New Atomic Heart MMORPG doubles down on the FPS's most controversial element

The Cube. There's something a little bit ominous about it. Perhaps we're all slightly scarred from The Tesseract from the Avengers movies, or maybe the shape's geometric perfection carries a distinctly austere quality. In Mundfish's new shooter, set in the world of Atomic Heart (aptly dubbed the 'Atomic Universe'), there are even more reasons to fear cubes, so I caught up with CEO Robert Bagratuni to learn about the studio's first multiplayer foray.

The story revolves around The Cube, a mysterious levitating object that's become synonymous with paranormal phenomena. Much like a Rubik's Cube, its sides rotate, unleashing all manner of chaos in the blink of an eye. At its core lies an equation that can save all of humanity or, if solved incorrectly, destroy it. The multiplayer game's premise is simple: get in there, solve the puzzle, and save the human race. No pressure.

The Cube is Mundfish's first step into the world of live-service games, and while there's the safety net of it being set in the Atomic Heart universe, it's a far cry from its story-driven, single-player predecessor. I ask Bragatuni how the studio has adapted to multiplayer development, and what he envisions for The Cube – is it a co-op shooter like Helldivers 2, or a competitive, tactical experience like Valorant or Counter-Strike?

"The Cube is an action MMORPG with a very strong emphasis on exploration," Bragatuni tells me via translator, immediately evoking images of games like Destiny 2. "If you remember the dungeon sequences in Atomic Heart 1, they were very nicely designed and well thought out, but the player rushes through them and doesn't get a chance to explore them, and this is kind of sad for us. We saw the potential in the world of Atomic Heart for a multiplayer experience where the player can change their playstyle, revisit certain instances, and find the best gameplay style for them.

"Through Atomic Heart's DLC journey, we've established a very nice production pipeline for content: we really know how to produce good-quality, interesting content to enrich the game. The Cube will have a lot of content – it's live ops – and now we as a team really know how to deliver that and organize our internal processes."

But it's no secret that the multiplayer shooter sphere has been struggling. XDefiant officially shuttered a few days ago, and, of course, there's the infamous story of Concord, so I ask Bragatuni if there's risk involved in wading into a space that appears to be contracting.

"The team that's developing the game are gamers," he tells me. "We play all the time; we have a lot of internal tests, as well as external playtests, too. In two years, we did over 70 playtests. What we want to ensure is that we create a game that is fun to play and people actually need it and want it – not that we come up with some crazy idea that no one needs.

"We always stress test our ideas with the people who actually play games. We're not trying to create a game that has to be done by certain metrics, we want to create a great, fun experience. This is what's most important for us. We want to be down to earth."

Given that details are still pretty sparse, Mundfish hasn't given any hints about The Cube's release date just yet. It has, however, announced Atomic Heart 2, and we've got a full interview on what it looks like (and why the devs' main 'goal' is topping the Pornhub charts) right here.

While we wait for The Cube to spill its secrets, we have a list of all the best FPS games if you want to get some practice in. Alternatively, if you're looking for something new to play with your pals, here's a list of the best co-op games.

You can follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides. We've also got a vibrant community Discord server, where you can chat about this story with members of the team and fellow readers.