Hello, everyone!
In case you missed our Discord Q&A that took place on November 30th, we share our answers with you here.
We received a lot of interesting and important questions, for which we thank you very much!
For your convenience, we have divided them into several categories.
Enjoy and hope to see you on the next Q&A!
STUDIO PLANS
1. What's up with Behind the Scenes? When can we expect the release?
Will it be a long video, like 3 hours, or a series of shorter ones?
It won't be that long, but it'll be very soon, we're already finishing the editing.
2. Is there a game roadmap?
By the end of the year, we plan to summarize the road so far and also show our plans for the future.
3. Will the next 2 DLCs and/or next game lean more into what the older versions of Atomic Heart was like, or will you stick with the style you have now for Аtomic Heart?
With the release of the game, the image of the world was finally formed, and we will develop it further.
4. Will there be a movie or other formats of content based on the Atomic Heart Universe?
We love our unique Atomic Heart universe and of course we're exploring various ways of expanding it. Let's see what the future brings us!
5. Are there ARG elements in the game? Will they come in later?
This is a very interesting and promising topic, and as Sechenov would say: "We're moving toward progress". Our team is already exploring this area!
6. What do you think about multiplayer?
In our team, we focus a lot on learning new technologies and are constantly expanding our expertise. Even if some technological solutions are not yet used in the current game, they often help us in developing our own innovations.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ATOMIC HEART
1. How many concepts were there, how many of them were discarded?
Are there any characters whose design has been confirmed from the very first developments?
Most characters have indeed gone through many different iterations. But for example, VOV-A6 design was confirmed right from the beginning.
2. It would be interesting to hear the history of the Twins. Were they originally designed as a marketing tool, and then a key aspect of the game, or the other way around?
Other way around! We plan to talk about they're development in our new material, so stick around.
3. Is it true that Atomic Heart was originally planned as a survival horror, not an FPS?
As we had originally planned, we incorporated horror elements into the game, and one of the important inspirations for us was the Dead Space series. But we didn't plan to make a full-fledged horror game.
It's much more interesting to play with contrasts: scary and fun, light and dark, good and evil. It's actually one of the main themes of our game.
GAMEPLAY
1. Do you plan to add accessibility options like adjusting stick sensitivity or button remapping for controllers?
We want as many players as possible to enjoy the game and play it comfortably while maintaining the uniqueness of the Atomic Heart gameplay.
This is truly not an easy task, and so far not enough effort has been made on our part to improve the accessibility of the user experience.
We really appreciate players’ feedback and will take their wishes into account in further work on the project.
2. Will you be adding weapons and abilities from Annihilation instinct (as well as from the following DLCs) to other campaigns?
We create each weapon in such a way that it is correctly combined with the dynamics of the gameplay. And since the world of Limbo lives by its own rules, the weapons in it look correspondingly!
3. Will there be more content in the main world of the game?
Yes, there will be more content in the main world, but who knows where Nechayev will end up?
4. Will there be anything like new glove upgrades?
In Limbo, Nechaev does not exist in his material form, therefore all his abilities
from the real world are absent there. However, in the world of Limbo, a completely different system for improving your abilities will be available!
5. Will weapons cut from the game appear in the future?
We always remember all our cut materials and return to it if we think they could fit well into the current gameplay and content.
6. Will the Photo Mode be updated and a “Horde Mode” added?
These are still really cool ideas, but they're not a priority for the team at the moment.
RAY TRACING UPDATE
Our team is still working to implement the ray tracing update, and we hope to share the news with you in the near future.
We understand that this has taken longer than originally planned and we appreciate your patience and continuous support.
NARRATIVE
1. Will the enemies and characters from the DLC be added to the "lore" menu section in the game?
Yes, we will try to keep this section updated as new characters and enemies appear in the world of Atomic Heart.
2. Will these DLC's have an effect on the future events?
Yes, all events will factor in to future work.
3. What endings will the DLCs expand on?
Great questions! We could, of course, tell you all our plans for the story, but we certainly don't want to spoil the fun. However, let us remind you that both endings are true 👌
4. Will Lebedev appear again in future DLC?
Not in the upcoming one, at least.
5. Will Ekaterina be a playable character or a part of another DLC?
Katya will remain an important character in the story.
6. Characters such as Vertoukhov and Pokryshkin from Artem Galeev’s “3826” project could appear in Atomic Heart in the future, or do they not fit into the concept/scenario?
It’s very cool that among the players there are people who have been following the history of development for so long!
But these characters are from very early game concepts that are not relevant at the moment.
7. Will we be able to see Zakharov himself? Is there a final battle planned with him?
You've definitely already seen him in the game😏
And whether there will be a final battle with him - who knows how the plot will turn....
8. Why did you take the "short" ending as the basis for the add-on? Why does the change in world order and the event, of which the game is called, take place somewhere off-screen?
As for the story - everything will become clearer as the next DLCs are released!
And about the gameplay - of course, we always keep an eye on all the feedback shared with us, so that in the future we can change what players didn't like so much and develop the elements they enjoyed.
Keep sharing your opinions, we really value them!
9. Is Sechenov coming back into the story, or is he dead after all, and there's no way he can come back?
That's a good question! As a reminder, there's nothing wrong with him in Annihilation Instinct :)
10. If CHAR-les was able to get into P-3's Limbo and spy on him through a white cat, can P-3 also get into another person's Limbo?
Answered by our Narrative team: "No, because CHAR-les is a more powerful unit in the Limbo world, he's an array of information, not the consciousness of a single person. Therefore, it has a lot more capabilities than P-3."
11. Do we get to know more details about the cat of CHAR-les?
We also love this mysterious character and will try to tell you more about him in the future.
12. How did the Facility respond to Stockhausen's death?
Michael died on June 12th, and the event ended on June 13th. So the information just hasn't gotten out yet.
13. Why was the battle with the Left necessary if it's not plot-driven in any way? After it, Sechenov still doesn't know we're against him. And during the game we see that the Twins always go in together.
Sechenov assumed that Nechayev would come after him. Since Sechenov cannot be left unguarded, the Twins split up: one stays with Sechenov, the other goes to prevent an attack.
MERCH/BOOKS/OST
1. Why did the Alyonka chocolate bar disappear from the Annihilation Instinct and wasn’t put into mass production?
The limited time of collaboration has come to an end.
2. Will the soundtrack for this new DLC include music by GeoffPlaysGuitar?
Yes!
3. What happened to Mick Gordon's song from the "Release Window Trailer"? Will this song ever be released?
Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, not all tracks make it to a full release, no matter how much we wanted it.
4. How did Mick Gordon get involved in the creation of the music? Which tracks from the game did he work with?
We've always been fans of Mick's work and we felt that his music coupled with his range of work would complement our soundtrack perfectly, so we were really happy to collaborate!
You can find his tracks on our OST albums that are available on streaming platforms.
5. In the future will there be art packs, like wallpapers and other things for us to use?
Yes!
6. Do you plan to make any form of platform to support fan driven content? Like mods, for example?
We love mods, just like we love and respect all types of fan content!
Therefore, we are already preparing something interesting on our part.
We hope to be able to share more details soon!
DLC 2
1. The events of DLC 2 will only take place in the world of Limbo?
Yes, all DLC 2 gameplay events will take place in Limbo!
2. Will there be any other characters appearing in DLC 2?
Yes, there will be a few familiar characters.
3. Will there be any battles in DLC 2?
Of course, there will be combat in DLC 2! We have only shown the tip of the iceberg in the teasers. More content to come soon.
4. Are the new DLC 2 weapons going to look like the usual ones we get in the main game and Annihilation Instinct, or will you make them look a bit weird and goofy, to fit the vibe of Limbo?
Yeah, the look of the weapons will have a unique Limbo style appearance.
5. Will we learn more about the world of Limbo?
You'll definitely learn a little more information about Limbo.
6. Will the Twins be in DLC 2?
We don't want to spoil, but regarding DLC 2 we'll say yes - in one form or another!
7. Will the new gameplay mechanics have a plot basis?
DLC #2 will be story driven and all new mechanics will be reflected in the story.
8. Will we learn more about Nechayev’s past?
You might learn a bit about the protagonist's past in DLC 2.
9. Why does the teaser show both Nechayev and Newton's hands?
We are very glad that we have such attentive players who analyze our teasers second by second and were able to notice this detail.
This is definitely not a bug, and you'll learn more as you play DLC 2.
10. Will Nechayev learn the truth about Katya like he did in the first DLC?
Like in DLC #1? No. But he will learn the truth in a different way!
11. Will the Goose be in DLC 2? And what is the duration of the DLC?
Yes, Goose will have an important gameplay and story roles in DLC 2!
As for the duration, we can say that this particular DLC will provide certain opportunities to return to already completed stages, so the final playing time will vary for all players.
12. Do you have a specific release date for the DLC 2 gameplay trailer?
We have a date :)
13. How much DLС 2 will cost?
Same as the 1st one!
14. When will the DLC 2 be released? Winter '23 or '24?
Yes