Field guide · seven games compared

Games like Atomic Heart, robots, alternate history and a retro future

By Whale Development Studios, the studio behind Iron Curtain Call. Published 5 November 2026. Every date, price, platform and demo below was checked on the US Steam store on 6 November 2026; the sources are listed at the end.

Iron Curtain Call in first person: a cartoon glove punches a tin robot apart in a snowy night market, a shotgun in the other hand, under the comic words SHATTERED! and SHAKE WELL! — Iron Curtain Call, a real gameplay frame. The robots burst into bolts, springs and scrap.

The short answer

Robots, a changed past and a retro future.

Atomic Heart, per Wikipedia, is a first person shooter set in an alternate history Soviet Union of the 1950s, first shown as a retrofuturistic utopia, with a wide variety of enemies, most of them robots, and melee weapons beside its firearms. No other game matches all of that, so this guide lists the games that match a part of it and says which part.

BioShock is the nearest in spirit: Wikipedia says PC Gamer felt Atomic Heart took its primary influence from it. BioShock Infinite swaps the sea for a flying city, Prey (2017) is an alternate timeline with the Soviet Union in it, Wolfenstein: The New Order is an alternate history 1960s Europe with robots, Fallout 4 is the 1950s atomic age as a huge open world, and We Happy Few is a retrofuturistic alternative 1960s England. Iron Curtain Call is the funny one: robots are its only enemy, in an alternate 1965 World War III, and its demo is free on Steam.

Two of the seven had a free demo on Steam on 6 November 2026: Iron Curtain Call and Prey. Atomic Heart itself has one too. The Iron Curtain Call demo is Mission 1 and has no parry; the parry comes with the full game on 11 March 2027.

At a glance

Seven games, and what each shares with Atomic Heart.

Checked on the US Steam store and the games’ Wikipedia articles on 6 November 2026; the second column uses the words of whichever of the two states it. Prices are list prices in US dollars before any sale; Steam sets its own prices in other countries. Atomic Heart itself is $59.99 on Steam for Windows. Ours first, then roughly by how much of Atomic Heart each one shares.
Game	What it shares with Atomic Heart	How it plays	Free demo on Steam	US price	Out
Iron Curtain CallOur game	Robots are the only enemy, in an alternate 1965 World War III run by a customer service AI, with a retro future and melee that keeps you alive	Single player first person shooter, a cartoon comedy; fast and close range	Yes, free: Mission 1, about 15 to 20 minutes	Not priced yet	11 March 2027Free demo since 28 October 2026
BioShock Remastered	Wikipedia: an underwater utopia gone wrong, mutated and mechanical enemies, a wrench as melee weapon; Wikipedia says PC Gamer saw it as Atomic Heart’s main influence	Single player first person shooter with an arsenal and genetic powers	No	$19.99	15 September 2016First released in 2007
BioShock Infinite	Steam: a marvel of a flying city with a very dark secret and an expanding arsenal of weapons and abilities; Wikipedia adds melee attacks and a robotic guardian called Songbird	Single player first person shooter with a computer controlled companion	No	$29.99	25 March 2013
Prey	Wikipedia: an alternate timeline with an accelerated Space Race, where the Soviet Union meets aliens in 1958; a wrench to start with; the enemies are aliens, not robots	Single player first person shooter and immersive sim on a space station	Yes, free	$29.99	4 May 2017
Wolfenstein: The New Order	Wikipedia: an alternate history 1960s Europe where the Nazis won, with robots built from stolen technology; melee attacks, firearms and explosives	Single player first person shooter across Europe, with a resistance cell	No	$19.99	19 May 2014
Fallout 4	Wikipedia: a retro futuristic universe built on 1950s ideas, with a robotic butler as a companion; Steam: a huge open world	Single player open world role playing game after a nuclear war	No	$19.99	9 November 2015
We Happy Few	Steam: a retrofuturistic city in an alternative 1960s England; Wikipedia: automated security systems, and hostile robots in one of its three stories	Single player action adventure; hide, fight and conform	No	$59.99	10 August 2018

The games

One by one, who each is for.

Each entry says who the game is for, what it shares with Atomic Heart and how it differs from Iron Curtain Call. The facts under each come from its Steam page on 6 November 2026; what it shares comes from its Steam page or its Wikipedia article, and the entry says which.

Iron Curtain Call

Our game

Play it if you want robot enemies and a changed 1960s, played for laughs and drawn like a 1930s cartoon, and you want to try it for free first.

It is 1965, year three of World War III. Humanity ran out of soldiers, so the war is fought by wind up tin robots run by the Supreme Chancellor, a customer service machine that was handed a country. You are Corporal Punishment, a silent soldier delivered to the front like cargo, and Colonel Panic is on the radio: “I’d send backup, but you are the backup.”

What it shares with Atomic Heart is real but small: robots are the only enemy, the war is an alternate history one, the world is a retro future of rockets and wind up machines, and the melee keeps you alive, since a punch gives you health. What differs is the big thing. Atomic Heart is an earnest story in a Soviet utopia; ours is a cartoon comedy, with ink lines, full color and comic words on every hit, and its robots burst into bolts, springs and scrap with no blood.

The free demo is Mission 1, Welcome to Rubbleton: about 15 to 20 minutes, ending with the first boss, Major Disaster. It has no parry; that comes with the full game.

Developer and publisher: Whale Development Studios
Out: 11 March 2027
Free demo out: 28 October 2026
On Steam: Windows and macOS (demo on Windows, macOS and Linux)
US list price: Not priced yet
Demo: Yes, free

Play the free demo Play 60 seconds in your browser, no download

Iron Curtain Call: Major Disaster, the first boss, a giant tin general, takes the finisher in a town square under bunting and comic sound effects — Chapter 1, Rubbleton: Major Disaster, the boss at the end of the free demo. A real gameplay frame.

BioShock Remastered

Play it if you want the game Atomic Heart is most often compared with, and a Mac version.

BioShock is, in Steam’s words, a shooter loaded with unique weapons and tactics: an arsenal from revolvers to grenade launchers, and genetic changes to your own DNA that make you a deadlier weapon. Wikipedia says you play Jack, who finds the underwater city of Rapture, built by Andrew Ryan as an isolated utopia, and fights its mutated and mechanical denizens while you learn what went wrong.

Wikipedia also says PC Gamer felt Atomic Heart took its primary influence from BioShock, while finding its combat and progression weaker, and that Polygon felt Atomic Heart failed to eclipse BioShock. A wrench is its melee weapon, per Wikipedia.

The same promise of a utopia that went wrong, under water instead of under the Soviet flag, and with no cartoon in it. Steam lists the Remastered edition at $19.99, for Windows and macOS, with no demo on 6 November 2026. First released in 2007.

Developers: 2K Boston, 2K Australia, Blind Squirrel and Feral Interactive (Mac)
Publisher: 2K and Feral Interactive (Mac)
Released: 15 September 2016
On Steam: Windows and macOS
US list price: $19.99
Demo: None on Steam

BioShock Infinite

Play it if you want that BioShock kind of story, in the sky, with a partner at your side.

Steam’s BioShock Infinite sends hired gun Booker DeWitt to rescue Elizabeth, locked up since childhood in the flying city of Columbia. Together they learn to use an expanding arsenal of weapons and abilities, and fight on zeppelins and along high speed Sky Lines while they uncover the city’s dark secret.

Wikipedia sets the game in 1912 and adds that the player fights with guns and melee attacks, and that Elizabeth is guarded by Songbird, a large robotic creature. Robots are not its main enemy, so it matches Atomic Heart in mood more than in machines.

A grand, dark story world, as Atomic Heart has. It is $29.99, for Windows, macOS and Linux, with no demo on Steam on 6 November 2026.

Developers: Irrational Games and Virtual Programming (Linux)
Publisher: 2K
Released: 25 March 2013
On Steam: Windows, macOS and Linux
US list price: $29.99
Demo: None on Steam

Prey

Play it if you want a Soviet shaped alternate history, a space station to explore and a demo to try first.

Arkane’s Prey puts you on Talos I, a space station orbiting the moon, as the key subject of an experiment that has gone wrong, in Steam’s words; the station has been overrun by hostile aliens and you survive with your wits, weapons and mind bending abilities.

Wikipedia calls it an alternate timeline with an accelerated Space Race, where the Soviet Union meets the aliens in 1958, and says the station mixes retrofuturism, Soviet Bloc brutalism and Art Deco. It also says you begin with a wrench. The enemies are aliens, not robots.

The one here with the Soviet Union in its alternate history and a free demo. It is $29.99, for Windows; Steam lists the demo for Windows.

Developer: Arkane Studios
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Released: 4 May 2017
On Steam: Windows (demo on Windows)
US list price: $29.99
Demo: Yes, free

Wolfenstein: The New Order

Play it if you want a loud alternate history shooter with melee, big guns and robots built from stolen technology.

MachineGames’ Wolfenstein: The New Order sends you across Europe on a personal mission to bring down the Nazi war machine, in Steam’s words: you infiltrate guarded facilities, battle high tech legions and take control of super weapons.

Wikipedia sets it in an alternate history 1960s Europe where the Nazis won the Second World War, says you fight with melee attacks, firearms and explosives, and describes robots that the Nazis mass produce and control. Its sequel, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, is on Steam too, and Steam lists a free demo for it.

A war story with a serious tone, as Atomic Heart has, and the same decade as Iron Curtain Call’s war. It is $19.99, for Windows, with no demo on Steam on 6 November 2026.

Developer: MachineGames
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Released: 19 May 2014
On Steam: Windows
US list price: $19.99
Demo: None on Steam

Fallout 4

Play it if you want the atomic age retro future as a huge world to explore for many hours.

Bethesda Game Studios’ Fallout 4 starts with you as the sole survivor of Vault 111, emerging into a world reduced to ash by nuclear war, in Steam’s words. It is a single player open world role playing game with hundreds of locations, characters and quests.

Wikipedia says its alternate history keeps 1950s living styles beside futuristic products such as robotic rocking horses and Vaults, a retro futuristic universe of laser weapons and artificial intelligence, and names Codsworth, the Sole Survivor’s robotic butler, among the companions.

The retro future is the shared part; the open world is the difference. It is $19.99, for Windows, with no demo on Steam on 6 November 2026.

Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Released: 9 November 2015
On Steam: Windows
US list price: $19.99
Demo: None on Steam

We Happy Few

Play it if you want a retro future that is bright, polite and quietly sinister.

Compulsion Games’ We Happy Few is, in Steam’s words, an action adventure game set in a drug fuelled, retrofuturistic city in an alternative 1960s England. You hide, fight and conform your way out of a delusional, Joy obsessed world.

Wikipedia says the city’s technology includes Tesla styled weapons and automated security systems, that the player can collect melee weapons, and that one of the three stories ends in an underground facility full of hostile robots.

A dystopia, as Atomic Heart’s utopia turns into one, with a very different tone from ours. It is $59.99, for Windows, with no demo on Steam on 6 November 2026.

Developer and publisher: Compulsion Games
Released: 10 August 2018
On Steam: Windows
US list price: $59.99
Demo: None on Steam

What to look for

What makes a game like Atomic Heart?

Going by its Steam page and Wikipedia, four things stand out. A world that went wrong: Steam calls it a utopia of wonders where humans lived in harmony with their loyal robots, until machines, mutants and superpowered robots rebelled. A changed past: Wikipedia sets it in an alternate history Soviet Union of the 1950s. A retro future: Wikipedia says it was first shown as a retrofuturistic utopia. And a big kit: Steam lists a power glove, blades and cutting edge weapons, and Wikipedia says firearms, energy weapons and melee weapons, against enemies that are mostly robots.

No game on this page has all four, so pick by the one you miss most. For the utopia that went wrong, start with BioShock. For the changed past, Wolfenstein: The New Order and Prey. For the retro future, Fallout 4 and We Happy Few. For robots and melee in one place, with a joke on every hit, Iron Curtain Call.

Atomic Heart itself

Atomic Heart’s own DLC and sequel

If you finished the game and want more of it, Steam lists story DLC for Atomic Heart, each sold separately and each needing the base game: Annihilation Instinct, Trapped in Limbo, Enchantment Under the Sea and Blood On Crystal. Steam also lists skin packs, a digital artbook and the soundtrack.

Steam lists a sequel, Atomic Heart 2, as coming soon with its release date to be announced on 6 November 2026, for Windows, from the same studio, Mundfish. Steam calls it a return to the retrofuturistic universe with new characters and dangers. We name no date because Steam gives none.

If it is the worlds you came for

Two of our other guides cover the settings: alternate history FPS games and retro futuristic games. For the fast, close range part, our melee FPS guide compares the shooters, and free FPS and boomer shooter demos on Steam lists what you can try first.

Or skip the reading: play 60 seconds of Iron Curtain Call in your browser, no download.

Questions

Questions players ask

What are the best games like Atomic Heart?

It depends on which part you loved. For the utopia that goes wrong, BioShock. For an alternate history shooter with robots and melee, Wolfenstein: The New Order. For a Soviet shaped alternate timeline, Prey. For the retro future, Fallout 4 and We Happy Few. For robots, melee and a joke on every hit, Iron Curtain Call. All seven are in the table above.

What are good Atomic Heart alternatives?

Iron Curtain Call is the alternative if you want the robots and the alternate history without the dread: a cartoon comedy about a 1965 World War III. BioShock and Prey are the alternatives if you want a story you explore. None copies Atomic Heart, so the table above says what each shares with it.

What are the best games like Atomic Heart and BioShock?

BioShock Infinite and the original BioShock, the two ends of one series, then Prey for a station you explore, and Wolfenstein: The New Order for an alternate history with robots. Wikipedia says PC Gamer felt Atomic Heart took its primary influence from BioShock, so the two are often named together. Steam lists BioShock Remastered and BioShock Infinite for macOS as well as Windows.

Is there a game like Atomic Heart with a free demo?

Yes. Iron Curtain Call has a free demo on Steam: Mission 1, Welcome to Rubbleton, about 15 to 20 minutes, ending with the first boss, Major Disaster, with no parry (that comes with the full game). Prey has a free demo for Windows, and Atomic Heart has its own free demo on Steam, for Windows. The others here had none on 6 November 2026.

Is there a funny game like Atomic Heart?

Iron Curtain Call is the one on this page: its robots are the tin army of a customer service AI in an alternate 1965 World War III, drawn as a 1930s rubber hose cartoon. It shares the robot enemies, the changed history and the melee, and none of the dread. You can play 60 seconds in your browser.

Does Atomic Heart have DLC or a sequel?

Steam lists four story DLCs, Annihilation Instinct, Trapped in Limbo, Enchantment Under the Sea and Blood On Crystal, each needing the base game. It also lists Atomic Heart 2 as coming soon with no release date on 6 November 2026.

Which games like Atomic Heart run on a Mac?

On 6 November 2026 Steam listed macOS for Iron Curtain Call, BioShock Remastered and BioShock Infinite. Atomic Heart itself and the other four are Windows only on Steam.

Sources

Every fact on this page comes from these pages, read on 6 November 2026. Prices and dates change; the store page always has the final word.

Iron Curtain Call, Steam store page
BioShock Remastered, Steam store page
BioShock Infinite, Steam store page
Prey, Steam store page
Wolfenstein: The New Order, Steam store page
Fallout 4, Steam store page
We Happy Few, Steam store page
Atomic Heart, Wikipedia
BioShock, Wikipedia
BioShock Infinite, Wikipedia
Prey (2017 video game), Wikipedia
Wolfenstein: The New Order, Wikipedia
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, Wikipedia
Fallout 4, Wikipedia
We Happy Few, Wikipedia
Retrofuturism, Wikipedia
Alternate history, Wikipedia

World War III now has a free trial.

Mission 1 of Iron Curtain Call is free on Steam. Play it, and if the war wins you over, wishlist the full war: it arrives on 11 March 2027.

Play the free demo Wishlist on Steam Play 60 seconds in your browser, no download