Atomic Heart Bonus Q&A – Exclusive Full PC Specs Reveal & Shader Comp Info; Devs Talk Final Build Improvements

Following this week’s launch of Hogwarts Legacy, arguably the most anticipated game releasing this month is Atomic Heart, the debut first-person shooter title developed by Mundfish.

Due for release on PC (via Steam), PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S|X, Atomic Heart will also be available on Game Pass starting on its day one, set for February 21st. We’ve covered the game at length throughout our many interviews with Mundfish Founder and Game Director Robert Bagratuni, but we have one bonus Q&A where Wccftech can exclusively reveal the full PC specifications and graphics preset targets, information on the shader compilation method, FoV setting, next-generation console tech features, and final build improvements over the preview builds that some outlets tried last month. Enjoy!

Some of the hands-on previews said the game was buggy. How old was that build? Are you confident most, if not all, of the bugs have been squashed for the final release of Atomic Heart?

Robert Bagratuni: Indeed, some players were only able to access last year’s build of the game so far. However, our team is constantly making improvements and polishing the game, and we have eliminated many uneven moments now. And the release version of the game will be even more polished and technically balanced. So, yes, we’re pretty confident that with a final release our players will receive the best gaming experience possible.

Another complaint I’ve read is that enemies felt a little too much like sponges, making fights longer than perhaps necessary. Is that by design? Will there be any setting to tweak this?

The enemies are already rebalanced from the previous build version, and we succeeded in keeping the fights tough and enthralling, and now even more swift, satisfying, and rhythmic. And I can share more – for those players, who desire to modify their walkthrough and make it more or less difficult, our team developed 3 difficulty levels: easy story mode, normal difficulty mode, and the hardest one for those players who enjoy true challenges. So regardless of their skills, players will be able to choose their preferred difficulty level to best enjoy Atomic Heart.

A few articles described Atomic Heart as a more traditional shooter in the veins of Wolfenstein or DOOM rather than BioShock. Is that an accurate description, or will the full game change their minds, in your opinion?

To be honest, I don’t think this is an accurate comparison. While our game does have some parallels with such great games like DOOM, Wolfenstein, and Bioshock, we wanted to construct Atomic Heart to feel unique and fresh. If there is a need to compare, then our game, like Bioshock, surely contains a greater level of immersion, possibilities for combinations of weapons, and special abilities compared to some others of the genre. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, our game will leave players with completely new feelings, and they will understand that the Atomic Heart stands out with a mix of intriguing stories, ruthless battles, and amazing segments with challenging puzzles.

Can you describe the technical differences between the next-generation consoles and the PC version running on a high-end configuration? Do consoles support any form of RT, and if so, how does it compare with PCs?

The difference between the next-generation consoles and the PC version is that high-end PCs will, of course, provide higher frame rate and higher quality since we also have higher graphics preset on PC.
We are constantly implementing the latest available complementary technologies in the game and some replace each other.  The consoles will not support RT for now, but we strive to give our players the best and most optimized visual experience possible. Rest assured, players will experience the most complementary and advanced graphical result.

That being said, the Gen9 graphics preset is pretty much balanced, and it looks close enough to a high-end PC in terms of overall visual quality!

Does Atomic Heart support the DualSense controller’s features (haptic feedback, adaptive triggers)? If so, will it also work on PC when using the DualSense controller?

Yes, Atomic Heart supports DualSense controller’s features, such as haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, but only with the PS5 console – these features are not available on PC.

Are there Field of View (FoV) settings on consoles?

Atomic Heart already features a wide FoV, higher than many other games, so it was not included in the settings on consoles and PC.

Do PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X users get multiple graphics presets to choose from?

We worked a lot on optimization for consoles, providing one graphical mode with dynamic 4K 60FPS and even native 4K with a solid 60FPS in some parts of the game. We’re also looking to continue to bring more performance enhancements in the future and will keep you posted when we do.

Can you share the target frame rate and rendering resolution for the Xbox Series S version?

Of course, the Xbox Series S will have Full HD and 60FPS.

You released the minimum and recommended PC requirements a while ago. Which resolution, frame rate and graphics preset do these target? Also, can you share the required specs to play the game at 1440p@60 with Ultra settings and 4K@60 with Ultra settings?

Of course! We’ve conducted a lot of hardware tests and can now confirm the following complete requirements indicated in the attached table.

It’s also important to note that specified everywhere in the table FPS is the minimum one that the players will get during fierce battles in the most crowded locations. In fact, in most locations and game situations, the FPS will be much higher. For example, with the GeForce GTX 1650 graphical card, the players will get a minimum of 60FPS, while a maximum indicator in most locations will be 100FPS.

As for memory, you can play with 8GB RAM if you disable the shaders optimization option in the settings. In that case, you might have stutters when entering a new location. But if you want to play without stutters, you need to have at least 12GB of memory to be able to precache PSO for faster runtime-shaders compilation.

To clarify, does Atomic Heart support shader compilation before entering the game?

It starts before the game and you can see the progress, but it’s up to you to skip this process and go straight to the game and finish the shader compilation later.

Thank you for your time.