12
32-
Slated for an early 2023 release, Atomic Heart PC is very nearly upon us, and that means immersive sim fans and, indeed, those who specifically enjoyed Bioshock and System Shock titles in the past have much to be looking forward to! There's much more to Atomic Heart PC than just simple face-value comparisons and an attempt at banking on nostalgia, though. Indeed, Atomic Heart opens up a sublime utopian world, situated in a whole alternate universe, for you to explore.
2Game has a whole bunch of dedicated Atomic Heart PC coverage slated for the next couple of weeks. Before we can get to the nitty-gritty of the game, though, we need to discuss its technical aspects, launch window, and a variety of other hard facts about Atomic Heart! That - as per usual - is where our everything-we-know article comes in.
Down below, we've summarized all the crucial information you need to know ahead of Atomic Heart's PC launch in late February. This includes Atomic Heart system requirements and DLC plans, which should prove handy for PC gamers! So, let's kick things off the right way.
Get Atomic Heart on PC via 2Game Today and Save 24% off RRP!
READ MORE: Everything You Need To Know About Resident Evil 4 Remake
Atomic Heart on PC
An exploration of an alt-history Soviet Union, situated in an alternate universe, Atomic Heart PC takes a whole bunch of visual cues from the works of Simon Stålenhag to deliver PC gaming that is almost entirely graphically unique. The fact that Atomic Heart PC is an Nvidia-partnered RTX powerhouse certainly helps, too. Impressive visuals aside, however, Atomic Heart PC was always meant to be a showstopper from top to bottom.
The developer, Mundfish, was created specifically to bring Atomic Heart to fruition. Now, under Focus Entertainment's umbrella, Atomic Heart is finally getting its official launch later this year. As we near that date, you can expect feature-tier articles discussing Atomic Heart right here at 2Game. In the interim, we're here to set the technical stage.
From what we've been able to piece together so far, Atomic Heart PC is an open-world first-person shooter with immersive sim elements included in every aspect of its gameplay. As the CEO of Mundfish, Robert Bagratuni, discusses in his interview with Dread XP, this awesome PC gaming project has been a long time coming. Problematic as its development may have been, the studio is now on track to push Atomic Heart out and make history - hopefully.
And, sure enough, Atomic Heart PC is a ridiculously ambitious project at a glance. An open-world game with immersive sim elements on the level of production values that's been shown? Whew. Yet, everything we've seen so far regarding Atomic Heart seems exceedingly promising. So, let's go over all the crucial bits and bobs of Atomic Heart PC you need to be aware of, and we'll have more in-depth coverage ready for you very soon!
Get Atomic Heart on PC via 2Game Today and Save 24% off RRP!
Atomic Heart PC Release Date
Atomic Heart PC is due to launch on February 21, 2023. This comes after several pushbacks, yes, but Mundfish seems 100% sure that it's going to hit this target at last. Make no mistake here - if Atomic Heart ends up delivering on its promises it has the potential to be one of the biggest games of the year. Heck, add a narrative twist or two to the mix - which could very well be present, considering Atomic Heart's inspirations - and you've got a classic in the making.
Only time will tell if Mundfish has what it takes. The good news, though, is that we won't have to wait very long at all till the release of Atomic Heart to see what the studio's been cooking!
Atomic Heart PC Spec Requirements
It takes just a passing glance at any of Atomic Heart's promotional materials to see that Atomic Heart PC is a visually stunning game. As we said before, Mundfish's seminal project has been a long-time Nvidia partnership, heralding many of the GPU maker's cutting-edge features, and we would expect high settings. What we're getting at is, Atomic Heart isn't going to be an easy game to run. Yet, despite our expectations, the Atomic Heart PC specs seem... tame, almost.
Minimum PC Requirements to play Atomic Heart
- OS: Windows 10 20H1 (or newer), 64-bit
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 / Intel Core i5-4460 (requires AVX, AVX2, and SSE 4.2)
- GPU: AMD Radeon R9 380 / Nvidia GeForce GTX 960
- RAM: 8 GB
- DirectX 12
- Storage: 90 GB of available space
Recommended PC Requirements to play Atomic Heart
- OS: Windows 10 20H1 (or newer), 64-bit
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 2700X / Intel Core i7-7700 ( requires AVX, AVX2, and SSE 4.2)
- GPU: AMD RX Vega 64 / Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080
- RAM: 16 GB
- DirectX 12
- Storage: 90 GB of available space
It would've been handy to know what performance Mundfish may be targeting here. Given the fact that a mere GTX 1080 is being recommended as an "optimal" choice, we don't believe these settings include having Atomic Heart maxed out. Certainly, they disregard any and all visual features from the raytracing stack, which should be self-evident.
Raytracing & Beyond
Ever since its initial announcement, Atomic Heart PC has banked heavily on its graphics. And, really, the hard work has evidently paid off. Mundfish has been showing off a remarkably impressive visual experience, the only obvious issue being that it's going to take immensely powerful hardware to run it at full tilt. Don't believe us? Look no further than the likes of The Callisto Protocol and Darktide - two different raytracing powerhouses that run very poorly even on super high-end GPUs.
With that in mind, we firmly believe that our PC gaming prep guide for 2023 will show its worth here already. AI-based upscaling and even frame generation is likely to be exceedingly useful for a game that looks as good as Atomic Heart does. For concrete information on how Atomic Heart runs, we'll need to wait and see, but our recommendation for low-spec gamers is to wait for a comprehensive performance overview, for sure. That poor GTX 960 will not have a good time here.
Goodies & DLCs
Given how prospective and forward-looking Atomic Heart PC has been, it shouldn't come as too big of a surprise that Mundfish already has post-launch content planned for it. "We already have several DLCs planned for the year ahead – places, stories, and experiences that we want to share," said CEO Bagratuni in his recent interview. This has also been reflected in Atomic Heart's official pre-order promos, with references to four future Atomic Heart expansion packs coming down the line.
In fact, there's a slew of extra items included with pre-orders and with Atomic Heart's two special editions. If you're intrigued by the prospect of extra post-launch content, here's what you can expect!
Standard Edition Content of Atomic Heart
- Atomic Heart base game
- Swede weapon skin
- Electro weapon skin
Gold Edition Content of Atomic Heart
- Atomic Heart base game
- Swede weapon skin
- Electro weapon skin
- Glove skin
- 4 separate post-launch DLCs
Premium Edition Content of Atomic Heart
- Atomic Heart base game
- Swede weapon skin
- Electro weapon skin
- Glove skin
- 4 separate post-launch DLCs
- AK weapon skin
- Zvezdochka weapon skin
- Digital Artbook
Naturally, as you opt for more comprehensive editions of Atomic Heart, so too does the price go higher. For some, however, this is bound to be an excellent deal if Atomic Heart ends up delivering on its promises! As for ourselves, we can't wait to see what Mundfish has been working on all these years.
Stay Tuned!
As we promised, this is just the very start of 2Game's Atomic Heart PC coverage. Being huge fans of both Eurojank and immersive sim niches, the idea that we might get the best of both of them rolled up into one surreal, Weird package is amazing. For the time being, we can only wish all the best to Mundfish and to Focus Entertainment in running over the finish line.
With just over a month to go till the launch of Atomic Heart (at the time of writing this article), it certainly looks like we're in for an exciting start to the year!
Get in the Game ! 
