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Image Via Mundfish

What Does “Crispy Critters” Mean in Atomic Heart? Explained

"Crispy Critters", "Crispy Critters", "Crispy Critters", "Crispy Critters"

What does “Crispy Critters” mean in Atomic Heart? I’m not sure why you would even want to know. With how much P-3 repeats the phrase (or some variation of it) throughout Atomic Heart, I would think that everyone and their mother would be sick to death of it. Maybe you’re masochistic curiosity is getting the better of you, though.

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In that case, I’m going to go over what “Crispy Critters” means in Atomic Heart. I’ll run through some possibilities and theories, but be warned – you may be unsatisfied with the answer.

Atomic Heart – What Does “Crispy Critters” Mean?

What Does "Crispy Critters" Mean in Atomic Heart? - combat screenshot.
Image via Mundfish

No one is quite sure what P-3’s obsession with “crispy critters” actually is. The protagonist’s over-reliance on the phase in high moments of tension, like combat, suggests that it’s meant to replace swearing in some capacity. This wouldn’t be the first time a censorship tactic like this has been employed, but with Atmoic Heart already having a Mature rating, there’s no real need to censor curses – especially with the amount of gratuitous violence on display.

Related: How to Use Flawless Widescreen to Increase FOV in Atomic Heart

Youtuber Mon Facts has put forward another possible theory. He suggests that the phrase may be related to the Crispy Critters breakfast cereal. However, this cereal was created in 1963, several years after the event of Atomic Heart takes place.

One other possibility was that the term had some cultural significance in Russian that is lost in the English translation. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case either.

More than likely, what “Crispy Critters” means in Atomic Heart is, well, nothing. The fact that the phrase references the name of a cereal brand seems to be pure coincidence – as there’s nothing else connecting the cereal to P-3, or Atomic Heart in general beyond that.

You may not have wanted to hear that your suffering has all been meaningless – but that’s the way the crispy critters fall.


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