haven’t missed anything. If that weren’t enough, Blood on Crystal also has the tendency to trigger enemy respawns a bit too often. Now, I get it: long stretches of simply walking through a game can be dull. However, the combat encounters you are often forced to fight through repeatedly aren’t particularly interesting. Rather, they act as little more than a way to drain you of your resources. The entire DLC would have benefited from removing respawning enemies entirely and instead adding fresh encounters to those otherwise long, drawn-out traversal sequences.

Overall, the gameplay feels dull, due in no small part to how repetitive the fights become. Sure, there are some theoretically good ideas here and there, like some of your powers being more effective against certain enemies. However, you can make your way through the entire DLC without having to think too much about any of it. The idea of CHANCE modules sounds great in theory. However, in practice, it never quite feels fluid enough to bother with.

"Blood on Crystal’s story is held back by the same issue that has long made much of Atomic Heart’s narrative feel dull."

There weren’t many performance issues to speak of. On my mid-range PC with an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU, a Radeon RX 7800 XT GPU, and 32 GB of RAM, I was able to crank up all the visual settings to the max, minus the ray tracing, and could still stay above 60 FPS at 2560×1440. While the early parts of the DLC, especially the opening ambush, did raise some concern, with frame rates dipping to around 50 FPS at times, the rest of the experience was smooth sailing, with performance staying well above 70 FPS.

Unfortunately, Blood on Crystal is an entirely skippable DLC. While it does wrap up the main narrative threads left dangling by Atomic Heart and pave the way for future games, there’s little reason to actually play the DLC. The story is largely just fine, and while the boss fights can be pretty great, the rest of the DLC feels like a chore to play through. The lack of many new things to play around with like powers or weapons also doesn’t help, and the poor pacing extends well beyond just the awkwardly-timed dialogue, with the core gameplay being negatively affected thanks to the presence of respawning enemies.

Blood on Crystal’s one saving grace is its relatively short runtime. While I was able to wrap it up in around 4 hours, depending on your play style and your desire to hunt down collectibles and Trophies/Achievements, that figure could vary by about an hour either way. Despite this short time-to-beat, however, there also isn’t much of a reason to revisit the DLC once you’ve wrapped it up. All in all, the DLC is incredibly difficult to recommend for anyone who isn’t already a massive fan of Atomic Heart to begin with.

This game was reviewed on PC.

The expansion will follow the ending where CHAR-les betrays P-3 and escapes the scene. While the previous expansions followed the other endings, this one may finally provide some closure.

Annihilation Instinct presents the aftermath of CHAR-les’s (or Zakharov’s) escape, after P-3 decides to surreptitiously leave Facility 3826, with the former taking over Kolloctive 2.0 and a disaster that puts the latter on a collision course with his former mother-in-law, of all people.

Trapped in Limbo and Enchantment Under the Sea reunited P-3 with the consciousness of Blesna, his deceased wife. Now, he’s raring to go in pursuit of CHAR-les, his Polymer arm fully restored, and Blesna now in possession of one of the rings that allow her unprecedented access to the Kollective 2.0 network. Oh, and she’s in the body of one of the Twins now.

How the two use their new abilities against the Polymorphs, the results of CHAR-les’s experiments, remains to be seen, but if the new expansion is anything like the ones that came before, expect a hell of an adventure. The trailer’s below if you want to get a sense of what that might look like.

The Cube takes place several after the events of Atomic Heart. In the story, a strange floating structure known as The Cube has shown up and become the center of several dangerous phenomena. The story will revolve around players trying to figure out the mysteries behind the titular cube.

“At Mundfish, we were the first in the industry to implement a technology that allows thousands of objects to move and rotate simultaneously across massive stretches of terrain — online and in real time. No other game has ever done this before.” said Mindfish founder and CEO Robert Bagratuni.

“This became possible thanks to our innovative proprietary split-rendering system, which redefines how motion is handled in interactive environments. The technology delivers maximum performance even under extreme load. In The Cube, physics, ballistics, and gravity feel completely natural — but under the hood, it’s powered by rocket science. The system enables seamless transitions, precise object tracking, and synchronized multiplayer in a living, ever-evolving world. It’s a true technological breakthrough.”

The Cube doesn’t yet have a release date. There is, however a Steam store page where you can wishlist it.

Enchantment Under the Sea features a brand new setting in the form of an expansive underwater complex full of new characters. There are also new types of enemies and two new glove skills to play with: Whip and Blaze.

With a more linear level design, the DLC places a heavier emphasis on puzzles, which also use the new Whip power. The Whip lets you essentially grapple around for traversal and from enemies during combat. The Blaze power, on the other hand, acts like a fireball, allowing you to clear obstacles while exploring or set enemies on fire.

Atomic Heart: Enchantment Under the Sea is available individually, as well as through the Gold and Premium Editions of Atomic Heart. With this release, there is one more DLC planned for the title. For more details on Enchantment Under the Sea, check out our review.

While the previous DLCs for Atomic Heart have been wildly different, with one essentially offering up more of what was already present in the base game and the other being a wild alternate-reality take on the story, Enchantment Under the Sea is an interesting one where it focuses back on the central storyline of the game, while also eschewing the base game’s more open design in favour of linear levels. While the game kicks off with a bang, having you break out of the building where you fought off the previous antagonists and finding your wife, you very quickly end up reuniting with Granny and setting off to explore an underwater facility in an effort to find the all-important wedding rings.

"You very quickly end up reuniting with Granny and setting off to explore an underwater facility"

In being a much more linear experience where you’re constantly making unambiguous forward progress in some form or another, Enchantment Under the Sea often ends up showing some of the most creative aspects that Atomic Heart has ever seen. Not only does the game introduce a host of new enemy types that you will have to juggle with, each with their own unique weaknesses that require entirely new tactics than what you might be used to, the game also goes further with its puzzle solving aspects. Now don’t get me wrong, you’re not going to get puzzle designs that rival something like a classic Zelda title, but their presence still ends up providing quite a bit of variety, as well as some breaks, in between bouts of relatively difficult encounters.

The writing also feels a lot better than what we’ve seen from Atomic Heart so far. Yes, there are still moments of unnecessary dialogue with jokes that tend to kill the tension that is otherwise bearing down on you. And yes, it does contribute to the identity crisis we mentioned even in our review of the game’s first DLC, Annihilation Instinct. But at least this time around, the jokes aren’t going to make you cringe or groan. Much of the humour comes from P3’s attempts to reconnect with his wife, which tends to offer plenty of tender moments as well. While there is still a general sense that the studio was torn between making this a more serious story in an effort to wrap things up in time for the next DLC to serve as a finale of sorts, the presence of these jokes still ends up undermining quite a bit of the atmosphere they were going for with Enchantment Under the Sea.

Aside from that, however, the story continues what has ostensibly been an insane ride from the get go. The underwater facility you spend much of the DLC exploring eventually ends up much more sprawling and spacious than you first thought, and my first impression was that Atomic Heart is trying its own hand at a Rapture-esque setting. While BioShock’s Rapture served as more than just a scenic backdrop, offering up some commentary on the idea of objectivist philosophy and unchecked capitalism, while also being a rather fantastic setting for a horror game, Enchantment Under the Sea’s setting doesn’t really bother going there. Sure, there are tiny tidbits of lore strewn about that players can find, be it through conversations with corpses or records on computers, but ultimately, the DLC’s setting really is just a scenic backdrop to the action.

The only real downside of the story in Enchantment Under the Sea is that it needs quite a bit of buy-in for the player to be able to understand. Essentially, since it’s picking things up where the game last left off, you can’t just start with the DLC; you will absolutely have to finish at least the base game to understand what’s going on. All in all, however, when you consider the fact that this is the third DLC release for the game, this isn’t really that much of an issue.

"Essentially, since it’s picking things up where the game last left off, you can’t just start with the DLC"

When it comes to action, Enchantment Under the Sea brings with it new types of powers that players can experiment with, with the standouts being a grappling hook and a fireball. The grappling hook, called the Whip, is used quite extensively throughout the DLC, and ends up being surprisingly versatile, useful in both exploration as well as combat. In fact, the whip was likely the key inspiration behind most of the puzzles in the DLC, which often require you to grapple around to get a vantage point on the whole puzzle. There are also platforming challenges that involve heavy use of the whip, with a memorable example involving you having to constantly swing between two electrified train tracks to dodge oncoming trains while you try to look for safe nooks and crannies. While it won’t exactly let you feel like Spider-Man as you swing around, it still offers a fun new way to explore the DLC’s levels.

In combat, the whip starts out with a simple enough function: you can grapple into enemies to get closer. This can then be further augmented by providing various buffs and debuffs, like letting you block an enemy’s major attack when you grapple into them. The fireball, while not nearly as versatile, still feels great to use. Essentially acting like a large grenade, fireballing becomes an excellent way to maintain crowd control when you’re getting swarmed by lots of enemies, for example. The fireball unfortunately doesn’t do much for exploration, aside from letting you destroy specific obstacles; this ends up feeling like little more than an afterthought.

Really, the only real problem with the combat in Enchantment Under the Sea is one that can’t really be solved with a DLC release, and would require a fundamental redesign of the entirety of Atomic Heart. The problem is that when you get into a big fight, readability essentially goes out the window. While enemies will let you know when they’re about to hit you, the general speed and abilities of the various enemies you fight always end up feeling like they’re ideas taken from a much faster game, but without the slowing down to make them more suited to Atomic Heart’s combat. It doesn’t help that enemies can also sometimes be quite difficult to even spot. While it doesn’t feel too bad often, the few times the game’s readability became an issue stuck out like a sore thumb.

"You’re not going to be getting any ground-breaking new content"

Ultimately, Enchantment Under the Sea just goes to show how strong the foundations of Atomic Heart have always been. Despite its identity crisis, the writing in the DLC is still some of the best from throughout the game, with characters feeling more like real people than they have in either the base game or the previous DLCs. The story also definitely feels like it’s coming to a head, and Enchantment Under the Sea feels like it’s getting ready for the big finale with the next DLC. Visually, the DLC takes heavy inspiration from BioShock, with its underwater facility feeling like it might just be as sprawling and huge as Rapture was. The more focused approach to storytelling, opting for linear levels rather than throwing the player into an open world also does wonders for not only the writing and pacing, but for gameplay as well.

While you’re not going to be getting any ground-breaking new content with Enchantment Under the Sea, it is quite easy to recommend the DLC, especially to players that like Atomic Heart. Not only does it offer up the same excellent shooter gameplay as the base game, but the level design, variety of encounters, new enemies, new powers, and fun writing all add up to being an excellent way to spend a weekend. Throw on top the fact that the DLC’s story makes it feel like Mundfish is just about getting ready to wrap things up with the overarching plot of Atomic Heart and Enchantment Under the Sea ends up feeling like a DLC you just can’t miss.

This game was reviewed on PC.

The story sees P-3 trying on a mission to save humanity, but that means dealing with new threats, including crab-like robots and MOR-4Y. Players will receive two new weapons to help – the Thunderclap hammer with electric attacks and the double-barrel KM-4 Kuzmich. The latter lets you customize its spread, potentially allowing for both long-range shots and wide-sweeping blasts.

Two new glove abilities are also available – Blaze for shooting fireballs and Whip, a grappling hook. Aside from Neptune, you’ll revisit Facility 3826 as locations like Chelomey are warped and taken over by robots.

Stay tuned for more details on Enchantment Under the Sea in the coming weeks. Atomic Heart is available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and PC. Check out our review of the base game.

Halo 2

You could make a case for any Halo game featuring on this rundown – Halo 3 for its gameplay, Halo 4 for its writing and character development, Halo: Combat Evolved, where it all began. But Halo 2 gets the nod here because it has all those standout elements but additionally its easily the most varied in terms of locations visited, with each locale itself superbly designed. The introduction of Arbiter Thel ‘Vadamee as a playable character not only put new weapons into our hands, but greatly expanded Halo’s lore too, presenting deeper purpose underlining Covenant motivations.

]]> 600361 https://gamingbolt.com/atomic-heart-trapped-in-limbo-dlc-is-out-now-on-pc-and-consoles Wed, 07 Feb 2024 01:25:54 +0000 https://gamingbolt.com/?p=578157 Developer Mundfish and publisher Focus Entertainment’s Atomic Heart‘s Trapped in Limbo DLC is out now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The DLC, available as part of the Atomic Pass or as a separate purchase, also has a new trailer that you can check out below.

Atomic Heart: Trapped in Limbo picks up directly after the end of the base game’s main story, and explores a different side of the ending than that from the Annihilation Instinct DLC. Players get to explore the Limbo world, complete with its own set of challenges inspired by fan-favourite challenges from the main game.

The DLC’s story revolves around unraveling the secrets behind P-3’s past. The player will be able to get the help of the Twin’s essence to explore the world of Limbo. The DLC also features new mechanics, as well as unique enemies that will require their own set of strategies to take on.

Trapped in Limbo is the second DLC release for Atomic Heart, following the release of Annihilation Instinct. For more details on Atomic Heart, check out our review of the base game.

Other winners include Labyrinthine for the VR Game of the Year award, Red Dead Redemption 2 for the Labor of Love award, Hogwarts Legacy for the Best Game on Steam Deck award, Lethal Company for the Better With Friends award, Atomic Heart for the Outstanding Visual Style award, Starfield for the Most Innovative Gameplay award, Sifu for the Best Game You Suck At award, The Last of Us Part 1 for the Best Soundtrack award, and Dave the Diver for the Sit Back and Relax award.

Steam holds these awards on a yearly basis, having the voting coincide with its Winter Sale. The Steam Winter Sale 2023 is still going on, and games are available at discounted prices until January 4.

Fang (Trip’s Story) – Sonic Superstars

It’s almost hilarious how Sonic Superstars has not one, not two, but three terrible final bosses. Fang in Trip’s Story narrowly manages to win out by sheer virtue of annoyance, which is saying something given how unnecessarily challenging her playthrough feels. This fight is long, with severe waiting periods between each attack and some insta-killing you just because it would be funny. The lack of any checkpoint in the second phase is also especially excruciating. It isn’t the end of the game, as there’s the true final boss to deal with, but it’s a disappointing conclusion to Trip’s Story all the same.

Zhang Rhang – Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty

On the surface, Zhang Rhang’s schtick is interesting as he continuously summons clones. The problem? You have to keep killing them, building up Spirit Damage until he’s staggered for a Fatal Strike. So you’re running around, smacking clones, trying to find the right one, getting pelted with magic from this way and that.

Guan Yu and Cao Cao also assist during this fight, further adding to the visual mess and chaos. The worst part? Once you’ve staggered him and dealt a Fatal Strike, you must go through the whole process again. It’s one of those ideas that seems unique on paper but ends up being extremely tedious in practice.

Hunter and Emissary – Starfield

Depending on your decisions, you have to fight one or both of these entities in the finale of Starfield. However, outside of their gimmick of all three of you teleporting across different universes and areas, the fight’s mechanics are pretty non-existent. All you do is follow and shoot. Then you get teleported.

Then follow and shoot some more in a cave against them and alternate versions of your companions. Of course, the question arises: What could the team possibly have done differently? Maybe a space battle against the Starborn’s ships? It’s hard to say, but this wasn’t it. At least you can skip the fight with enough Persuasion.

Corrupted Parade Master – Lies of P

Given the sheer range of bosses in Lies of P, it’s weird fighting one with several of your options temporarily removed. Nevertheless, surely there would be an interesting twist to fighting a corrupted version of the first boss, aside from the danger of Decay? Well, not really. Most of his attacks are similar, and all you have to do is dodge through most of them, back off when it starts crawling on the ground and repeat. Not the worst fight ever, but pretty rote despite his heavily altered appearance.

NORA – Atomic Heart: Annihilation Instinct

The first story DLC for Atomic Heart is pretty underwhelming, with its final boss easily the capstone to all the disappointment. After the Twins arrive to save P-3, you must create a new schematic to stop NORA’s madness. It amounts to inserting the mechanical balls in the correct configuration on the floor, taken from fighting a familiar boss that keeps regenerating.

The sheer amount of manufactured tension belies how dull it is, despite the puzzle-solving approach, and the fight ends in a whimper. The worst part is that even after a relatively happy ending, the conclusion teases more annoyance for P-3.

Ahriman, the Destroyer – Ghostrunner 2

As the first boss of One More Level’s sequel, Ahriman is a solid test of the game’s combat and movement. The problem is, that’s pretty much all he is. Having such a cool-looking appearance and sword, you would think there would be something more to him after his defeat. Alas, he commits seppuku and that’s it.

No coming back later in some big twist or anything like that. Would I have been less disappointed if he wasn’t called “The Destroyer”? Probably. As an intro to the rest of the Asura, he’s pretty lame, but thankfully, the rest more than pick up the slack and offer far better fights.

Ruiner – Lords of the Fallen

Ruiner is this hulking beast of a warrior with a crazy look and fire magic that can build Ignite. As the guard of Fitzroy’s Bridge, he seems virtually impassable…until you start dodging his attacks. As agile as Ruiner can be, some attacks are insanely telegraphed, leaving him open for a heavy attack that knocks off a sizable chunk of his health. Pair that with Radiant damage, and take him out in no time. When the lead-up to a boss with all the enemies you have to deal with is considered more tedious than the actual boss, you know there’s a problem.

Narag-Shazon – The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria

It’s bad enough that Return to Moria has the issues it does, but there is a kind of charm throughout as you venture to the final boss. The Balrog isn’t your final challenge – instead, it’s Narag-Shazon, a dragon. Additional prep and end-game armor and weapons are a given, especially when playing solo, but she quickly falls after just a few hits. It seems to be an issue that will be fixed sooner or later. However, for those who have been playing on PC since October, it’s a let-down.

DJ Cyber – Bomb Rush Cyberfunk

Finally, you get to fight against DJ Cyber after all the cryptic nonsense, conspiracies and mysteries. Unfortunately, the first phase involves meleeing his projectiles back at him as his spider-bot jumps around. The second involves dodging explosives that he leaves on the ground and then returning his projectiles. Then you hit him with one last melee, and that’s it – game over. Truly a weak way to end the game, especially considering the final battles in the Jet Set Radio games were so hype.

Scorpion and Nitara (Invasions) – Mortal Kombat 1

After the insanity of Story Mode’s final battle (which admittedly ends in a bit of a disappointing fight), there was the opportunity to do something special with Invasions. With all the different mechanics, it could have made its bosses special, right? Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, and both Scorpion and Nitara, the bosses of Seasons 1 and 2, are relatively boring.

Of course, it also doesn’t help that Invasions has no impact on the overall canon (such as it is after two reboots). While this is likely due to the seasonal model, it also means there are no stakes, and the lasting impact on their demises is pretty much moot.