Chris InglisMundfish has finally brought its retro-futuristic Soviet saga story to a close with Atomic Heart – Blood on Crystal, the fourth and final DLC. Serving as a bridge to seal the events of the Facility and P-3 and CHAR-les storylines, while laying the path for the upcoming Atomic Heart 2 and The CUBE, this DLC is both a visual feast and a chaotic farewell.
If you survived the colourful candy-land physics and platforming events of the Trapped in Limbo DLC, you will be relieved to know that Mundfish pivots right back into the style of the base game. Blood on Crystal abandons abstract dreamscapes and lands face-first back into heavy industrial lore, grand architecture, and high stakes elemental combat.
Picking up straight from the dramatic cliffhangers of the preceding story arcs, Blood on Crystal sends Agent P-3, the Twin, Granny Zina, and their remaining crew deep into the most classified sectors of Facility 3826. The journey takes you across the semi-open expanses of the Wave Platform and deep into the dark underbelly of the top-secret Crystal Complex. Your directive is clear, to stop CHAR-les’ apocalyptic plans for humanity’s extermination.
For lore enthusiasts who love diving into hidden terminals and piecing together the political intrigue of an alternate 1955, Mundfish has packed this map with details. Every office and lab captures the heavy, distinct soul of a Soviet workday cut short. However, the sheer volume of dialogue delivery regularly forces you to either stop walking completely or stand idle in an empty room just to listen to a long dialogue cycle to finish before triggering the next combat area
The biggest mechanical update in the Atomic Heart – Blood on Crystal DLC comes via the polymorphs which are bizarre, bio-mechanical creations birthed from CHAR-les’ rogue polymer experiments. These entities alter their elemental state on the fly, forcing you to think rapidly. To aid you, the DLC introduces the Chance modules, an on-the-fly power-swapping mechanic allowing you to toggle your glove abilities across fire, ice, and telekinesis mid-battle inside the complex.
Visually, Mundfish proves once again that its art direction is top tier once the initial shaders have been cached. The clean, clinical, yet horrific aesthetics of the hidden crystal labs are mesmerising. The respectable campaign length clocks in around 7 to 10 hours of white-knuckle boss fights with shapeshifting, elemental Polymorph enemies.
Overall, Atomic Heart – Blood on Crystal delivers a substantial, hard-hitting, and definitive conclusion to this alternate-history sci-fi chapter. Its respectable length story campaign cleanly wraps up hanging narrative threads while setting a great foundation for the sequel. While the dialogue pacing slows the action, the boss fights and pristine aesthetic make it an essential play for fans who have stuck through P-3’s journey from the beginning.
This review utilised a Steam key provided by the developers and Atomic Heart – Blood on Crystal is out now on Steam, Xbox and PlayStation.
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Daniel Agius
