Atomic Heart is set in an alternate version of 1955. To fully understand the game’s events, you need to understand how this world reached this level of development.

The Discovery of Polymer and World War II The key difference between the game’s universe and our reality is the discovery in the USSR, prior to World War II, of an amazing substance called Polymer. Dr. Sechinoff was the discoverer. Later, a team of scientists, including the outstanding Khariton Zacharov, was assembled to study this material.

In 1942, the course of history changed: Nazi Germany, realizing it was losing the war, released a deadly virus—the Brown Plague. The virus was so potent that it resisted all known medications, forcing the entire world to urgently search for a vaccine.

Facility 3826 and the Heyday of the USSR In the mid-1940s, the Soviet Union built Facility 3826—the pinnacle of technological and scientific progress. It was here, thanks to polymer technology, that the USSR made an incredible leap forward:

  • Fully functional, talking robots are being created.
  • Flying cities are being built.
  • The average life expectancy of citizens is increasing by 100 years.
  • Collective 1.0 is being developed—a neural network that unites humans and robots.

Introduction: Major P-3’s Mission The game begins with us taking control of Agent P-3, a war veteran working for Dr. Sechenov. Sechenov once saved P-3’s life, so the major is loyal to him and doesn’t ask unnecessary questions.

The USSR is preparing for a monumental event—the launch of the Collective 2.0 neural network in conjunction with the “Thought” device, which will allow people to instantly master scientific disciplines and control robots with the power of their minds.

However, a disaster strikes at Facility 3826: the robots go haywire and start killing people. Sechenov sends P-3 to the facility with a mission: to find engineer Petrov, who, according to Sechenov, hacked the system, and bring him to the authorities.

P-3 is accompanied by his partner—a talking glove equipped with AI named HRAS (Charles). Spoiler: In reality, it is the digitized consciousness of that very scientist, Khariton Zakharov, whose body dissolved into polymer.