Walkthrough “Stand or Die” in Atomic Heart: a complete guide to simulation

Video Guide

A simple video with a complete walkthrough:

Section 1 — 4 Mechs

The first section is straightforward. First, pick up the lure gun and sticky mines. Ignore the hack points, they only slow down the process. The most effective strategy is to quickly hack the two mechs on the left and make 3 headshots, as shown here:

Try not to shoot too quickly, give the gun time to reload, and don’t waste the last bullet unnecessarily. It’s okay to miss a couple of times, perfection is not required. But if you miss at least one of the two hack points (each mech has two), you won’t have enough time, so I recommend restarting.

Section 2 — Platforming and the Refracting Laser

Section 2 starts immediately after the first room and includes a short platforming section. Don’t rush: you don’t need to make the jumps in one go, you have enough time. The only trick is when you pass the platforms and encounter three robots. First, quickly shoot one charge from the lure gun directly at the edge of the laser. Then, very quickly hack the robot on the left and shoot 1-2 times at its weak spot. This will make the flying robot lock onto it.

After that, retreat and wait for the robots to approach the lure. Usually, I activate the laser when Diana says “beware”. After activating the laser, give it a second to disappear, and then run forward:

Section 3 — Charge Rifle and Homing Missiles

This section is not very difficult, and even if you miss one shot from the charge rifle, you’ll have a small margin. Ideally, you should have one shot left for the next section.

First, pick up the two types of guns near the platforms in order: charge rifle, then homing missiles.

As soon as you pick up the missiles, switch to the charge rifle and start charging it in the air. The platform under you will catch up to you and set up for a shot:

Then, immediately jump to the second platform (the one next to the door), take out the missile launcher, and charge it for only one scale. Quickly release the scale and switch to the charge rifle. Charge it as soon as possible and shoot at the center of the group of enemies that appear. After that, return to the homing missiles, fully charge them, and destroy the remaining three. To save time, you can immediately run to the door while the missiles are flying:

Section 4 — Combat

First, you need to climb up the shaft, dodging lasers in time. It’s simple: interact with the shaft as soon as one row of lasers has just passed you.

When you get to the top, quickly pick up the Photon Laser and replace the homing missiles with it. Also, take the hack points for multi-hack and confusion. Usually, one use of each is enough, but if you’re slow, you might need two.

Next, shoot one sticky mine (the one you picked up in section 1) at the edge of the square in the center of the arena. Wait a bit until the red mech approaches close enough. Then, quickly aim at the mine, hack it, applying multi-hack and confusion. The mine’s position is always the same, so this will work every time:

After the mine is set and triggered, charge your charge rifle. It doesn’t matter if you have one or two shots left — I’ve found that you can cope with one. Your task is to quickly aim and hit at least two mechs as soon as they’re affected by the confusion hack. Then, finish off the last one with your main pistol.

If you’re acting too slowly, you can quickly switch to the photon laser to finish off the last enemy, but try to waste as few bullets as possible.

After you’ve dealt with the first three red mechs, a new wave will appear. If you were fast enough, your previous mine will still be on the ground. You need to quickly do one of two actions in any order: release the last charge of the lure gun directly over the first mine or set a second mine. If you took too long to kill the mechs, use the lure first, otherwise — the mine, then the lure. You don’t need to reapply the hacks, as the second mine will trigger a chain reaction from the first. For acceleration, you can set a third mine.

After all the mines are set, quickly switch to the photon laser and attack the enemies in the following priority:

Shield
Flying

Section 5 — Hacking and the Ceiling Laser

This is, without a doubt, the most difficult section in the room, and there’s no easy way to do it. If you want to pass without taking damage, you might need to restart many times.

As soon as the last enemy in the previous room is destroyed, the ceiling will quickly collapse. You need to quickly hack the first panel. Usually, this goes quickly. I play with a keyboard and mouse, so for me, the input for hacking is WASD. For the first panel, quickly press W D S in any order — this should work. For the second panel, you also need to quickly add A.

Next, I prefer to quickly hack the lower node to the right of the final door. This will always be the hacking of the moving door. Sometimes, RNG can let you down, so you might need to repeat it several times. I don’t have any special tips, but if you want a different approach, you can skip this step. If you didn’t skip it, quickly hack the node in the top-right corner — this will always be the hacking of the stationary door.

Now, there’s a special point on the map where you can stand and not get hit by the ceiling laser. If you have enough time, just let the laser pass. I’m not sure if this is an intended strategy, but the speed required to hack all 4 points seems unrealistic to me, so it’s unlikely to be possible otherwise (plus the mission name “Stand or Die” might be a hint). In any case, I navigate like this:

Align Hugh under the semicircle where the word “SAFE” is, as shown above. Look at the ceiling and try to fine-tune in this general area. This is a fairly stable spot between the two lasers that will allow the ceiling to pass without hitting you. Diana’s hitbox is very small, so you only need to worry about Hugh. Also, I’ve noticed that if Hugh is looking to the left (when you’re facing the final door), it works more reliably than looking to the right. Stand still and let the lasers pass. It should look something like this:

If you skipped hacking the right panels, do it now — you’ll have enough time. Otherwise, hack the last two on the left — these will be W A S D combinations again.

Quickly run to the exit — and you’re done. Congratulations!

Additional Notes

There are no hidden rewards for completing this trial or for perfectly completing all the simulation goals. The rewards listed on the training page are all you’ll get.

The “Simulator Master” achievement requires only completing the main goal, so don’t worry about speed or lack of damage. I hope this guide was helpful. It’s just an interesting challenge to test your mastery of all the game’s mechanics!

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