Atomic Heartmight look like a first-person shooter game at a glance, but the action-packed adventure is quite deeper than it seems.
Atomic Heart’s first pitfall is the tutorial. Whatever hard time you’re having while learning how to use the scanner, know that it is not a problem.
You’d be forgiven for getting stumped right at the start of this first-person shooter, out now for PlayStation, Xbox, and Windows PC.
HOW TO USE THE SCANNER IN THE ATOMIC HEART TUTORIAL
To use the scanner inAtomic Heart, you simplydouble-tap R1 on PlayStation (or RB on Xbox), then keep holding R1 / RB after the second press.
The written directions (“Hold R1 + R1” on PlayStation) read like the sort of tip where you’re supposed to press two different buttons, and the NPC — who exists solely to justify the tutorial within the game’s tenuous fiction — tells you something to effect of “holding both of your hands up.”
Given the general feeling of issues ofAtomic Heart, no one would blame you for assuming the text instruction is in error, or for repeatedly trying to hold down L1 and R1 at the same time instead — one shoulder button for each hand.
HOW TO FIND ITEMS WITH ATOMIC HEART’S SCANNER
Atomic Heart’s scanner works a lot like most scanners work from most games: It helps you analyze your surroundings. When scanning, objects will show up highlighted in overlays of various colors, which the game does not explain. Here is the what each color means:
- Blueindicates chests, drawers, and other containers that have resources you can loot.
- Orange is for enemies. If you hold the scanner over a specific enemy, you’ll be able to see a list of their resistances and weaknesses, plus a rundown of the loot they’ll drop when defeated. Note that using the scanner doesn’t pause time entirely; you’re still susceptible to attacks.
- Whiteshows objects you can interact with — save stations, elevator call buttons, that sort of thing.
- Purpleindicates story-essential items. For the most part,Atomic Heartis pretty generous with its waypoints, but in some rare cases, you have to do the work yourself. For instance, during the “Made in the USSR” mission, you have to find the “voice, the symbol, and the sprout of the Motherland.” Activating the scanner will highlight the three items — a radio, a hammer, and a plant — you need to progress. They’re all in the same room.
While playing Atomic Hearts game, You’ll spend a lot of time collecting resources throughout your adventure to upgrade weapons, craft much-needed healing items, and even invest in skill trees that will grant you a variety of new abilities and enhance the ones you already have.
Here are the best skills to buy first in Atomic Hearts to make Playing easy
Wild Boar
Wild Boar can be found in the Character skill tree. It increases your total health by a good amount. This won’t make a significant difference to how much damage you can take, but it might just be enough extra health to save you from a bad situation.Atomic Heartcan be a pretty challenging game unless you bump it down to the easiest setting, so it’s always better to be safe than sorry.
Morning Exercise
Morning Exercise can be found in the Character skill tree. Atomic Heart does not provide a sprint speed- the speed is basically the same irrespective of the situation in the game.
As such, investing in Morning Exercise can help in how quickly you can move around levels. Having that extra movement speed is especially helpful when you find yourself surrounded and need to reposition, which may happen more often than you’d think –Atomic Heartloves to throw relentless packs of enemies at you frequently.
Neuro-Compression Tactical Backpack (x2)
There are two Neuro-Compression Tactical Backpack skills in the Character skill tree. It is best to pick them both up as soon as you can, as inventory management can play a major part in your success inAtomic Heart– even more so at higher levels. Since all the healing and energy restoration items are held here together with any weapons you’re carrying at the time, your inventory can get full quickly without these upgrades. Even with the upgrades, though, you’ll still need to be mindful of whether what you’re currently holding is really valuable or not.
Power Amplifier
Power Amplifier can be found in the Shok skill tree., and the Shok ability can be gotten very early in the game. Getting this upgrade can help you deal with aggressive robots by allowing you to push them back a bit, giving you some extra chance to breathe and reposition when needed.
The Power Amplifier is also needed for general crowd control, so make sure to push away enemies you’re not otherwise actively attacking so that you can focus on your target better.
Resistor Malfunction
Resistor Malfunction is also found in the Shok skill tree. This skill is immensely useful in the early hours of the game when your weapons are weaker and your ammo reserves are low, as it increases the damage enemies take when they’re electrified.
This is useful against higher-health enemies, but it’s worth having in general, as you should be using Shok as often as you can anyways. Getting this skill is also needed to access an important one right after – the Neuro-Polymer Accelerator – which reduces your Shok cooldown, so you can’t go wrong buying this up as soon as possible.
