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Despite its rocky reception,Atomic Hearthas gained a lot of that ground back since its launch, and with creative and odd DLC after DLC it only provided more reasons to check out its unique Alternate History setting. Especially if you enjoy watching big DieselPunk machines in a cold and stereotypically paranoid Communist Russia setting.
There’s a lot of attention paid to detail in the world-building once you go looking for it and overall it’s doing its own thing visually and there’s a lot of creativity put into this particularly alternate era. But how did we get here? Well to answer that, here’s an in-depth look at the past, present, and future of the entire Alternate History timeline in Atomic Heart.
When Is Atomic Heart Set?
Atomic Heart is set in1955 during afictional futuristic Soviet Union era Russiaat a location in Eastern Europe known as Facility 3826. It’s peak Communist Russia time and hidden just under the shiny surface of every automaton and marvel of modern man is athick layer of propaganda and paranoia.
We play asP-3, a military investigator sent into the site to investigate what’s going on after reports surface ofbots going wild and abhorrent mutants murdering staff. It’s all linked back to cruel and inhuman experiments and the discovery of aworld-changing material that appeared around 20 years agobefore the start of the game.
Warning: Spoilers For Atomic Heart Below
Why Is Atomic Heart In An Alternate Universe?
First and foremost, the reason that Atomic Heart is set in an alternate universe, aside from the fact that it allows for some fun fictional story-telling, is that in1936 a strange material was created.
It was known asPolymer-aand it was found byProfessor Dmitry Sergeyevich Schenovwhilst he was trying to create fluid-based information carriers using Heavy Water and Silicon.
What made Polymer-a so special is that it allowed Sechenov to create asmall and compact Cold Fusion Reactorjust three years later in 1939, the first of its kind. With such a huge and risk-free ability to create massive amounts of power without waste,the world of robotics thrived.
Facility 3826 would come into being just two short years later in 1941. Allowing for furtherPolymer and Advanced Robotics researchto go into full swing.
By 1948, the Soviet Union was leading the world in Robotics, especially afterwinning World War 2with their superior technology. In this timeline,Russia was the powerhouse of the planet.
At the height of the conflict,the Nazis were routedbut as their Reich burned, they releasedthe Brown Plague. This was avirus that spread around the globeand absolutely decimated vast swathes of the global population after the war.Millions were dead, but Russia came to the rescue with their robotics.
Devasted countries gladly welcomed the introduction of Russian droids in their cities to help supplement their workforce andimprove medical and industrial sectorsthroughout the globe. The Russian robots also providedaid and reconstruction during natural disastersand in general everyone seemed to be benefitting in this golden new era of science.
If you haven’t picked up on the sinister notes yet, thecomplete global saturation of Russian bots all connected through a global wireless networkwas a long betrayal in the making.
The Polymer Neural Net
When 1950 rolls around things take a slightly darker turn. Professor Sechenov discovers that Polymer-a is more adaptive than he realizes and through a process known asPolymer Assimilative Adaptation, he is able to connect the Polymer and technology with humans.
The goal of this was to allow a user to interface with a special device in their body that would allow them tomentally control robotswhilst also granting the ability toretain and study vast amounts of informationsimultaneously. It was considered a breakthrough, but this is where things started to go wrong.
Wearers of this Polymer-a device would connect to a network known as “Kollektiv”. Essentially thewireless networkthat the bots used to communicate with each other.
It would take a further four years before the device would be finalized and after numerous tests, it was given the name“Thought”. By 1955, the Polymer-based device is set to berolled out to the populace worldwideusing the new network“Kollektive 2.0”.
That’s where the events of the game kick-off.
It’s revealed through the events of the game that Kollektive 2.0 was going to be used tobrainwash every connected person in the world. Giving whoever held the keys to the networkabsolute global control.
What Is Polymer-A?
Polymer-a is a fictional artificial material created through thecombination ofHeavy Water and Silicon. It’s a complex process that involvesforming a molecular skeleton through chemical synthisationand then using that foundation to produceartificial neuronssimilar to those found in human brains.
Basically, they couldprogram the goop to do whatever they want.
The most common Polymer seen in Atomic Heart isRed Polymeror Neropolymer. It can form connections to neighboring structures and generally reproduce basic physical processes for an array of functions in the Facility.
In its natural form,the Polymer is a clear liquid-like substancethat can take unnatural and strange shapes if not contained in a secure device or location.
There are also different forms of Polymer seen throughout the game such as theBio-Polymerwhich is used to make artificial muscles and was prolifically used to makebionic polymer creaturesin brutal experiments.
Then there’s theLumino-Polymer, the Heat-Resistant Polymer, Cryo-Polymer, and Pesticide Polymerwhich are all unique blends and uses of the bizarre material. The Polymer can also be used tostore the memories and consciousness of an individual, something its creator Sechenov used to his benefit by assassinating his rivals then either implating them into slave form robots orusing their knowledge for his own benefit.
In the story of Atomic Heart, it’s revealed that the whole plan was touse the Polymer and the robots as a weaponagainst humanityfrom the beginning.
However, it didn’t quite go as smoothly as Sechenov intended as we find out the droids didn’t go crazy on their own, they hadcombat modes built into them by defaultand all it took was activating a command. The robots were all supposed to beplanted in other countries first, especially America, withnone in Russiafor obvious reasons, and then chaos would unfold if the Polymer plan failed.
Unfortunately, anex-employee of the facility known as Zakhirovwould activate the bots whilst they were still in Russia after he discovered Sechenovs plans.
The goal was to saturate them around the world andseize it either through mind control or by forcewith hyper-advanced robots that were running amok. There are also hints that Zakhirov, in hisnew Polymer form, was going to use it to eitherabsorb or forcefully evolve the rest of humanity.
Either way, the entire facility was built by Sechenov over the years tocreate his own doomsday weapon.
