Vdovenko spoke about the inspirations behind the grotesque creature designs in ILL, revealing the studio took inspiration from classic horror movies from between the 1970s to the 1990s. He brought up how the movies of the time relied largely on practical effects, and how this lent the creatures in those movies with unique imperfections that only added to their creepiness thanks to clever lighting and direction.

“Mostly old horror films from the 1970s to the 1990s,” said Vdovenko when asked about how Team Clout was inspired for the creature designs in ILL. “Everything was done with practical effects and quality animatronics. The imperfections were hidden with smart lighting and strong direction.”

When it comes to other games that might have served as inspirations, Verehin mentioned classic titles like Half-Life 2, Silent Hill, and Resident Evil. He especially brought up the fact that the worlds in these games felt “alive and dangerous”, and while the there was a visual element to the horror, there were also gameplay systems that supported the horror.

“In games, it’s Half-Life 2, Silent Hill, and Resident Evil series – titles where the world felt alive and dangerous, where the horror wasn’t just visual but systemic,” said Verehin. “We were especially drawn to that feeling of being trapped somewhere real, reacting moment to moment with limited resources. From the beginning, we wanted to build something that felt grounded but deeply disturbing, an experience that doesn’t just scare you, but unsettles you long after you’ve put the controller down.”

However, Team Clout doesn’t have a strict “process” for its creature designs. The studio instead tends to be more freeform in its designs, from concept drawings all the way into the creature making it into the game. He also mentioned how creature design also often has to take gameplay into account, since players will get to fight these creatures as well.

“We don’t have a set process for creating a new monster,” Verehin explained. “Sometimes you have a concept drawing and say, ‘how can I make this concept art a playable character in the game?’ Sometimes you see a video online featuring a scary concept. ‘Can I make a monster like that?’ It sounds ridiculous, but sometimes it works. It’s inspiration that you got from your life experience.”

“You also have to consider the monsters from a gameplay standpoint. They have to be fun to fight. There’s a trial and error process. Some designs were rejected because they didn’t work in the game.”

Verehin also brought up how Team Clout was helped by Atomic Heart developer and ILL publisher Mundfish when it came to setting up the studio’s animation department. Thanks to this, the studio is equipped with plenty of experience when it comes to animating grotesque creatures in unique ways that make them look creepier.

“We’ve had big help from the team of Mundfish in setting up our animation department,” said Verehin. “We have a lot of experience doing animation, like making our own short horror animations that taught us how movement should work in order to scare you. We’ll have, for example, a monster that moves normally at first, but we’ll try and tweak it in ways to make it more unique and horrifying.”

Oleg also described the challenges involved in making these animations, especially when the studio is more used to doing them in 30 FPS. “Compared to 30 FPS, [60 FPS] animations can feel less cinematic,” said Vdovenko. “But over time, I got used to it—and now I actually like the feel of it.”

Verehin also revealed that, while there are plenty of creatures to be scared of in ILL, players will have tools to fight back. “You explore, you use resources, you find and upgrade weapons,” he explained. “You can use your resources to craft and update weapons. You’ll need to manage your inventory, of course, because resources are limited. There will be intense encounters — sometimes with single enemies, sometimes a small group, and cool moments when you fight waves of enemies and bosses.”

The weapons available to players in the upcoming title will range from shotguns, assault rifles, revolvers, and snipers. Verehin also noted that there also be “fun, crafty weapons”, as well as plenty of melee options.

ILL is currently under development for PC.

When asked about the ‘expanded RPG system’ that was announced for Atomic Heart 2, Bagratuni spoke about giving players deeper skill trees, with options for more varied progression paths. He also spoke about the “living world” of Atomic Heart 2, which will provide players with more reactivity to their actions.

“Yes, we’re introducing a more expanded RPG layer in Atomic Heart 2, but we’re doing it the Mundfish way – integrated into the world and the experience, not layered on top just for complexity’s sake,” said Bagratuni. “The ‘living world’ means that we want the world to feel less like a backdrop and more like a responsive, evolving system. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves – we will share more information when we are ready.”

“As for the RPG elements – we are aiming for deeper weapon customization, skill trees, and progression paths that allow players to shape their playstyle much more than before. When we talk about “various activities,” we mean things that reward curiosity: things to do between the main missions. But always in service of the core experience – we’re not turning it into a checklist-style open-world game. Everything still has that handcrafted, surreal tone fans expect.”

As for the game allowing players to make choices that would have direct consequence, Bagratuni spoke about how Atomic Heart 2 will allow players to “influence how certain events or missions unfold”. However, when it came to providing more details, he wanted to maintain some surprises for when the game comes out.

“Without giving too much away, we can say that Atomic Heart 2 will offer players more agency than before,” said Bagratuni. “Choices do matter, and your actions can influence how certain events or missions unfold. As for companions… that’s a tricky one to answer without spoilers. Let’s just say: you won’t be entirely alone.”

Atomic Heart 2 was unveiled earlier this month. Much like its predecessor, the upcoming title will once again be a first-person shooter. While no release window has been confirmed as of yet, Mundfish has confirmed that Atomic Heart 2 will be coming to PC and consoles.

The sequel is being developed using Unreal Engine 5, and the studio has previously described it as being more of a spiritual successor to Atomic Heart. The title will also feature Agent P-3 – Major Sergey Nechayev. However, what his presence means in terms of the story is yet to be explained.

Along with Atomic Heart 2, Mundfish has also unveiled an MMO shooter set in the same universe, dubbed The Cube. The title, announced at Summer Games Fest 2025, has a story that revolves around a mysterious floating structure known as the cube. While not too many details have been confirmed so far, players will apparently be trying to figure out the mysteries behind this giant cube.

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.

Developed on Unreal Engine 5, it’s described as a spiritual successor to the first game, taking place on a global scale. There’s a greater emphasis on role-playing mechanics, and based on the trailer, new mechanics include a greater variety of vehicles, a glider, and many more new locations. Major Sergey Nechayev, known as Agent P-3, seemingly returns, but his role remains to be seen.

Stay tuned for further updates, which may take some time, especially given the first game’s lengthy development cycle. The first game is available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC. Check out our review here. It’s seen the release of several post-launch story DLC packs, further building on each ending while adding new weapons and locations to explore.

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.

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.

Because of its surreal nature, players will complete all kinds of platforming challenges and even embody the killer goose in one section. You’ll collect apples to unlock new skills and weapons and earn seven new unique skins by collecting gold coins (which are usable in the base game). Of course, breaking out and freeing Agent P-3’s mind is the goal, and the DLC will reveal what happened to him.

Atomic Heart: Trapped in Limbo is included in the Atomic Pass for $39.99, and the Gold and Premium Editions. It’s also available to purchase standalone. Stay tuned for more details and gameplay en route to its release. You can check out our review for the base game in the meantime.

Limbo is intriguing for its platforming challenges, as players jump across gaps to collect apples, avoid being crushed by boulders and bound across the world. If you look carefully, the player’s hands appear fluffy, implying a change in form. Time will tell, but based on the last teaser, you can expect a fairytale-style castle, a tank, and lots of angry geese waiting to pounce.

DLC 2 will be available standalone and with Atomic Heart’s Atomic Pass, which costs $39.99 and includes the first story DLC, Annihilation Instinct (check out our review here). Two more paid DLCs are in the works and should add even more story content. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.