Atomic Heart is facing calls to be banned

New FPS Atomic Heart has proven to be highly controversial, and there are now calls from the Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation for it to be banned.

Many reviews pointed out that the game is filled with inappropriate content - PLAY Magazine’s Dashiell Wood described the game as a “miserable experience”, and stated that “it's hard to ignore the misogynistic undertones throughout”.

Take a look at the trailer for Atomic Heart below.

It’s not just the dialogue that’s proved contentious. One prominent video game guide site has revealed that its Atomic Heart guide is cancelled as a result of “poor game design, plus really frustrating glitches that make it a chore to play”. The site also described the game’s map as “horrid”. Overall, it really doesn’t sound like a good time.

Atomic Heart was created by Russian studio Mundfish. In a statement obtained by PCGamesN (originally posted to Dev.au), Ukraine’s deputy minister of digital transformation, Alex Bornyakov, claims that the title “romanticises communist ideology and the Soviet Union”, and revealed the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine’s intention to write an official letter to Valve, Microsoft and Sony “requesting a ban on selling digital versions of this game in Ukraine”.

“We also urge limiting the distribution of this game in other countries due to its toxicity, potential data collection of users, and the potential use of money raised from game purchases to conduct a war against Ukraine,” Bornyakov said in the statement.

Furthermore, Bornyakov claims that according to media reports, development of the game was funded with money which originated from Russian banks and enterprises.

“Therefore, we call for all users worldwide to avoid this game,” he continued. “We also want to emphasise that the game developers have not publicly condemned the Putin regime and the bloody war that Russia has unleashed against Ukraine.”