The similarities between BioShock Infinite and Atomic Heart couldn't be more on the nose. Aside from their locations and the way the abilities are designed, features like the way ability tutorials are presented in cartoonish clips, the companion system, and the lighthouse being a prominent part of both games make Atomic Heart feel like a clone.
Where both games venture off is in their stories and characters that populate their worlds. The enemies and weapons are another stark contrast, but both give the aesthetic of being visually stunning yet brutal. Both have a lot of superb elements, but one just manages to have the upper hand over the other.
10 World-Building - Tie
The dystopian worlds of BioShock Infinite and Atomic Heart are both set amidst the clouds, one in an incredibly racist and segregationist US society of Columbia and the other in a technologically advanced oppressive communist Soviet Union civilization of Facility 3826. However, seeing both settings for the first time is enthralling for their sheer design and scale.
This time in BioShock Infinite, you're launched up in the air from the lighthouse and travel through the sky as you get glimpses of various buildings and homes floating in the sky, bridges, and Monument Tower. Atomic Heart's sightseeing happens via flying car. BioShock is more linear exploration, while Atomic Heart's open world is more expansive, allowing vehicles like in Far Cry.
9 Weapons - Atomic Heart
The weapons in BioShock Infinite don't have anywhere near the technological capabilities of those in Atomic Heart since they mostly stick to the period and only offer a few unique variations. The polymer technology Dr. Sechenov made appears to have led to some pretty advanced weapons for the 1950s USSR.
Unlike the sole Sky-Hook in BioShock Infinite, Atomic Heart provides a better balance of melee and ranged weapons. Some notable ones include the Zvezdochka, a melee weapon that can be upgraded to send out dual sawblades to slice enemies, and the Dominator, a polymer rifle that fires a ball of electrical energy at enemies.
8 Vigors Vs. Polymer Abilities - BioShock Infinite
In BioShock Infinite, you'll acquire eight different types of vigors throughout the story, which correlate to P-3's polymer glove abilities in Atomic Heart. Atomic Heart has some near identical ones, such as Mass Telekinesis, which is practically Bucking Bronco, where enemies get suspended in the air, and Shok, which sends electrical shocks like Shock Jockey.
BioShock also features some much cooler vigors where you can possess turret machines to aid you in combat and unleash swarms of carnivorous crows upon enemies to slow them down. And you already have a shield as part of your stats in BioShock, like in Wolfenstein, and also as an extra ability.
7 Enemy Design - Atomic Heart
BioShock Infinite's enemies differ widely from its predecessors, the diving-suited Big Daddies are now the mech-suited Handymans, and you also have the mechanical Firemen and Patriots modeled after former US Presidents. But the design that went into Atomic Heart's enemy robots has a leg up here.
The design team truly nailed the aesthetic of grotesque Soviet-style machines and mutant hybrids for you to fight. The most notable ones are the MA-9 Belyash, with a spherical head and red dots around it like an arachnid, the flying WSP-9 Pchelas, the ominous Lab Techs whose faces come apart, and the Ballerina Twins.
6 Better Protagonist - BioShock Infinite
It's pretty hard to compete when you have Troy Baker as the voice talent for the main character Booker DeWitt, but there's not much of it in Atomic Heart. The dialogue is disappointingly awful in how it's written and delivered by the voice actor. P-3's voice is insufferable and emotionless. The overuse of "Crispy Critters" is just cringe-worthy.
Booker's voice is much more pleasant to hear and has a more gritty yet clear tone, with the right balance of seriousness and bewilderment for his situation. There's also a better mysterious nature established for this former Pinkerton-turned-PI protagonist that you invest more in.
5 Better Companion - BioShock Infinite
Your glove, Charles, in Atomic Heart has an AI Jarvis-like voice. It acts as a chatty storytelling encyclopedia that reveals a bit too much information at times rather than allowing you to explore it yourself. Sure, the glove can also instantly open up all the loot drawers in a room, but it's still not a match for the partner you get in Elizabeth.
Elizabeth likewise has some mystery about her character, who, for some reason, has been trapped in a tower under strict observation. In addition to genuinely engaging conversations as you make your way through Columbia, she helps you pick locks, tosses you money and consumables, and has a remarkable ability to open portal rifts to other realities.
4 Combat Design - BioShock Infinite
The combat in Atomic Heart and BioShock Infinite are pretty much twins, but it's a bit smoother, more fun, and exciting in BioShock Infinite. The latter allows you to use a melee weapon, your Sky-Hook, while you already have a gun equipped rather than switching classes and wielding it as your primary weapon.
The vigors, especially Possession that allows you to control enemy turrets and other machinery add an immersive dynamic. The use of the Sky-Line, where you can traverse Columbia on a rollercoaster-like path and engage enemies, and the intense music during combat are excellent. Atomic Heart is more like Dying Light but without much sound to make it feel tense.
3 Sound Design - BioShock Infinite
Both cloud worlds of Atomic Heart and BioShock experience a celebration at the start of the game, except the sound design is executed much better and feels more ambient and rich straightaway in BioShock Infinite. The thunder and waves leading up to the lighthouse are followed by the rumbling jets of the rocket and the soft choir music before the baptism.
Then the fair hits you with a smooth cacophony of sounds all over the place, with the various floats of announcers flying by and the musical bands along with carnival acts and games. Other outstanding examples are the iconic chime of the objective popping up, the kinetoscope devices, and the sequence where you're fleeing with Elizabeth from the Songbird.
2 Story And Twist - BioShock Infinite
The BioShock games are always known for providing an unfathomable twist, and BioShock Infinite topped the other two games with its finale. Atomic Heart went for its own story twist for the main protagonist, but it certainly wasn't as impactful and instead predictable. The biggest reveals were that P-3's deceased wife, Ekaterina Nechayeva, lives on through Sechenov's Twins since they contain parts of her brain and that your polymer glove was once Sechenov's fellow scientist, Chariton Zakharov.
As it turned out in BioShock Infinite, Booker DeWitt is the villain Zachary Comstock from another universe, and Elizabeth is Booker's daughter across many universes. And each of her doubles must prevent Booker from becoming Comstock by ending his life. Both stories also have a fair amount of set pieces, but Booker and Elizabeth's journey is overall more worthwhile than P-3 and Charles'.
1 Verdict - BioShock Infinite
It should come as no shock at all that BioShock Infinite is the true winner here. From the outstanding writing of its story and characters and the seamless action and level design, you'll have a much more thrilling adventure fighting the robotic enemies of Columbia than Facility 3826. Father Comstock proves a more compelling villain than Sechenov as well.
Some things are one-to-one with BioShock Infinite in Atomic Heart, mainly the setting, the abilities, and how you use them in combat. But its aim of being highly reminiscent of BioShock is what hurt it in the end, much like the case with The Callisto Protocol. And you'll face no sexual harassment from the vending machines in this one.