The illusion of choice has been with gaming since its inception. We like to feel our choices matter, but more often than not, in Atomic Heart left or right, our choices often lead to the same conclusion. But it doesn’t mean we can’t take a lesson away from it.
Take the elevator question, for instance. This happens early in the game as the player makes their way out of the ruined facility ravaged by excavation robots after tinkering with the circuit breaker and getting the elevators working again. In this part, Agent P-3 asks CHAR-Les which elevator to take.
CHAR-les suggests taking the right elevator. But P-3 states, as a matter of fact, implies that the machine doesn’t actually know which direction to go, and insists that he’ll be taking the left elevator instead.
So, do you have it in you to trust your robotic friend? Or do you choose to follow the choice of your character on a whim?
Atomic Heart Left Elevator Choice
If you choose to go to the left elevator, you will find the ground underneath you is solid and you can walk all the way out to the exit.
Atomic Heart Right Elevator Choice
Should you choose to take the one on the right, you will find that the ground has completely collapsed around the exit, and you’ll need to perform a jump dash in order to make it to the exit. This is a slightly more challenging route, especially for players not used to jumping dashing.
If you fail to make the jump, you will fall down a floor or two and take fall damage. But we’d wager the elevator ride back up hurt our pride more than the actual fall.
No matter your choice, both instances have the same dialogue about CHAR-Les wanting to make things “easier” for the agent and P-3 not wanting to take the backseat in decision-making.
In the end, CHAR-Les was just helping out by giving us the “optimal” route. We don’t really know what constitutes as optimal if it involves having to jump out of an elevator. So, by choosing to take the left elevator, you should congratulate yourself for trusting your gut.
Actually, the more likely explanation is that the elevator on the left was the first thing we saw, and we immediately go into it. (Guilty as charged.)
With that being said, you should remember this moment when considering if you should trust robots or not. That’s it, that’s all. See you later, agents.
Check out this video by Youtuber Manugames92 where they show the results of both choices.