Atomic Heart Video Walkthrough

[Frag Maniac]

---THERE ARE MILD SPOILERS IN THE TEXT---

Well, after getting this game and 4 others on EA Play and Steam holiday sales, I decided to start them over from the beginning vs trying to use the Game Pass saves, which I doubt would have carried over anyway. I'm focusing first on Atomic Heart since I know it fairly well now, but I got in a long session of The Callisto Protocol last night and it's quite good too.

No HDR here or RT for that matter, maybe eventually Mundfish will get around to that. I HAVE timestamped the main objectives though, since this single video covers the Prologue and the entire Vavilov Complex, which is the main starting location of the game. I also timestamped it because I know full well many if not most don't have time to sit through a 2 hr 48 min video non stop.

The objectives vary here from your boss Dr Sechenov tasking you to find Viktor Petrov, the man responsible for sabotaging all the bots, to finding a way out of the complex, which involves finding and filling specific types of polymer containers, while fighting off various types of bots and plant based creatures. There are puzzles of course along the way, but nothing as elaborate as the testing grounds to come.

The last segment, where you escape and place the final canisters after retrieving the last one, was a real treat for me. It's not only got some of the most challenging combat, it features the late great opera singer Evgeniya Miroshnichenko. She sings Queen of the Night. This song is referred to as an aria, or "an accompanied, elaborate melody sung by a single voice", but once you hear her sing it, there's no need to know the definition, as she embodies it.

Evgeniya was a goddess of opera from Ukraine, and loved the world over. She is the perfect voice to end this segment of the game with.

Prologue - Vavilov Complex - Timestamped

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[Frag Maniac]

---ONCE AGAIN, MILD SPOILERS IN THE TEXT---

This picks up where I left off at the Vavilov Complex and ends just after entering the VDNH building. It involves finding a way out of the small village you wind up in after exiting the Vavilov Complex, taking a train to the area the VDNH is at, a side diversion at Testing Ground 1, finding a way into the outer park of the VDNH, the fight with the HOG-7 ("Hedgie"), then finding a way into the VDNH building.

This is all done in one video again, but it's less than half the length of the last one at roughly 1 hr 16 min. I've also timestamped it again to provide reference, as well as stopping/returning points for anyone that wishes to view it in chunks.

It's a whole different scenario once outdoors, as you must be careful not to be spotted by too many bots, or especially cameras spotting you destroying them. That will bring higher level alerts and reinforcements.

I have found sticking to perimeters and taking on one bot at a time out of sight of others works well. You can fairly easily destroy a lot of bots driving the car as well, but the physics sometimes yields strange distortions of the bots that resemble artifacts.

Getting into Testing Grounds requires accessing a camera terminal. These terminals can be found in tall towers called Volans, on shorter round pedestal platforms with spiral staircases leading up them, or even on roofs of buildings.

The cameras can also land or reboot Hawks via their terminals, which are sort of robot monitoring devices higher in the sky. On first play through, it's much more intimidating avoiding bots while discovering where you have to go and what terminal to use to unlock what.

The first testing ground shown here is pretty simple and easy. Later on some involve very tough fights. For this segment though the HOG-7 is the toughest combat. Sometimes, like here, he keeps going a long time before he pops his panels to shed heat, at least that's what I THINK he's doing.

There are many outdoor areas that look MUCH more color desaturated vs indoors, so I used some color filtering during compression to boost it up a bit.

0:00 Find an exit from the village
7:20 Locate the Volan
10:58 Reach Granny Zina's place
20:19 Open village gates with Volan
22:04 Get to Lesnaya Station
25:39 Get to the train platform
28:25 Find a train ticket
35:14 Board the train
41:32 Reach the Exhibition
42:54 Locating Testing Ground 1
45:54 Unlocking Testing Ground 1
46:34 Entering Testing Ground 1
58:32 Exiting Testing Ground 1
1:02:40 Enter the Exhibition's Park area
1:03:44 Order the Hawk to land via it's terminal
1:06:29 Grab hold of the Hawk
1:06:45 Use the Hawk's cable to enter the park
1:07:55 HOG-7 ("Hedgie") boss fight
1:15:13 Enter the facility