Crispy critters, Atomic Coronary heart is formally a franchise. Formally introduced at Summer season Recreation Fest 2025 (alongside the tie-in MMO The Dice), Atomic Coronary heart 2 portrays a brand new and improved Facility 3826 — a Soviet-Silicon Valley surrounded by flying cities and inhabited by scientists who, for some purpose, are… sending whales to the moon?
Desirous to make sense of all this, I spoke through video name with Robert Bagratuni, CEO of Mundfish, the studio behind Atomic Coronary heart 2. We have been accompanied by director of communications Christina Omelchenko, who translated between Russian and English.
On critters staying crispy…
Picture: Mundfish
After finishing Atomic Coronary heart in February 2023, a couple of weeks after its launch, I largely left the absurdist sci-fi journey behind me. You realize what I didn’t depart behind? “Crispy critters.”
Protagonist P-3’s iconic catchphrase imbued itself in my reminiscence, which, in a sport world full of actually bonkers oddities vying for consideration, is saying one thing. Amongst Atomic Coronary heart gamers, opinions on “crispy critters!” have been divided, starting from annoyance to amusement.
“Nevertheless loopy or silly it might sound, or unexpectedly fashionable or annoying it might be, it turned part of the character’s identification and a part of the entire Atomic Coronary heart vibe,” Bagratuni stated. “So sure, let it keep.”
Talking of definitive Atomic Coronary heart facets making a return for the sequel, Bagratuni additionally confirmed the presence of the Ballerina Twins, the metallic female robots who precipitated fairly a stir within the authentic Atomic Coronary heart. On the time, a number of opinions criticized their overly-sexual options. The Gamer’s Issy van der Velde described scenes with the Ballerina Twins as “male gaze-y pictures,” and Stacey Henley identified that whereas the male robots have normal our bodies and faces, “The feminine robots nonetheless are faceless and include cartoonish proportions on their hips and busts.” Take a fast take a look at Reddit and Steam posts from the period regarding Atomic Coronary heart, and also you’ll discover gamers questioning the diploma of sexualization and stating that they don’t really feel snug taking part in the sport due to it.
As for what their position entails in Atomic Coronary heart 2, and whether or not they’ll be joined by different foremost characters, Bagratuni can’t but say; they nonetheless have an element to play in Atomic Coronary heart’s upcoming DLC — the fourth and remaining enlargement. “Whoever is alive after that one will take a job in Atomic Coronary heart 2,” Bagratuni defined.
Regardless of the divisiveness across the Ballerina Twins, although, scrapping them from Atomic Coronary heart 2 was by no means a consideration.
“We’re going to remain true to ourselves and the unique aesthetics of the sport. We simply find it irresistible when issues look stunning, and also you’re actually having fun with what you see. So we’re undoubtedly not altering that half,” Bagratuni stated.
Similar to its predecessor, Atomic Coronary heart 2 builds on an alternate-history Soviet setting with a wholesome dose of surreal monsters and machines. In Atomic Coronary heart fiction, because of the discovery of the “Polymer” module in 1936, the Soviet Union skilled immense technological developments, which explains the presence of robots, flying cities, and… Is {that a} whale? On the moon?
Bagratuni confirmed that the opening scene within the announcement trailer reveals a “whale transportation system” to a lunar station. It exemplifies the principle theme of Atomic Coronary heart 2: for humanity to evolve to the following degree and, hopefully, attain the celebs.
“Within the sci-fi of the ‘60s, there was a quite common theme of human evolution and the ambition to transcend the bounds,” Bagratuni stated. “The Atomic Coronary heart 2 story is definitely the start of this motion. There will certainly be lots of drama, and we’re not going to spoil that, however sure, it’s the start of the transformation of individuals; to go away the Earth and transfer to the celebs.”
However make no mistake; the story of Atomic Coronary heart 2 nonetheless takes place in Facility 3826, the large analysis middle gamers got here to know within the first sport. Nevertheless, it should increase into a bigger area often known as epicgamejourney Science. (No relation to the web site on which you’re studying this text.)
“The entire massive space [around Facility 3826] is named epicgamejourney Science, which is devoted to deep science exploration. Because it was within the Nineteen Sixties, the principle function is the exploration of the closest planets,” Bagratui defined. “Like Mars and Venus.”
Picture: Mundfish
Nevertheless it’s not simply Facility 3826 that’s increasing; in the event you look carefully on the trailer, you could spot a mysterious “flying metropolis” within the sky.
“These flying cities, they characterize completely different cultures, completely different international locations that get engaged within the occasions of Atomic Coronary heart 2. The flying cities are capitalistic, and they’re principally floating above the territory of the ability,” Bagratuni stated. “They’re drawn to the ability. There can be sure occasions within the Atomic Coronary heart universe that seize the curiosity of scientists from all around the world, and this facility turns into the middle of gravity for the entire science neighborhood from completely different international locations and cultures.”
“They’re all coming collectively to discover the scientific occasions which can be occurring on the earth. The premise stays inside this retro-futuristic world of Atomic Coronary heart, this dystopian Soviet Union, but it surely type of turns into a Silicon Valley.”
The extravagantly futuristic sci-fi world is what fascinated me most in regards to the authentic Atomic Coronary heart, however this fascination dwindled when the stunning canal cruise, creepy moustachioed robotic assault, and surprising granny encounter have been adopted by a seemingly unending run by means of a dreary underground laboratory. Probably the most attention-grabbing areas supplied the fewest alternatives for exploration.
Fortunately, extra exploration choices are precisely what we’ll get in Atomic Coronary heart 2.
“There was lots of suggestions that we acquired from the gamers. For instance, town of Chelomey was very stunning and folks wished to discover it extra,” Bagratuni says. “So we need to give gamers extra alternative for exploration and actually take their time to find town and the ability.”
Bagratuni reveals one of many accessible areas in Atomic Coronary heart 2. See that vast flaming sphere about midway by means of the announcement trailer? “It’s an anomaly,” Bagratuni explains, “You’ll go in there to discover.”
Picture: Mundfish
Following the February 2023 launch of Atomic Coronary heart, the Russian invasion of Ukraine triggered widespread requires boycotts, together with of Atomic Coronary heart. As Vice reported, the principle causes behind the boycott of Atomic Coronary heart have been resulting from Mundfish’s alleged ties to Russian traders, along with supposed pro-Russian propaganda within the sport.
How a lot reality there may be to those allegations stays a degree of competition. As epicgamejourney’s Oli Welsh reported, Mundfish relocated its headquarters from Moscow to Cyprus following the invasion. “The developer’s web site is eager to current it as a global operation,” he wrote on the time. Mundfish responded to the boycott with an announcement saying it was “undeniably a pro-peace group towards violence towards folks.”
For the reason that real-world occasion that sparked the boycott continues to be ongoing, I requested if Bagratuni is fearful about new requires a boycott as we get nearer to the discharge of Atomic Coronary heart 2.
“We undoubtedly can not predict what’s going to occur by the point Atomic Coronary heart 2 releases, how world occasions are going to alter, and what’s going to be the temper of people that might need to ask for a boycott. We can’t be answerable for that,” Bagratuni defined. “We had an announcement and it stays the identical, so nothing actually modified, and it was up on our social media all over the place. Our stance didn’t change, and truthfully, we simply need to make video games. That’s the reason we’re right here.”
