Mundfish sure took its sweet time with Atomic Heart. We’re definitely not complaining that it took them three years to figure out how to end the main story. In those three years we witnessed split timelines, weird platforming detours, and mechanical overcorrections. It’s no secret how much we love this game and how giddy with excitement we were when Blood on Crystal got out. This DLC is their final answer.
So, grab your drink and be prepared to jump into the fray for one last time. It was truly fun to go into this world one more time, this time to go straight into the heart of Facility 3826. That rogue AI CHAR-les isn’t going to rip itself. This final DLC can be loud and, as you’ll read bellow, a tad exhausting experience. But it’s also exactly what this franchise needed to do before closing the book.
The Depth of the Crystal
On-the-Fly Swapping: Using CHANCE modules to instantly cycle through polymer glove abilities. This can be done in the middle of a hectic firefight.
Elemental Counters: Reading the shifting states of Polymorph enemies and matching them with the correct elemental weakness.
Boss Rushes: Surviving massive, multi-stage arena battles against the heaviest robotic hardware CHAR-les has to offer.
The Elemental Meat Grinder
The first thing that blew us away was the relentlesness of the pacing.
A lot of our time was spend fighting Polymorphs. These are a brand new enemy type that actively shifts elemental states mid-fight. It’s cool to shoot a mutant made of pure fire, and three seconds later to see it harden into a block of aggressive ice.
To counter this, the developers finally gave us the CHANCE modules. This allows to basically hot-swap your polymer Glove abilities on the fly. It is a frantic and panic inducing experience. Cycling from telekinesis to a fire blast while dodging a furious, shape-shifting mutant will make your blood rush.
It takes a while to get used to it, but once you do, it’s absolutely fantastic. The only thing we hated were those moments when we missmanaged our cooldowns or picked the wrong elemental counter. In those situations, the game brutally punished us. Be careful of those. You die fast.
Landing the Plane
As we’ve seen with our previous coverage, Mundfish experimented wildly with the first three expansions. Now, they are trying to tie off P-3’s chaotic story to pave the way for a direct sequel and a bizarre MMO spin-off. We like how they decided to land this plane.
By throwing P-3, Granny Zina, and the Ballerina Twin into one massive final assault, it seems like they finally stopped fighting their own design strengths and let the guns do the talking.
This final DLC officially paves the way for Atomic Heart 2, which Mundfish has confirmed will take the fight against the rogue machines beyond the borders of the Soviet Union.
To coincide with the launch of Blood on Crystal, Mundfish released Volume 6 of the game’s official soundtrack, packed with high-energy rock versions of classic Soviet tracks.
The DLC also acts as a narrative bridge for an upcoming MMO-shooter spin-off currently in development under the codename The CUBE.
The series’ strongest pillar
Mundfish bows out of Facility 3826 with a satisfying climax. It ditches the bloat and focuses entirely on the chaotic and unforgiving combat. The plot feels a bit convoluted but we did appreciate the returning characters. Also, it would be a crime not to mention that Mick Gordon’s heavy synth-metal makes a triumphant final stand. The soviet pop song’s remain the pinacle of the game. It’s a great finale and we can’t wait for the sequel.
- Overall Score (8/10)
ID Card
- Developer: Mundfish
- Publisher: Focus Entertainment / VK Play
- Engine: Unreal Engine 4
- Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
- Release Date: April 16, 2026
- Genre: First-Person Shooter / Action RPG
Dev & Play Media 
Leave a comment