Atomic Coronary heart has at all times been a wierd sport to consider. Even again when it launched, whereas its foundations had been fairly first rate, there was one thing to be stated in regards to the degree of repetitiveness because of the sport’s reasonably pointless open world. Since then, discussions in regards to the title have been divided, with some praising the core gameplay, writing, and imaginative story, whereas others criticising the dearth of selection current all through the sport, solely punctuated by intelligent however transient bits of puzzle-solving. With its DLC releases, nevertheless, developer Mundfish has been onerous at work experimenting with not solely the gameplay, however with degree design and writing as nicely. In some ways, the most recent DLC – Enchantment Below the Sea – seems like a fruits of all of the studio has discovered with regards to sport design.
Whereas the earlier DLCs for Atomic Coronary heart have been wildly completely different, with one basically providing up extra of what was already current within the base sport and the opposite being a wild alternate-reality tackle the story, Enchantment Below the Sea is an attention-grabbing one the place it focuses again on the central storyline of the sport, whereas additionally eschewing the bottom sport’s extra open design in favour of linear ranges. Whereas the sport kicks off with a bang, having you escape of the constructing the place you fought off the earlier antagonists and discovering your spouse, you in a short time find yourself reuniting with Granny and setting off to discover an underwater facility in an effort to seek out the all-important marriage ceremony rings.
“You in a short time find yourself reuniting with Granny and setting off to discover an underwater facility”
In being a way more linear expertise the place you’re consistently making unambiguous ahead progress in some type or one other, Enchantment Below the Sea typically finally ends up displaying a few of the most artistic facets that Atomic Coronary heart has ever seen. Not solely does the sport introduce a bunch of recent enemy sorts that you’ll have to juggle with, every with their very own distinctive weaknesses that require completely new techniques than what you may be used to, the sport additionally goes additional with its puzzle fixing facets. Now don’t get me unsuitable, you’re not going to get puzzle designs that rival one thing like a traditional Zelda title, however their presence nonetheless finally ends up offering fairly a little bit of selection, in addition to some breaks, in between bouts of comparatively tough encounters.
The writing additionally feels lots higher than what we’ve seen from Atomic Coronary heart up to now. Sure, there are nonetheless moments of pointless dialogue with jokes that are likely to kill the strain that’s in any other case bearing down on you. And sure, it does contribute to the identification disaster we talked about even in our overview of the sport’s first DLC, Annihilation Intuition. However not less than this time round, the jokes aren’t going to make you cringe or groan. A lot of the humour comes from P3’s makes an attempt to reconnect along with his spouse, which tends to supply loads of tender moments as nicely. Whereas there’s nonetheless a normal sense that the studio was torn between making this a extra severe story in an effort to wrap issues up in time for the subsequent DLC to function a finale of kinds, the presence of those jokes nonetheless finally ends up undermining fairly a little bit of the ambiance they had been going for with Enchantment Below the Sea.
Apart from that, nevertheless, the story continues what has ostensibly been an insane journey from the get go. The underwater facility you spend a lot of the DLC exploring finally finally ends up rather more sprawling and spacious than you first thought, and my first impression was that Atomic Coronary heart is attempting its personal hand at a Rapture-esque setting. Whereas BioShock’s Rapture served as greater than only a scenic backdrop, providing up some commentary on the concept of objectivist philosophy and unchecked capitalism, whereas additionally being a reasonably unbelievable setting for a horror sport, Enchantment Below the Sea’s setting doesn’t actually hassle going there. Positive, there are tiny tidbits of lore strewn about that gamers can discover, be it by conversations with corpses or information on computer systems, however in the end, the DLC’s setting actually is only a scenic backdrop to the motion.
The one actual draw back of the story in Enchantment Below the Sea is that it wants fairly a little bit of buy-in for the participant to have the ability to perceive. Basically, because it’s choosing issues up the place the sport final left off, you’ll be able to’t simply begin with the DLC; you’ll completely have to complete not less than the bottom sport to grasp what’s occurring. All in all, nevertheless, when you think about the truth that that is the third DLC launch for the sport, this isn’t actually that a lot of a difficulty.
“Basically, because it’s choosing issues up the place the sport final left off, you’ll be able to’t simply begin with the DLC”
With regards to motion, Enchantment Below the Sea brings with it new kinds of powers that gamers can experiment with, with the standouts being a grappling hook and a fireball. The grappling hook, known as the Whip, is used fairly extensively all through the DLC, and finally ends up being surprisingly versatile, helpful in each exploration in addition to fight. In actual fact, the whip was seemingly the important thing inspiration behind a lot of the puzzles within the DLC, which frequently require you to grapple round to get a vantage level on the entire puzzle. There are additionally platforming challenges that contain heavy use of the whip, with a memorable instance involving you having to consistently swing between two electrified practice tracks to dodge oncoming trains whilst you attempt to search for protected nooks and crannies. Whereas it gained’t precisely allow you to really feel like Spider-Man as you swing round, it nonetheless affords a enjoyable new option to discover the DLC’s ranges.
In fight, the whip begins out with a easy sufficient perform: you’ll be able to grapple into enemies to get nearer. This will then be additional augmented by offering varied buffs and debuffs, like letting you block an enemy’s main assault once you grapple into them. The fireball, whereas not almost as versatile, nonetheless feels nice to make use of. Basically performing like a big grenade, fireballing turns into a superb option to preserve crowd management once you’re getting swarmed by a number of enemies, for instance. The fireball sadly doesn’t do a lot for exploration, except for letting you destroy particular obstacles; this finally ends up feeling like little greater than an afterthought.
Actually, the one actual downside with the fight in Enchantment Below the Sea is one that may’t actually be solved with a DLC launch, and would require a basic redesign of the whole thing of Atomic Coronary heart. The issue is that once you get into an enormous combat, readability basically goes out the window. Whereas enemies will let you understand after they’re about to hit you, the overall velocity and skills of the assorted enemies you combat at all times find yourself feeling like they’re concepts taken from a a lot quicker sport, however with out the slowing right down to make them extra suited to Atomic Coronary heart’s fight. It doesn’t assist that enemies may generally be fairly tough to even spot. Whereas it doesn’t really feel too dangerous typically, the few occasions the sport’s readability grew to become a difficulty caught out like a sore thumb.
“You’re not going to be getting any ground-breaking new content material”
Finally, Enchantment Below the Sea simply goes to indicate how robust the foundations of Atomic Coronary heart have at all times been. Regardless of its identification disaster, the writing within the DLC remains to be a few of the finest from all through the sport, with characters feeling extra like actual individuals than they’ve in both the bottom sport or the earlier DLCs. The story additionally positively feels prefer it’s coming to a head, and Enchantment Below the Sea feels prefer it’s preparing for the massive finale with the subsequent DLC. Visually, the DLC takes heavy inspiration from BioShock, with its underwater facility feeling prefer it may simply be as sprawling and big as Rapture was. The extra centered strategy to storytelling, choosing linear ranges reasonably than throwing the participant into an open world additionally does wonders for not solely the writing and pacing, however for gameplay as nicely.
When you’re not going to be getting any ground-breaking new content material with Enchantment Below the Sea, it’s fairly simple to advocate the DLC, particularly to gamers that like Atomic Coronary heart. Not solely does it supply up the identical glorious shooter gameplay as the bottom sport, however the degree design, number of encounters, new enemies, new powers, and enjoyable writing all add as much as being a superb option to spend a weekend. Throw on high the truth that the DLC’s story makes it really feel like Mundfish is nearly on the point of wrap issues up with the overarching plot of Atomic Coronary heart and Enchantment Below the Sea finally ends up feeling like a DLC you simply can’t miss.
This sport was reviewed on PC.
