{"id":32808,"date":"2023-08-11T02:03:47","date_gmt":"2023-08-11T01:03:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.xtremeservers.com\/blog\/atomic-heart-annihilation-instinct-review\/"},"modified":"2023-08-11T02:03:47","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T01:03:47","slug":"atomic-heart-annihilation-instinct-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xtremeservers.com\/blog\/atomic-heart-annihilation-instinct-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Atomic Heart: Annihilation Instinct Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Making one of Atomic Heart\u2019s quirkiest side characters the star of its first dose of DLC is a clever touch. Few moments in the main game were more memorable than those spent with NORA, the sex-mad Soviet AI running riot within the lewd and lustful upgrade machines dotted throughout Facility 3826. Annihilation Instinct\u2019s story picks up after the weaker of the main game\u2019s two anticlimactic endings and pits us against NORA, who\u2019s gone completely rogue. Unfortunately, unlike the main campaign itself, the gauntlet you run in Annihilation Instinct is a largely linear and fairly forgettable few hours, with a stripped-back suite of weapons and power-ups giving it less of an opportunity to distinguish itself. <\/p>\n

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The added context Annihilation Instinct eventually provides about why NORA has consistently had the hots for our main man P-3 in the first place feels inessential, but it fits firmly within the fiction. What\u2019s less elegant is the fact that, since Atomic Heart has two entirely different endings, Annihilation Instinct can only pick up from one of them and \u2013 at least for a while \u2013 it didn\u2019t seem entirely clear which one that was. If you\u2019ve only finished Atomic Heart once (and battled all the way to Sechenov\u2019s office in the process) you\u2019re probably going to be thoroughly confused at the outset. <\/p>\n

It also creates a weird kink in the storytelling where we know more about certain characters than P-3 does himself in this timeline, thanks to a pivotal encounter that appears now to have never occurred. I will admit, there were also times where Annihilation Instinct leans a bit too heavily into its techno-babble, to the point where I found myself simply nodding along politely. It\u2019s a little like trying to explain nuclear fission to your dog.<\/p>\n

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All of this takes place in Mendeleev Complex, an entirely new location which is under the iron grip of the naughty NORA, and once again there\u2019s admittedly little to fault in Annihilation Instinct\u2019s visual design. It features a terrific set of environments that are easily on-par with the atompunk-inspired labs and facilities of the original, and the retro-futuristic aircraft hangar is particularly strong \u2013 even though it\u2019s not actually somewhere you need to linger long. However, while it includes some open space above ground, Annihilation Instinct otherwise funnels us through a linear set of encounters that don\u2019t give us a great deal of scope to explore its interesting world.<\/p>\n

The new robot types are well designed\u2013 but there are only two of them.<\/section>\n

The new robot types are well designed \u2013 not surprising, following the strength of the enemy designs in Atomic Heart \u2013 but there are only two of them. The new humanoid robots \u2013 which are characterised by a more crash test dummy appearance than the sleek, moustachioed attack bots we were carving up back in February \u2013 creepily tiptoe towards us like deadly dolls. They also toss their limbs like boomerangs, which is a neat idea cheapened by the fact that this attack could be effective through walls.<\/p>\n

The others are BEA-Ds, which are basically inflatable gym ball-sized bots that can combine to form more powerful foes. There are two scripted boss fights against a few-dozen BEA-Ds that have formed what essentially looks like a giant, weaponised Mr. DNA from Jurassic Park. It is, however, just the same boss fight twice, so the second time around it\u2019s a lukewarm and repetitive way to close out the chapter.<\/p>\n