History VideoGame / AtomicHeart

* SheathYourSword: Rafik robots aren't necessarily the most difficult enemies to face, but they can be troublesome in a group. That said, they are completely optional enemies. They can just go about their business as long as you don't attack them, unless you are in need of crafting materials, and are not plot-driven.

** [=ZiL=]-130 trucks are commonplace, about 10 years too early. What's worse, however, is the fact that [=ZiL=]-130 styling was heavily influenced by 1955 Ford F-series trucks, and it rather implausible, that without that influence designers would came up with exactly the same style of truck.

** Perhaps equally as valid an aesop is [[spoiler: ''building Utopia is impossible, because everyone has a different idea of what Utopia should be, and [[HumansAreFlawed humans will]] [[HumansAreMonsters always be humans]], no matter how much technology we hide behind with it''.]]

* CatchPhrase: P-3 has a habit of using the phrase "Crispy Critters" as either an expletive or as a way to describe things or people.

* CyberCyclops: The weakest and most mass-produced humanoid robot type seen en-masse in the trailers has just one large camera for an eye.
* DeadPersonConversation: The Thought communication devices attached to people's brains continue to function after the person has died, so you can have "conversations" with dead people (or at least, with their brain implants) when searching for clues to your next objective. That said, according to Charles, because the wearer is dead, the information the Thought gathers will eventually become corrupted.

* DissonantSerenity: The Tereshkova bots always sound cheerful, even when begging for help and being destroyed.

* IOweYouMyLife: Early in the game P-3 shows great loyalty and trust to his superior Dmitry Sechenov on account of him having personally saved his life on the operating table.

** An [[AvertedTrope aversion]] to this is why P-3 actually believes [[spoiler:Petrov's claims that the robots were deliberately created combat-capable]]. While Sergei notes that [[spoiler:Petrov]] could absolutely be responsible for the robots turning hostiles, he notes that the individual is "a whuss" and only a programmer, and would neither have the fighting knowledge to make robots good combatants nor the engineering know-how to install actual weaponry on them.

* {{Robosexual}}: Sergei and Charles have a brief conversation where powerful lobbying groups are working to get this fetish legalized.

* TitleDrop: "Project Atomic Heart" is mentionned once the player leaves the Vavilov complex as being something that is heavily jeopardized by the current crisis, and that Sechenov ''must'' get it back on track by dealing with the robot uprising in a timely and discrete fashion. It's eventually revealed to be [[spoiler:the planned defeat and takeover of the United States by having [[TrojanHorse the robots exported there suddenly switch to their combat programming and cripple vital infrastructures]], allowing for swift conquest]].

* WalkingHead: One of the robot types seen in the trailers is a round head on two stout legs...and with a buzzsaw placed halfway through the head.

* WholePlotReference: A surly, pathologically wisecracking protagonist awakens in a fantastical landscape to find a sentient, talking armlet attached to their arm which grants them magic-like powers. The two, who immediately dislike each other, are forced into a TeethClenchedTeamwork situation as they are tasked with eliminating the corrupted guardians of the place they find themselves in. [[spoiler: At the end of the game, said armlet turns out to have been EvilAllAlong and manipulating you into eliminating all the guardians so he can get into position to destroy the world.]] Is this the plot of ''Atomic Heart'', or of ''Forspoken'', two games made concurrently by completely different dev teams in completely different parts of the world from completely different cultural contexts, and released about a month apart from each other? Both games even given you a LastSecondEndingChoice in which you can choose to either proceed to the FinalBoss fight or decide ScrewThisImOuttaHere at the last moment.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Dimitri Sechenov]], from both his characterization, accusations by other characters and various other evidence, appears to be this [[spoiler:if his Kollective 2.0 roll-out really is an AssimilationPlot to unify all Humankind into a hive-mind through Polymerization, granting them enlightenment and utopian comfort through instant knowledge and mental control over robots at the cost of undermining free will and putting them under Sechenov's control]]. [[spoiler:Sechenov]] may actually mean it [[spoiler:when he claims that he wanted to bring Humanity to the stars, even if his methods are highly questionable]].

* WholePlotReference: A surly, pathologically wisecracking protagonist awakens in a fantastical landscape to find a sentient, talking armlet attached to their arm which grants them magic-like powers. The two, who immediately dislike each other, are forced into a TeethClenchedTeamwork situation as they are tasked with eliminating the corrupted guardians of the place they find themselves in. [[spoiler: At the end of the game, said armlet turns out to have been EvilAllAlong and manipulating you into eliminating all the guardians so he can get into position to destroy the world.]] Is this the plot of ''Atomic Heart'', or of ''Forspoken'', two games made concurrently by completely different dev teams in completely different parts of the world from completely different cultural contexts, and released about a month apart from each other?

* WholePlotReference: A surly, pathologically wisecracking protagonist awakens in a fantastical landscape to find a sentient, talking armlet attached to their arm which grants them magic-like powers. The two, who immediately dislike each other, are forced into a TeethClenchedTeamwork situation as they are tasked with eliminating the corrupted guardians of the place they find themselves in. [[spoiler: At the end of the game, said armlet turns out to have been EvilAllAlong and manipulating you into eliminating all the guardians so he can get into position to destroy the world.]] Is this the plot of ''Atomic Heart'', or of ''Forspoken'', two games made concurrently by completely different dev teams in completely different parts of the world from completely different cultural contexts?

* SpaceWhaleAesop: It doesnt start out as such however. The initial idea is the old addage ''absolute power corrupts absolutely'' and that people should be able to think for themselves and no have that choice taken away. [[spoiler: Unless you realize that the AI in your hand is secretly a manipulator plotting the extinction of the human race, and rip him out. The freedom of choice there - ironically - leads to the plans to make collective lack of choice going unhindered.]]
** another possible message could be [[spoiler: ''make the best possible choice, or else you may not get one in the future,'' unless you're sick of people trying to manipulate you, at which point, whether or not you know what is being done is unethical, you -ironically - decide to do run away and do nothing about it despite figuring things out and having the power to act.]]
** at its most basic, and comparing the endings, the aesop is [[spoiler: '' lack of free thought is bad, but if there is genuine good intention behind it, and free choice leads to something horrible, it's preferable than a dissallusioned party that wants to harm everyone equally.'']]

* FakeMemories: [[spoiler:Sergey has them, which is why he can't really remember much about his life prior to the operation where Sechenov saved his life. The incident and the loss of his wife were so traumatic he'd go on a rampage anytime he was reminded of them, and with how dangerous Sergey was, Sechenov decided that altering Sergey's mind to make him forget all about his previous life was safer than having him risk going on a rampage again]].

** P-3 has this weird obsession with Sechenov's twin bodyguards. [[spoiler:Sergey eventually learns that this is because the AI of the Twins were created from salvaged brain of his own wife.]]

** Near the end of the game, at the clinic, P-3 can have a conversation with a dead man who is certain [[spoiler:Chariton Zakharov is still alive. Having worked with Chariton as an assistant before his supposed death, the man was familiar with Zakharov's writing quirks, and he found hints of them in documents drafted even after Chariton's disappearance]]. He's right.

* fakeMemories: [[spoiler:Sergey has them, which is why he can't really remember much about his life prior to the operation where Sechenov saved his life. The incident and the loss of his wife were so traumatic he'd go on a rampage anytime he was reminded of them, and with how dangerous Sergey was, Sechenov decided that altering Sergey's mind to make him forget all about his previous life was safer than having him risk going on a rampage again]].

** Charles is confused why P-3 claims he's never heard the Facility's tour guide narration if he's been there so many times before, alluding to [[spoiler: the [[LaserGuidedAmnesia mind alteration]] Sechenov intentionally put him through.]]

** After Sergey escapes the Vavilov complex, he and the player catch a live feed of Sechenov meeting with Politburo member Molotov, who insists that the incident must be kept under wraps and resolved quickly. [[spoiler:Notably, Molotov doesn't seem very surprised that the robots are capable of turning hostile, rather focusing on the fact that the United States might learn about it. That's because operation Atomic Heart is an idea of the Politburo and hinges on the robots being effective fighters to be able to cripple the United States]]. Char-LES explicitly comments on this in the endgame, noting that Molotov's wording of [[spoiler:"the robots switching to combat mode"]] means that it was planned as a possibility from the start. Moreover, that an old grandma like Zina is able to watch such an important conversation occuring is another hint that she's more than what she seems.
** Near the end of the game, at the clinic, P-3 can have a conversation with a dead man who is certain [[spoiler:Chariton Zakharov is still alive. Having worked with him as an assistant before his supposed death, the man was familiar with his writings, way to comment notes and the likes, and he found hints of them in documents drafted even after Chariton's disappearance]]. He's right.

** another possible message could be [[spoiler: ''make the best possible choice, or else you may not get one in the future,'' unless you're sick of people trying to manipulate you, at which point, whether or not you know what is being done is unethical, you -ironically - decide fo do nothing about it despite figuring things out and having the means to stop it.]]
** at its most basic, and comparing the endings the aesop is [[spoiler: ''communism and lack of choice is bad, but if there is genuine good intention behind it, and free choice leads to something horrible, it's preferable than a dissallusioned party that wants everyone equally dead.'']]

* AmbiguouslyEvil: [[spoiler:Dmitry Sechenov, as events gradually came to light, is not as saintly as he appears to be to P-3 or others, at least according to those opposing him. The Kollectiv 2.0 roll-out to Polymerise the entire Soviet population would grant them enlightenment and utopian comfort through instant access to all knowledge and mental control over robots, but would undercut their free will by forcefully uniting all of them into a single hive mind, making it an AssimilationPlot. He's also apparently manipulated P-3 as much as helping him via an implanted RestrainingBolt, murdered one of his colleagues Chariton, plotted the eponymous 'Atomic Heart' project to defeat the United States via exported Soviet robots and facilitate the USSR's WorldDomination, among other things, but all this came entirely from [[UnreliableExpositor those objecting to him and his vision]]. Meanwhile, his apparent sincere dedication to uplifting Humanity, genuine affection to P-3, and horrified reaction to Chariton's plans to destroy Humanity further muddles the waters]].

* HackingMinigame: Several are present in the game, and the lore takes time to justify their existence. One in-game exposition text has someone complain how easily even a child can hack the laser-based passive security relay, to which the responder pointed out that it is merely one part of a larger security network that would have noticed the hacking attempt and stopped it. At the same time, the ease of usage would allow facility staff to get through the system quickly in an emergency. Its unusual design prevents the robots from using it in case they malfunction.

* TitleDrop: "Project Atomic Heart" is mentionned once the player leaves the Vavilov complex as being something that is heavily jeopardized by the current crisis, and that Sechenov ''must'' get back on track by dealing with the robot uprising in a timely fashion. It's eventually revealed to be [[spoiler:the planned defeat and takeover of the United States by having [[TrojanHorse the robots exported there suddenly switch to their combat programming and cripple vital infrastructures]], allowing for swift conquest]].

The game is set within an [[AlternateHistory alternate timeline]] where the [[UsefulNotes/HistoryOfTheUSSR USSR]] was able to become a world-leading [[SovietSuperscience technological superpower]] after achieving radical breakthroughs in the fields of robotics and genetic engineering. You play as Major Sergey Nechayev, [[CodeName codenamed]] [[YouAreNumberSix Agent P-3]], a war veteran turned [[AmnesiacHero amnesiac]] {{Cyborg}} SuperSoldier who has been recruited by the brilliant scientist Dmitry Sechenov to assist with the rollout of Kollektiv 2.0 -- a cutting edge wireless network that will allow humans to remotely interface with their with mechanized servants and usher in a true post-labor era for the entire world.

* AmbiguouslyEvil: [[spoiler:Dmitry Sechenov, as events gradually came to light, is not as saintly as he appears to be to P-3 or others, at least according to those opposing him. The Kollectiv 2.0 roll-out to Polymerise the entire Soviet population would grant them enlightenment and utopian comfort through instant access to all knowledge and mental control over robots, but would undercut their free will by forcefully uniting all of them into a single hive mind, making it an AssimilationPlot. He's also apparently manipulated P-3 as much as helping him via an implanted RestrainingBolt, murdered one of his colleagues Chariton, plotted the eponymous 'Atomic Heart' project to defeat the United States via exported Soviet robots and facilitate the USSR's WorldDomination, among other things, but all this came entirely from those objecting to him and his vision. Meanwhile, his apparent sincere dedication to uplifting Humanity, genuine affection to P-3, and horrified reaction to Chariton's plans to destroy Humanity further muddles the waters]].

* EvilAllAlong: [[spoiler:Chariton, the true identity of Charles. Chariton was a colleague of Dimitri Sechenov who had his consciousness preserved in Polymer goo following his untimely death (both of which Sechenov may be responsible), becoming Charles, and his experiences and observations of Humanity in this state disillusioned him to his former species, believing Humanity had stopped evolving and are decadent hedonistic creatures who only sought comfort rather than progress. In the Bad Ending, after P-3/Sergey defeated Sechenov, Chariton betrays him and gets himself a new body with the intent to go out and mastermind the destruction of Humanity, intending to replace them with his Polymer-based creations which he believes will surpass Humanity in every way]].

** Baba Zina knows so much about how the robots work but prefers to appear as just a weird old lady.
** Charles is confused why P-3 claims he's never heard the Facility's tour guide narration if he's been there so many times before.
** P-3 has this weird obsession with Sechenov's twin bodyguards.

* GoshDangItToHeck: While Sergey is not adverse to normal swears, he's extremely fond of using "crispy critters" as a catch-all term for the messes he encounters. [[spoiler:A terminal near the end of the game reveals that he once suffered such horrific burns that the rescuers reffered to him as "a crispy critter", and his damaged brain picked up the words while he was on the operating table]].

** An [[AvertedTrope aversion]] to this is why P-3 actually believes [[spoiler:Petrov's claims that the robots were deliberatly created combat-capable]]. While Sergei notes that [[spoiler:Petrov]] could absolutely be responsible for the robots turning hostiles, he notes that the individual is "a whuss" and only a programmer, and would neither have the fighting knowledge to make robots good combatants nor the engineering know-how to install actual weaponry on them.

* PlantMooks: In a game preview (and in the game itself) it is shown that some of the enemies the player will be facing are hostile mobile flora, having somehow hijacked and mutated humans into vessels to move around and attack others, and could even spit acid/poison. While Polymer-based genetic engineering is seemingly responsible, it's implied from some of the text that somehow the Lunar soil which they are growing and experimenting with the plants in (for space colonisation purposes) may have something to do with their unusual and dangerous abilities and behaviour.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Dimitri Sechenov]], from both his characterisation, accusations by other characters and various other evidence, appears to be this [[spoiler:if his Kollective 2.0 roll-out really is an AssimilationPlot to unify all Humankind into a hive-mind through Polymerization, granting them enlightenment and utopian comfort through instant knowledge and mental control over robots at the cost of undermining free will and putting them under Sechenov's control]]. [[spoiler:Sechenov]] may actually mean it [[spoiler:when he claims that he wanted to bring Humanity to the stars, even if his methods are highly questionable]].

* ChainsawGood: Some of the robots attack with buzzsaws. These models were originally designed for construction work, as you can learn in-game fro ma plaque describing them.

* GoshDangItToHeck: While Sergei is not adverse to normal swears, he's also extremely fond of using "crispy critters" as a catch-all term for the messes he encounters. [[spoiler:A terminal near the end of the game reveals that he once suffered such horrific burns that the rescuers reffered to him as "a crispy critter", and his damaged brain picked up the words while he was on the operating table]].

** The KS-23 appears as the game's shotgun, but it wasn't even conceptualized during the game's time period, being designed in 1971 and put into service in 1985.

...Or at least that was the initial plan. But thanks to a saboteur, the science facility 3826 [[GoneHorriblyWrong has been plunged into total chaos]] as every robot linked to the network has started [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters slaughtering their human charges]]. After surviving the initial massacre, Sergey and his VirtualSidekick Char-LES must fight tooth and nail to restore the Kollektiv network while simultaneously uncovering the dark truths surrounding its creation, and they need to do it quickly, since Kollektiv 2.0's official launch is in just a few days.

* ChainsawGood: Some of the robots seen in the trailers so far attack with buzzsaws. Justified in that they were initially developed for construction duty, as confirmed by the raytracing tech demo, which features one such robot as a museum exhibit, complete with a detailed plaque detailing its use.

* {{Fembot}}: The Twins, two ''very'' shapely dancing robots. The Game Awards 2022 trailer shows one in close-up when the viewpoint character touches its face--it [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots gasps and recoils as if startled]].

* LightIsNotGood: As one person in the trailer says, even as a kid he was disturbed by seeing brightly illustrated books for children because he felt that they sugarcoat reality. He was rather appealed by science, because he felt that it gave him an actual way to deal with reality the way it is instead of an illusion of a harmless one. He associates light with deception and implies that someone in specific, maybe a villain in the plot was made unpredictable and dangerous by ''his'' ability to "hide in the light".

...Or at least that was the initial plan. But thanks to a saboteur, Kollektiv 2.0's official launch party [[GoneHorriblyWrong has been plunged into total chaos]] as every robot linked to the network has started [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters slaughtering their human charges]]. After surviving the initial massacre, Sergey and his VirtualSidekick Char-LES must fight tooth and nail to restore the Kollektiv network while simultaneously uncovering the dark truths surrounding its creation.

* GoodOldFisticuffs: The most humanoid robots in the gameplay trailer attack through a series of punches and kicks, and they are actually pretty good at it as well, with acrobatic, if over-choreographed movements.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/atomic_heart.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''The utopian dream is not what it seems.'']]

It is set in an [[AlternateHistory alternate timeline]] where the USSR was able to make a great leap in robotics and genetic engineering after the war. However, it's all GoneHorriblyWrong, and now you need to unravel the aftermath, starting from the research centre where it all went down.