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Atomic Heart


DisturbedSwan
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I'm in a "wait and see" mode for it but I'm not on with the controversy.  Only in the sense that there is a hypocrisy around it I'm not comfortable with.  Buying anything some money will return to the state just because of how money works and no country has its hands clean even because of recent events, especially the ones that make most of the games.  It goes to show how much better the west is at distancing itself.

 

If the actual themes in the game points to current Russian nationalism that's one thing but it's not fair to have the assumption if they're Russian they're supporters of Putin's fascism.  

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19 minutes ago, HandsomeDead said:

If the actual themes in the game points to current Russian nationalism that's one thing but it's not fair to have the assumption if they're Russian they're supporters of Putin's fascism.  

I agree with this but it's not the first time people online jump to surface level readings off a couple of trailers. I always assumed it was going for more of a Bioshock thing

 

fwiw also my favourite game of the past couple years is a Russian made one, I don't really subscribe to the idea I need to be wracked with guilt if a penny I spend makes its way to Russia. I think the statement by mundfish on this is a bit shit but it's a lot harder to make meaningful statements against the war when you're based in Russia I guess. Then again, IcePickLodge did so I don't really know.

 

I've been reading impressions on this anyway, sounds like a sort of janky open world version of Prey 2017. My tolerance for jankyiness in free-form emergent-gameplay driven RPGs is pretty high

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14 minutes ago, HandsomeDead said:

actual themes in the game points to current Russian nationalism that's one thing

That’s the problem, reading that EG article that’s what they’re basically saying. It seems to be really pro-soviet union utopia alternative narrative. But obviously this is only from previews. The full game may go against it somehow. Who knows. But another knock against that is they’ve said the advertising in Russia for it has basically been showing it as very Pro Russian too. Which I guess they have to do there? No idea really. 

 

Shame as I’m really looking forward to playing this, it looks crazy in my kind of way. This will definitely sour that somewhat. Why are all companies shit?!? But I’m still going to be hypocritical and play it. If it wasn’t on GP and I had to actually buy it that would be a different matter. 

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It's important to remember the USSR and current day Russia are not the same thing.  Putin only uses symbolism around the USSR because it was a time when it was a world power, it's like when all the UKIP types used WW2 imagery around regressive policies but don't embody the values at all.  It's pure lip service.

 

There were a lot of contradictions in the USSR which can make for a good base for a story setting and I hope that's what it is.  The fact that Bioshock looks to be an influence I assume it'll go for (as clumsy as Infinite is I hope it doesn't take too much influence because in this case it'll look really bad).

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Reviews are out now, they sort of are exactly what I'd expected. Very kind of divided reception that eurojank* usually gets

 

https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/atomic-heart

https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-5/atomic-heart?ref=hp

https://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-series-x/atomic-heart

 

*this seems such a misnomer for Russian RPGs, especially now. The internet needs a better term for these

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74 is a solid score... which considering some of the reports coming out a couple of months ago I'm surprised it's sitting at.

 

If it wasn't for Game Pass I'd probably skip it, as it is I'll be giving it the benefit of the doubt.

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Gagadget: The Ministry of Digital Transformation will send an official letter to Sony, Microsoft and Valve to ban the sale of Atomic Heart in Ukraine

 

Quote

 

The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine has noticed the release of the Russian game Atomic Heart and will send an official letter to Sony, Microsoft, and Valve to ban the game's sale in Ukraine.

 

Here's What We Know

 

According to dev.ua, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation Oleksandr Borniakov commented on the game's release:

 

"We also call for limiting the distribution of this game in other countries due to its toxicity, potential collection of user data and the possibility of transferring it to third parties in Russia, as well as the potential use of money raised from game purchases to wage war against Ukraine.

 

Bornyakov also called for all users to ignore the game. He emphasised to the Western audience that the developers have not issued a public statement condemning the Putin regime and the bloody war that Russia has waged against Ukraine.

Flashback

 

Atomic Heart is a Russian game by Mundfish studio, sponsored by Russian publisher Gaijin and Gazprom top manager Anatoly Paliy. This was reported by Ukrainian blogger OLDboi.

 

The developers are trying to pretend that they are a Cypriot studio, but events for media representatives in Moscow and Russian sponsors immediately show who the authors really are. The game will be set in the Soviet Union, where a robot uprising has taken place, forcing a KGB officer to save the country. The gg editorial team urges you not to buy the game and not to sponsor the Russian government.

 

 

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I've not looked in to any of this so I've no idea how close the game is to the Russian government. Fwiw there's clearly a number of Russians against the war, and I don't feel they should be punished for their government, and I think thematically you could make a game from a Soviet point of view and it could be really interesting and worth playing. However, I'm not comfortable supporting anything tied to Russian establishment money, and am a bit surprised it's been picked for GP (I can understand why MS and Sony (and Valve etc) would turn a blind eye to it getting a license for their machines)

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In general I would like to give russian developers the benefit of the doubt and not just assume the lot of them are z-affiliated. However the ties to investment companies with stakes in Russian energy haven't been disputed by its developer, and their statement on the war is a bit of a foggy both-sidesism statement which takes aim at online 'spammers', as if it matters in the big picture. Next to the selection of Donetsk in that image, it is a murky and problematic looking title at best.

 

I don't feel great playing it on GP, even tho it cost me a euro. That said I'm kinda with @Nag in it being increasingly difficult to not make your money go towards evil when it comes to digital entertainment, especially in the last few years or so. Where this is a bit different from recent examples might be if the game itself is a trojan horse for some pretty shitty messages as well, which again it's hard to give benefit of the doubt that it is not considering those coincidences. 

 

(fwiw, from what I played I detected nothing really that sinister, but I think I'm trying to listen to as little of it as possible. The main character keeps saying 'crispy critters' all the time, and got raped by a fridge. It's fucking weird)

 

edit blakey I saw a post from you about this on era, you're going to take a ban on there if you ask the mods to ban games. They're ban-happy atm lol

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With Saudia Arabia increasing their presence in the gaming scene it's going to be nearly impossible to opt out of this stuff.  I think Embracer Group were able to make their big expansion because of their money, as well as investing partially all over the industry.  If only we could distribute that wealth so it wasn't all in the hands of the worst, I dunno 🤷‍♂️

 

I suppose it's more direct in this case and I'm actually surprised they even did decide to sell it in Ukraine in the first place.  But why was I surprised, they gotta get a dollar from everywhere.

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I was really excited for this game but I think I’m going to hold off now until some more concrete information comes about on how

the funding and profit was gained and is used. & what the actual messaging in the game is like. I just can’t enjoy it or support it with that background. 

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