Ok, so this title may be a little bit harsh. You may be wondering in just what terms is Atomic Heart like Duke Nukem. That is exactly what we will be diving into in this article. We will also be looking at the history of crude and adult humor in video games. Additionally, we really have to talk about how timing really can make or break a game sometimes as well.
Atomic Heart really seems to suffer both from ‘too little too late’ syndrome and perhaps not recognizing the modern environment it has been released into. So let’s dive into the history of ill-fated ‘raunchy’ video games. Atomic Heart is modern-day Russian Duke Nukem, for better or worse.
Atomic Heart vs Duke Nukem
It almost sounds preposterous to say it now in the 2020s but Duke Nukem was a revolutionary First Person Shooter in the mid-90s. I believe in saying something positive about most things at least once. With that, without Duke Nukem, we may not have gotten some of the greatest FPS games of the last 20 years. From Bethesda (Fallout and Doom) to Gearbox (Borderlands) and of course Irrational Games (Bioshock), the video game industry heavily took from Duke Nukem 3D (96) which at the time took everything it learned from Doom (93) and Wolfenstein 3D (92) and changed the FPS industry forever.
Then, of course, development for Duke Nukem Forever happened. That’s a whole other can of worms but all we need to know for this observation is that Duke quickly went from the top of the mountain to nowhere in sight as fast as anyone could fall from grace. One thing you can say though is through its raunchy 90s humor and refusal to let that die in its outdated dialogue of Nukem Forever in 2011, its tone-deaf legacy does somewhat still live on.
Now to talk about Atomic Heart. If you know enough about Duke Nukem you might catch on quickly to some similarities. Without spoilers, Atomic Heart is about a simple man who loves his country and takes no flack from nobody. Comrade Major, or P-3, is blunt, foul-mouthed, shoots first, and asks questions never. The game Atomic Heart is full of blood and guts, lots of sexual innuendoes from unlikely places as well as a decent amount of toilet humor and references at what full of ass everything is.
Yup, it seems the creators at Mundfish have a soft spot for 90s FPS games and wanted to bring that into the new era. You can see its DNA everywhere. NO, not like that, keep your head out of the gutter. The clear references and homages to Duke Nukem, Wolfenstein and ironically Bioshock are all over the place.
Related: Is Atomic Heart a Horror Game? Answered
Adult situations and humor in Video Games
It’s hard to say exactly what is good or bad about Atomic Heart. The landscape of what is actually offensive and what isn’t has changed in the last decade to mean different things. More conservative players like the raunchy and vile humor. Back in the 90s, it was the strippers and gore of Duke Nukem and other games that offended such people. Now it’s seen as sexist and not funny, just mean-spirited. Beyond all that these kinds of games with such sensibilities usually always come across in controversy.
Wolfenstien, Bioshock and non-Politics
Let’s talk about Wolfenstein first. Bethesda’s version of the series has always been controversial with its depictions of Nazis as well as a couple of sex scenes under its belt. Atomic Heart does really borrow a lot of its presentation from Wolfenstein. However, instead of Nazis, it is an alternate Soviet Union Utopia. Depending on what version of history you read, many people saw the Soviet Union as “no better” than Nazi German for decades during and after the Cold War.
Accurate politics aside, Atomic Heart puts a focus on beautiful sci-fi and steampunk alternate-history imagery. This is something Bioshock also did a lot. Originally many felt the radical concept of a communist superpower like Atomic Heart presents was going to give a more thought-provoking stance on classism and politics the way Bioshock did. Sadly as the game has been completed by many since its release, that is not the case. Atomic Heart has chosen a rather stagnant point in the society it has created. It really doesn’t comment on politics and philosophy like Bioshock or Wolfenstine does at all.
Raunchy Humor in games
Adult humor, mostly sex oriented, has always been around in video games. Does it ever really work? That’s up for debate. Critically acclaimed games like Grand Theft Auto and Borderlands are full of such jokes and situations. Although many argue they are the least important or appealing part of the games. Then there are games like Saints Row and the South Park RPGs that balance good gameplay and push the limits of crude, raunchy, and somewhat offensive humor. However, these games prove personality and quality of play are very important.
Then you have the most notorious squirrel in the room: Conker and his Bad Fur Day. It’s hard to use Conker’s Bad Fur Day as an argument for lewd and adult humor in games. While it was praised as a satire for its time, almost immediately since, especially in the last decade, the game has retroactively been put down. Like the Mighty Poo itself, the game almost instantly aged badly as soon as its critical acclaim left the collective consciousness of the gaming industry.
So what makes a good adult-oriented game laced with sex and vulgar humor? We may actually never know. While P-3 in Atomic Heart is considered bland and cookie cutter, that may be designed for their slightly twisty sci-fi story, but it doesn’t work for the rude and vulgar lines he delivers. A main character can be everything for a game like Atomic Heart. Mundfish was probably hoping for an Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone… but sadly ended up with a Jean-Claude Van Damme or Steven Seagal.
(Related: Atomic Heart: Fridge Robot Nora has Quite Lewd Dialogue
Atomic Heart Forever?
To call Atomic Heart a bad game is most likely unfair. However, the game clearly missed the mark. There’s no time to go into the controversies that the game garnered. Some are factually untrue, while others are still quite worrying if they are what you worry about. Chances are Mundfish could have fixed or tweaked the game better with a bit more time. However, the game was already nearing 6 years of development from its 2017 announcement. With the Duke Nukem comparison, that is almost half the time of the 15 years it took for Nukem Forever.
There is a possibility that Mundfish started to worry about becoming the next Duke Nukem Forever if they didn’t get the game out sooner than later. Sadly, they might have been too little too late. A game like Atomic Heart might have done better as it is now if it came out in 2019 perse. In 2023, the pandemic, Russia’s latest problematic assaults, and the constant pushback on what constitutes as “humor” today have all been a detriment to a game that has been released in a world that looks very different now than likely when the script for the game was finished probably before 2020.
For more on the controversies of Atomic Heart please read Atomic Heart: Russia Controversy Explained. Be sure to subscribe to our Facebook Page for more featured articles, reviews, updates, and news about your favorite video games.
