Atomic Heart's Trapped In Limbo DLC released this week, continuing the game's longer, darker ending. The new story, which takes players throughout the dream-like world of Limbo, offers a completely different experience from everything before. However, does it offer a worthwhile experience for the gamer and their wallet? Let's find out, comrades!

Atomic Heart Trapped In Limbo Review

Trapped In Limbo is the second of four DLC packs for Atomic Heart, which released in February, 2023. It costs $9.99, though the Season Pass, which offers all DLCs, costs $39.99. The DLC is currently available for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC via Steam.

Review – Atomic Heart Trapped In Limbo Story

(Warning, Spoilers Ahead, please read at your own discretion):

The Atomic Heart Trapped In Limbo Story follows the game's longer ending. Major Nechayev (P-3) finds himself trapped in Limbo, the dream-like world which CHAR-les (aka, Chariton Zakharov) sent him throughout the main game. Afterwards, he quickly transformers into the white, furry creature called Newton, which many fans may recall from Art Creative Director Artem Galeev's earlier work.

While things seem hopeless, Ekaterina (or Katya), P-3's long-lost lover, appears to him in the form of a Teardrop. She helps P-3 navigate his way through Limbo in an effort to remember everything. Since P-3 forgot everything about the outside world, he must navigate through Limbo in order to reclaim his memory. Additionally, you begin the DLC without even being able to speak, which might comfort those who didn't like P-3. Nevetheless, he needs to find a way to restore Katya, and go after the traitorous CHAR-les.

Yet, there's another character whose life also hangs in the balance apparently. According to Katya, Dr. Sechenov, who seemingly died, somehow managed to avoid death and end up in Limbo as well. It's all a bit of techno babble, but Katya seems intent on bringing him back to life. So now P-3 must navigate his way through the Candyland like setting.

Of course, Limbo also offers Chirpers, which resemble Shells, which give more context on the setting and story. Katya explains to P-3 why he's there, how to escape, and how Limbo works. Overall, the creativity of the writers when it came to the setting really shows. Even the world itself is littered with little tidbits of overly exaggerated scientific knowledge that feels like a real badass sci-fi experience.

As P-3 explores the five levels of Limbo, he recovers more memories of himself via Chirpers and conversations with some of the characters. Yes, CHAR-les, aka Chariton Zakharov, does make an appearance in the Trapped In Limbo DLC. Like always, he tries to use his clever tongue to frustrate P-3 through his adventure. We really enjoyed these sections with Charles the best.

Overall, the story and setting of Limbo was really interesting. I really enjoyed finally interacting with Ekaterina, who we indirectly just fought back in Sechenov's office. Additionally, the world of Limbo has a unique feeling that isn't like your typical sci-fi dream world. It was fun to explore in the main-game, and it certainly felt awesome to see more of it in the DLC.

However, our only caveats to this experience was a repetitive balance. You did a platforming section, talked to a character, did another section, and talked to the same character. Furthermore, the dialogue between P-3 and Chariton felt far and few between. Considering everything they both went through, I would've thought they spoke to each other more.

Additionally, the ending boss fight, if that's what you want to call it, fell flat for me. The funny Goose character from the AI DLC returns, but at the worst possible time. I was hoping to see something cool and serious instead of something rather goofy.

Nevertheless, we still love the character of P-3, CHAR-les, and the finally introduced Ekaterina. We hope all three characters continue to play a big role in the series' future. In terms of story, we didn't expect this DLC to tie all the loose ends, but rather feed into the story of Atomic Heart 2. Therefore, we enjoyed what we got out of it.

Review – Atomic Heart Trapped In Limbo Gameplay

Trapped In Limbo's Gameplay offers less action and mostly platforming and Counter Strike Surfing. Overall, it works fine, though it does become annoying at times. The DLC offers five total levels to explore, all of which can be started from the beginning. However, each level offers a similar experience, with a focus on one aspect.

For example, the first level of this DLC mostly sees the player, who controls Newton, slide across candy-like CS:GO Surfing slides, collecting Apples and Au (Gold). Apples can be used on a Lootyaggin vendor, which offers the player an option of three choices. These include either a new weapon, ability, or upgrade. Gold serves no purpose other than buying cosmetic weapon skins for the main game.

You don't technically need to collect every Apple, though it might help those playing on tougher difficulties or trying to get every trophy. However, the game allows you to re-visit every level, even after you completed the story. Furthermore, each level shows you how much you've collected, and how much more you need.

Overall, the platforming, sliding, and bouncing feel fine, but really unpredictable in some areas. While it worked well for about 85% of the time, another 15% felt unnecessarily difficult. Either you didn't get bounced far enough, or you had to use unintended mechanics to pass certain sections, which all felt monotonous. After a certain time, you just wonder when it ends.

The Combat also felt good, especially since you have unlimited Ammo. However, the weapon options and customization wasn't as deep as it was in the main game. You only had access to about five weapons, and your fists. And unlike AI, which added two new weapons, this DLC only adds weapon skins. So while my favorite weapon, the Zvezdochka, returned, it didn't have itss ranged saw ability. It felt pretty disappointing to see nothing new.

It's especially a shame, because it makes the hunt for apples less fruitful (no pun intended). If you wanted me to collect the apples, there should be more variety in what I can use. Annihilation Instinct even added a kill-all-enemies item not present in the main game. Just one or two new weapons would've gone a long way to improving the combat.

Furthermore, the combat featured re-skinned enemies from the main-game with slightly different mechanics. Vov-A6's essentially took up the main brunt of enemy forces, coming in different shapes and sizes. Rafiks push you farther and have new colors, and that's it. The only new enemy comes in the form of an annoying boss fight called the Gingerbread man, who you fight multiple times.

Each fight with this boss felt more annoying each time you faced it. Though the design was cool, the fights all worked the same. You need to launch enemies by using a melee weapon's special move. Throughout the fight, he jumps, slides, shoots, and other things to keep you from attacking. While fun at first, it got annoying pretty quickly.

Overall, Trapped In Limbo felt like the weakest in terms of combat and gameplay. While I love the infinite ammo and occasional sliding, it didn't feel like Atomic Heart. I respect the developer's intention to create something different, but it fell flat with this expansion. Hopefully, the next piece of content that continues the story returns the game to its original form.

Review – Trapped In Limbo Graphics

The Graphics of Atomic Heart are unmistakably beautiful, there's no doubting that. However, we want to focus on the Art design of Limbo, inspired by the early works of Art Creative Director Artem Galeev. Overall, Limbo looks cool, but the Candy-land theme felt redundant by the second and third levels. Personally, I respect the design, but preferred the Limbo design of the main-game.

I think it would've been cool to see even more of Artem Galeev's older work make its way into Limbo. His own YouTube channel features tons of cool settings which I think also would've worked for this DLC instead of sweets and sugar. That said, many things about Limbo were visually appealing.

After hopping around for awhile, I loved looking back to see how much progress I made. Overall, I still found myself taking a moment to bask everything in, especially in interior locations. From floating blue whales, to the hovering bees, Limbo has so much going on at all times, which impressed me. I just wished it resembled the Limbo portions from the main game a bit more.

Overall, graphically the game looks fine, though visually it felt the weakest out of all the content released yet.

Review – Trapped In Limbo Audio

Atomic Heart's OST strikes again with more energetic, blood-pumping music. However, the game goes a step further and has different playlists for each level. These head-bumping songs all work perfectly with Limbo's gameplay and setting. Nevertheless, I actually turned the music off for the most part.

That's not to say the music was bad, but to praise the ambience of Limbo itself. The weird dreamlike sounds, the clicking of machines and buzzing of bees made it a relaxing experience. As strange as it is to say, my favorite thing about this DLC is definitely it's level of ambience. Closing your eyes and listening to it almost makes you feel like your in some dream-like setting.

Overall, Atomic Heart continues to excel on both a musical and sound-design level.

Review Verdict: Is Atomic Heart Trapped In Limbo Worth Your Money?

Overall, I really wanted to see this DLC surprise me. However, it fell flat with an attempt to try new things. While I loved the story, characters, and elusion to what comes next, I felt the gameplay and art design didn't wow me as much as prior content. Limbo's original in-game design, along with Artem Galeev's older work, did a better job of matching the Atomic Heart theme.

What really pulled the experience down was the repetitive gameplay, candy-land theme. and lack of innovation with combat. The gameplay was fine, but it was a repetition of platforming, fighting, scavenging, rinse, and repeat. The visuals, which looked good, remained the same with very little changes to its identity. That said, we still recommend it to hardcore Atomic Heart fans.

The story did carry this DLC, and has me hopeful for the future. I also now wonder if the developers plan to merge both endings of the game into one. Considering Atomic Heart's sci-fi setting, Multiverse travel wouldn't be too far-fetched. However, it's hard to predict where the developer goes from here.

Lastly, in terms of content, the DLC, takes about 3-5 hours depending on how much time you put into it. If you just rush to the end, you'll beat it in two hours. However, taking your time to find everything could take as long as 5-6. For a $10 DLC, it's not the worst value. However, it's up to you decided if the new gameplay and setting are worth visiting.

That concludes our Atomic Heart Trapped In Limbo Review. We hope you enjoy the DLC, if you decide to get it.

Score: 7/10

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