atomic heart (opens in new tab) Despite wider controversy about the game’s origins, it currently sits quite a bit on Steam with over 5,000 reviews rating the game “extremely positive.” (opens in new tab)However, the top reviews at the moment sum up what all Atomic Heart players have to face. Matt_KPLS’ review recommends this game after about 90 hours of play.
One of the strangest elements of Atomic Heart is the vending machine called Nora. Players must interact after being attacked in a cutscene. With the help of gloves, attacks are repelled, appliances are defeated, and… things take a very strange turn. Transplant your sub/dom fetish into the appliance and the machine will start treating you as a master, repeatedly proposing you with grossly sexual language.
The reaction to this has been mixed, but there is certainly a reaction. In fact, some people are working very hard. “Yes, please tie me to the bed.” Read positive reviews for Nyceur (opens in new tab)“That fridge made me question my sexuality.” Writing DashiVR (opens in new tab)“Samsung rides this!”
Other players don’t seem too sure how to take it. “Now I can check ‘I’m being raped by the refrigerator’ from my to-do list.” write exderon (opens in new tab). Kaif says simply (opens in new tab) “The refrigerator touched me.” D provides an alternative name for Atomic Heart (opens in new tab): “Refrigerator Sexual Harassment Simulator 2023”.
“Rebellious dominant men excite me,” Nora tells the players at their first meeting. The moment it crossed the Rubicon was when Nora demanded, “Squirt your polymer inside of me.”
Unsurprisingly, Mundfish can be said to be uninspiring and trying to unnerve Nora. But this is the internet and people want to rule hell out of this fridge instead of being upset (NSFL example (opens in new tab)). “I never wanted to fuck a refrigerator until I played Atomic Heart.” write nanny (opens in new tab).
I know it’s a joke, but the fact that refrigerators are common real-world appliances worries me a little.
Nora’s peculiarity is that you can still use other “regular” vending machines, but she keeps showing up for a good chunk of the early game and you have to deal with chat if you want to upgrade your items . “OMG How is it that the elevator scene in her heart went viral instead of a horny refrigerator bender playing horrible sexual dialogue over and over again while trying to add +1 to her pistol damage?” mosquito?!” Muse L. Jacobs (opens in new tab)is not unjust.
Dafuq is toning the fridge with #AtomicHeart XD Interesting game with interesting robots…… pic.twitter.com/yR2sKogDDZFebruary 26, 2023
I thought it was a one off but the fridge is still working lmao #AtomicHeart pic.twitter.com/0FyI1O4uJbFebruary 23, 2023
This fridge is wrong #AtomicHeart #AtomicHeartWindows #XboxShare pic.twitter.com/tCOvAQM9PCFebruary 22, 2023
Skadi shares the same Chinese voice acting as Atomic Heart’s perverted refrigerator.February 24, 2023
Atomic Heart Fridge Bot Says Anything / Me pic.twitter.com/ljLOmvdhkiFebruary 21, 2023
Nora, of course, was named “Refrigerator Mom.” She has no shortage of people posting online enthusiastically about what she wants to do with Fridge Mom. Yes, I hope her family and friends don’t happen to read this particular article.
Want a meme? we got the meme.
Nora disappears for a good portion of the game, ending up in a “regular” vending machine, causing mournful lamentations on various forums about how to get Nora back. Horny refrigerators will be back at a later stage.
what to do with it all? Comparisons to Bioshock are inevitable, but the vision here, the world Mundfish built, is both compelling and unsettling at the same time. Nora became too familiar to the player just the way it has, both as a grossed-out moment in this alternate history of robots with personalities, and as something endlessly clipped and discussed on social media. It is believed that it was intended to land.
Or: Nora may be what Mundfish finds interesting. my own thoughts are Steam reviewer Sierend (opens in new tab): “I don’t know what to do with this mf red fridge lol.”
