An Alternate USSR, a Foul-Mouthed Goose, and Multilingual Voice-Over: Our Work on Atomic Heart

Atomic Heart is one of the incredible projects we’ve had the honor of working on recently. With over 722,000 words and 323 hours of testing, this behemoth game is set in the style of an alternate USSR. In addition to localization and LQA, we also worked on the voice-over text, and we’re thrilled with the results! We’ve shared our impressions of the game and details about the work that went into the project, challenges that arose in the process, and why we can’t get enough of the Goose in a new article!

The year 2023 saw the release of Atomic Heart, a first-person shooter with RPG elements, set in an alternate universe. The game caused quite a stir, which we followed closely; after all, the Allcorrect team played a major role in the localization and localization testing for the game. In this article, we’ll discuss the work that went into the project, challenges that arose in the process, and why we can’t get enough of the Goose.

We first heard about this game in 2016, and were delighted when we saw the first prototype. Even in the early stages, Atomic Heart promised to be an outstanding project with a fascinating narrative and stunning visuals. But our work only began when we started localization testing for the main game in 2022. Mundfish liked our approach, and when the Annihilation Instinct DLC was released, we were entrusted with the full localization into 13 languages.

Official game poster

This was an unusual project in many ways. The game makes numerous references to aspects of the USSR, so we had to work with primary sources, looking for the source materials, watching episodes of TV shows, and checking historical references. Of course, this was all complicated by the fact that the action takes place in an alternate universe, so the world of the game is very different from reality. Fortunately, the developer’s narrative team stayed in constant contact with us. They sent detailed explanations of jokes and screenshots (and we love explanatory screenshots!), and if we needed to, we could always hop on a call with the narrative designers for clarification. Specifically, the team had fun finding lyrics for popular songs in different languages with similar meanings.

In order to localize the lyrics properly, we needed to run an extensive pre-translation analysis. The script was originally written in Russian. We translated it into English, commenting on almost every line of the text in detail. This helped the team working on the other languages to correctly convey the semantic nuances.

The environment of the game’s alternate universe.
Source: mundfish.com

The second challenge the team faced was the sheer volume of work. Project managers had to put together and follow a clear process to meet the deadline. They compiled huge glossaries of weapons, location names, items, and more. We were also constantly refining and improving the style guide, a document that collected as much information about the game and how to translate it as possible in one convenient location. These steps allowed us to maintain consistency in the translations. When the DLC was released, the developer decided to change some key terms, which meant we needed to go back and change those terms in the main game as well.

Why do players love Atomic Heart?

There are lots of reasons, including the multilingual voice acting. It’s always fun to get fully immersed in a game. For our team, this meant additional requirements for the text. It had to fit within specified limits, and the subtitles had to match the rhythm and line length in the game. To help with these issues, we used an additional program, Subtitle Edit, which allowed us to adjust the English text to match the length of the Russian original and make sure that the voice acting would stick to the video.

There are also plenty of times during the course of a project when feedback needs to be provided quickly and various items need to be rewritten. To save the client time and resources, we always confirmed the pronunciation of all terms where it’s possible to have different readings.

Working with voice-over is always a big risk, since the slightest mistake can cost a lot of time and money. So it’s not just a demanding process, but also a kind of adventure. It was fascinating to get acquainted with the history of development and the inner workings of the company before others and to see the results of our work.

Vadim Kiselev, Allcorrect Expert Linguist

One more voice-over-related thing that can’t be overlooked: the Goose. If you have to ask what goose, you clearly haven’t played Atomic Heart DLCs (and we advise you to correct this mistake as soon as possible).

The potty-mouthed Goose

This minor, but memorable, character is a bird who’s had a THOUGHT device implanted in its brain, which allows it to talk. The linguists were in for a real treat. Its lines were full of jokes, references to memes, and foul language. And translating speech like that is no easy task.

We handled both the translation of in-game text and localization testing. Working on both aspects allowed us to ensure that the text was of the highest quality possible. If the testers found questionable items, they could discuss them with the translators and work together to find the best solution.

Speaking of the team, during the localization process, we carried out quality assessments on a slice-by-slice basis. This means that we checked parts of the text selectively and, if we were not satisfied with the quality of the work, we promptly provided feedback to the linguists. This allowed us to prevent any misunderstandings about motives and meaning so we could ensure consistently high quality in the final text.

Did we do a good job on Atomic Heart?

We decided to analyze player feedback instead of trying to guess! Gamers were satisfied with the translation, the multilingual voice acting, and, of course, the fascinating story that they could immerse themselves in.

Project Features:

• Many references to aspects of the USSR.
• The action takes place in an alternative universe, so the game world is different from reality.
• Large volume (over 722,000 words and 323 hours of testing).
• Text preparation for voice-over.
• Working simultaneously on localization and LQA.