Atomic Heart has its fair share of issues. Apart from the controversy surrounding its Russian developer, Mundfish, the game also has a lackluster story, cringy dialogue, and bland overworld. However, one of the more shocking aspects of the game comes in the form of a racist caricature. In Atomic Heart's save rooms, you can watch an old '50s cartoon called Nu, Pogodi! Likened to Tom and Jerry, this cartoon unfortunately depicts what is known as a Golliwog, which is a racist caricature of a Black person.The game has been called out by many players on ResetEra for including or failing to remove this caricature. Developer Mundfish has now come out with a statement, apologising for the inclusion of the caricature. "The Mundfish team thanks the PC Gamer contributor for bringing this lack of sensitivity to our attention. We apologize if using the vintage cartoon or music has caused hurt or insult. We will edit the parts in question." said the statement.There's no word on when the changes will be made, but considering the backlash the studio received, it should be pretty soon. The cartoon, which is an unfortunate product of its time, showed the caricature for just one scene, but unlike Tom and Jerry – which now includes a disclaimer about this exact thing – no such disclaimer exists in Atomic Heart.
However, this isn't the only thing that Atomic Heart players have been complaining about. It seems that the game lacks a lot of basic features that are commonplace even amongst small indie games. For one, it won't let you change the size of the font for subtitles, making them very hard to read for some people. Some have complained that the game's streamer mode – which removes copyrighted material – doesn't work, resulting in copyright strikes on YouTube and Twitch.
To add to the controversy, Ukraine has asked Valve, Sony, and Microsoft to remove the game from their digital marketplaces in the region. The reason being that Mundfish did not make a statement against Russia's attack against Ukraine. The studio said it is a "pro-peace organization" that won't comment on politics.