The 12 months is 1936. Dmitry Sergeevich Sechenov, a professor on the Soviet Academy of Medical Sciences, has created a singular digital storage system. Little does he know that his invention is step one in a collection of occasions that may lead to a robotic bloodbath.
The 12 months is 1950. Sechenov’s innovations have ushered in an age of technological prosperity for the Soviet Union. His laboratory, generally known as Facility 3826, is tough at work on a tool that may hyperlink people and robots. Thought management over machines is simply years away.
The 12 months is 1955. Robots have turned in opposition to their creators. Blood covers the flooring and partitions of Facility 3826. Atomic Coronary heart begins.
Robotic Revolution
Developer Mundfish has crafted a whole alternate historical past for Atomic Coronary heart. And, for this month’s IGN First, the sport’s artistic staff has revealed the timeline of occasions that immediately result in the robot-smashing motion of this intense first-person shooter.
In Mundfish’s twisted previous, the invention of a miracle substance generally known as Polymer permits the Soviet Union to chart a considerably extra technologically superior path by way of the primary half of the 20th century. As you’d count on of the Soviets within the Nineteen Fifties, Professor Sechenov and the scientists of Facility 3826 had their eyes very a lot on the celebrities, however they have been concerned in one thing a lot grander than the Area Race. These alt-history Russians have been set on conquering different planets. As such, the laboratories of Facility 3826 studied all method of disciplines, from interstellar engineering to medication, genetics, and even botany.
However Sechenov’s true expertise was in robotics. His storage system paved the best way for the creation of transportable chilly fusion reactors, which in flip unlocked the rise of robotic assistants. By the mid-Nineteen Forties automatons have been commonplace, and carried out very important duties in rebuilding the nation after the devastation of the Second World Battle. In 1948, Sechenov created the Kollektiv Neural Community, a system that allowed human operators to command robots with improved effectivity. Simply two years later, he started to design a 2.0 model of the system that may hyperlink a human thoughts with a robotic’s working system through a Polymer implant. This method, which might ultimately be generally known as THOUGHT, would show to be Sechenov’s biggest mistake.
The dream was that THOUGHT would advance humanity in leaps and bounds. They may join with machines and immediately study new languages and devices. Folks might turn out to be quantum physicists in a single day. However a catastrophic system failure within the Kollektiv community – the very community Sechenov needed people to plug into – prompted all linked robots to show in opposition to their creators. It’s following this catastrophe that Atomic Coronary heart’s protagonist enters the story: veteran soldier Main Sergey Nechaev.
College Failure
Nechaev, higher generally known as P-3, is Professor Sechenov’s private agent, and has been known as upon to seek out and eradicate the reason for the system failure. Proper now the catastrophe is confined to the halls and laboratories of Facility 3826, which itself is positioned within the Kazakhstan mountains, removed from common society. It’s P-3’s job to include the catastrophe and stop it from spreading additional. Fortunately his physique is augmented with a severe quantity of tech; a steel skeleton makes him nearly as hardy as his droid opponents, and quite a lot of Polymer fight implants improve his lethal expertise. If you happen to’ve seen any gameplay from Atomic Coronary heart, you’ll know that enjoying as P-3 seems to be like an absolute violent riot.
You will have to navigate the politics and philosophies of Facility 3826’s higher administration to seek out the hidden reality behind the catastrophe.
Agent P-3’s quest will see him exploring the various completely different complexes that make up Facility 3826. Whereas Atomic Coronary heart takes place in simply this single location, its a number of districts are visually distinct and designed to inform the Facility’s many tales. The Chelomey complicated, as an example, is made up of futuristic structure that displays the wants of its analysis staff, and stands in stark distinction to the small rural villages that encompass the Facility. Mundfish additionally guarantees selection in areas relying on their function; the Theater complicated, constructed to be used by not simply scientists however native civilians, supplies a really completely different space to discover than the robotic engineering labs that lie underground.
In your journey you’ll additionally come throughout varied monuments and memorials, paying testomony in grand vogue to previous breakthroughs and misplaced geniuses. Mundfish notes that there’s an air of a utopian future, notably within the extra open areas and the doorway to Facility 3826. However the developer guarantees that the deeper into the complexes you discover, the extra sinister issues turn out to be.
High Brass
The machines stands out as the most quick supply of hazard, however P-3 might want to navigate the politics and philosophies of Facility 3826’s higher administration if he’s to seek out the hidden reality behind the catastrophe. Proper on the prime of the hierarchy is, in fact, Professor Sechenov himself. A person with a utopian perspective, he hopes to unite humanity and pave a path to the celebrities along with his staff’s discoveries. He’s defended by two distinctive bodyguard robots generally known as The Twins; elegant mechanical ballerinas geared up with the most recent lethal expertise.
Sechenov surrounded himself with equally gifted scientists. As Atomic Coronary heart’s story progresses, you’ll meet Larisa Filatova, a neurosurgeon and former assistant to Sechenov. Filatova has humanist philosophies, and Mundfish guarantees she holds some fascinating private motives concerning the Kollektiv system failure. We’ll additionally come into contact with Sechenov’s second in command, deputy director Michael Stockhausen. A gifted German physician recognized for his crafty and phenomenal reminiscence, he shortly rose by way of the ranks of the ability because of his administrative expertise.
Mundfish says that the net of connections to the Kollektiv system failure runs deep, with representatives of not solely the Facility being concerned, but additionally the USSR itself. P-3 is in over his head in a scenario that appears to vow as a lot narrative intrigue because it does difficult shootouts.
For extra from Atomic Coronary heart, try our IGN First boss combat gameplay, in addition to the discharge date trailer. And stick to us, as we now have extra Atomic Coronary heart information and movies all month.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK Information and Options Editor.
