The 10 Weirdest Enemies In Atomic Heart

You don’t have to fight these enormous, tunneling robots in open combat, thankfully, but that doesn’t mean they’re not a force to be reckoned with in the game’s opening. “Atomic Heart’s” first level isn’t shy about its survival horror roots, and part of what makes the first hour or so frightening is the threat of the rogue Burav. They appear in numerous scripted sequences, tunneling through the floors of the Vavilov Complex and almost killing P-3. There’s also a great scare in the metro system when a Burav bursts through the wall next to P-3 as he climbs, and later he’ll need to activate another one to retrieve a quest item.

Whether NORA is truly friend or foe is up to you, but she certainly starts out hostile enough. P-3 is warned ahead of time that he’s about to enter a room containing NORA, an opponent not to be trifled with. NORA grabs P-3 in an “embrace” of sorts, threatening him with her electrified wires. The wires function similarly to tentacles – make of that what you will. P-3 placates NORA and, for the rest of the game, you’ll need to speak to her to upgrade your weapons and polymers, and she’s very open about what she REALLY wants to do with the Major when she gets him in her tendrils.

Though nearly all the robots are hostile, the Rafiks aren’t often encountered as enemies you need to fight, often being helpful or just idling around. But sometimes you WILL need to fight one, and they’re a lot more formidable than they look. These goofy, Clank-inspired robots become crawling nightmares, descending onto all fours and scuttling around you as they vomit green fluid. They’re also bullet sponges, so be careful you don’t accidentally aggro the few friendly ones, annoying as they might be to talk to. We know, you don’t want to have to go and get another train ticket, but it’s really not worth the fight.

The Hemlock

Also in:

The 10 BEST Weapons In Atomic Heart

This is one of the many beasts they’ve been keeping locked away in the Vavilov Complex, and one P-3 needs to contend with to get one of those canisters and unlock the way out. The Hemlock itself is frightening, a monstrous hedge lurking down there that needs to be constantly doused in pesticide to stop it from coming fully alive, breaking free, and killing everybody. So, you’ve got to solve a puzzle to get a large, explosive cylinder into the room and kill it for good, while it growls all the while. It is a little disappointing that you don’t get an actual boss battle against the Hemlock, but it’s weird nonetheless.

You’ll first encounter the rogue Hedgie also in the Vavilov Complex, as it destroys part of the Algae Workshop. But you won’t need to fight it until much later when you’re back on the surface, and P-3 finds it in a boss arena. The only strategy for fighting this violent foe is to constantly dodge out of its way while it rolls at you and wait for it to overheat, and THEN you can run up and strike its cooling vents as they emerge as weak points. But it’s exactly like the Major says himself throughout the game: why on EARTH was something like THIS designed solely to trim hedges? Of course, if you’ve beaten the game you know why, but it remains confounding.

You’ll find this boss first in the testing ground, though you’ll encounter a few more of them in later stages of the game. They’re always formidable and you may find yourself running past the optional ones rather than keeping on fighting them. According to the lore, it’s reanimated polymer with the brain of a dog installed in it, making it huge, aggressive, and deadly. It’s part organic matter and part robot, and some of its attacks make it look like it’s vomiting blood right onto you. What is it with this game and puking enemy types? Regardless, this is a highly mobile mini-boss that will keep you on your toes.

Her sole purpose is carrying heavy loads, a widespread construction bot in use across the Soviet Union. Natasha attacks P-3 after the last encounter with Petrov in the theater. He’s got an automated system that orders Natasha to attack P-3 with a pre-recorded message. You’ve also got to keep avoiding the equally bizarre “clown trap” robots during the fight as they circle the stage, making it even harder to avoid Natasha as she shoots rockets and drops bombs on the arena. There’s no real strategy to the fight: just dodge and try to deal as much damage to her as possible.

Looking like a cross between a Big Daddy and a Handyman, “Atomic Heart’s” influences are on full display with the design of this character. It’s got long, far-reaching arms and a circular head covered in colored lights, which indicate that it’s hostile – much like when you engage a Big Daddy in combat in “BioShock”. But the Belyash isn’t designed to protect small, genetically modified children. Its actual purpose is, apparently, plumbing and welding. What would YOU do if you called for a plumber and this thing appeared to fix your leaky pipes? We’re not sure it could even fit in a building properly.

Apparently, this six-legged sphere is a mere hydraulic pump. Yet again, we have to wonder why anybody designed a hydraulic pump that looks like this thing, but like all the robots in the world, it also turns violent. P-3 finds it very close to the end of the game after it bursts out of a beached humpback whale. It cuts the whale open with its enormous laser beam, used ostensibly for “boring”. It scurries around the battlefield like a spider, eventually using its polymer muscle mass to create additional, violent tentacles it will use to strike you with.

The Twins

Also in:

10 Things to Know Before Playing Atomic Heart

Despite being, on the surface, two VERY tall, robotic women, the Ballerina Twins prove themselves to be much, MUCH weirder further down the line. We won’t spoil the final twist of who or what they REALLY are that you’ll discover by playing yourself, but this isn’t necessary to make you see how bizarre they are. No, all we need to show you is a scene from roughly halfway through where the Twins get involved in the murder of Molotov, which features an elaborate sequence of them cutting into each other and reaching in to retrieve a strange, metal object that they use in one of Sechenov’s experiments.