10 Recent Video Game Openings NOBODY Saw Coming

Atomic Heart may have received mixed reviews but it's hard to fault the preamble. Rather than cramming a ton of backstory down your throat, the retrofuturistic FPS starts off with the protagonist sailing into a Soviet city through a canal. The boat moves slowly, giving players time to bask in their surroundings. 

There's no direct exposition, but enough is seen and heard to recognise Atomic Heart takes place in an alternative USSR, where floating cities, propaganda-filled airships, and robotic servants are the norm. 

Despite the idyllic demeanour and compliant citizens, you know something is up when the androids begin to subtly malfunction. The more you interact with the robots, the more they pause at random intervals, behave with mild hostility, or speak in an irregular pitch. Although there's no sign of grave danger yet, there are enough indicators that the demise of this so-called utopia's is imminent.

Sure enough, the tranquility is soon dashed, with the passive machines going full-Terminator, leading to horror-level scares and grotesque violence.

Even though players knew something like this would, watching everything go from 0 to a 100 in the blink of an eye is rattling.