Science-Fiction Weekly – Atomic Heart, Bill & Ted Face The Music, Avengers: Infinity War

Ignore the totally awesome top image for now! Let's kick off this week's column with a killer trailer for a game you've likely never heard of before.

This wild looking science-fiction shooter is called Atomic Heart and it's slated to release on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 on an unspecified day this year. Atomic Heart takes place in an alternate universe focusing on the Soviet Union's dangerous tinkering with science. You assume the role of a special agent named P-3, who is sent in to retrieve an artifact from a facility that has suddenly gone radio silent.

The trailer shows P-3 stumbles upon a robot uprising, but this tale may also be a love story in disguise. "Even the toughest times can't stop two loving hearts from embracing each other," reads a tease for the game. The image shows the hearts are exposed and wrapped in metal and wires. As more of the facility is explored, we're learn more about the love shared between two employees. I'm guessing they are no longer "human." If you watch the trailer, that could mean anything. They could be transformed into zombie clowns, androids, or may even be a water-based entity roaming the halls. Creativity appears to be around almost every corner in this strange facility.

Atomic Heart is being developed by Mundfish, a Moscow-based studio that is also working on a VR title called Soviet Lunapark VR Room, which looks equally as crazy and disturbing. Lunapark is hitting almost every VR platform, including PlayStation VR. The game looks to be a little like Fallout in the opening seconds of the trailer below, but ends up showing us it has a much lighter and more arcade-like side. Again, the game looks great. We can't wait to see if Mundfish's work makes it stateside.

Roughly 27 years have passed since two most-excellent friends saved the galaxy, and we're now going to see how their adventure ends. Ted "Theodore" Logan and Bill S. Preston Esq. are coming back to the silver screen in Bill & Ted Face the Music. Both Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are reprising their respective roles. The film is penned by Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure's creative team of Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon. Galaxy Quest's Dean Parisot is sitting in the director's chair. Reeves and Winter released a short statement that says "We couldn't be more excited to get the whole band back together again. Chris and Ed wrote an amazing script, and with Dean at the helm, we've got a dream team."

Destiny 2's latest expansion, Warmind, is out today, and Game Informer's Matt Miller is currently working his way through this new content. He'll be providing impressions in the days ahead and a full review as soon as he can. If you want to know what Warmind offers, check out our initial report.

If you haven't seen Avengers: Infinity War yet, I would stop reading. The last bit of this week's Science-Fiction Weekly dives deep into SPOILERS from the film. On the other hand, if you did see the film (which every person on the planet damn well should), the film's directors (Joe Russo and Anthony Russo) are not holding back on answering questions from fans and the press alike. At a student question and answer period at Iowa City High School of all places, which was reported on by Comicbook, Joe Russo was asked why Adam Warlock wasn't in the film. Warlock is a big player in the Infinity Gauntlet comic book series the film is based on, but has only been briefly teased in Marvel's Cinematic Universe. He was the "Adam" of note at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

"That’s a James Gunn thing. We never intended to put Adam Warlock in Infinity War,” he said. "We have so many heroes we have to service that you guys love and give them screen time, because you want to see the hero and villain have an emotional connection. You wouldn’t have a connection to [Warlock].  [He] doesn’t have a connection with Thanos and the built-up story.”

Screenwriter Christopher Markus echoed this thought, telling Entertainment Tonight that they considered Warlock, but would need significant buildup to make him a viable player in this universe. "We didn't introduce Adam Warlock, because it's a massive backbend and you practically have to make an Adam Warlock movie to introduce him," he said. "He just can't walk onscreen. So, there was a brief moment where we were like, Ehhh..., and then we were like-- [He points to the movie's poster.] We have that many characters already! And then there were others we couldn't use. Like, Silver Surfer would have been useful, but we can't touch him. Currently."

And will you see any of Netflix's Marvel characters show up? Anthony Russo told Variety that they were discussed as options for the roster. "We made the briefest consideration of [including TV characters]. When we’re alone in a room with Markus and [Stephen] McFeely, we consider every idea. We like thinking of everything. But it seemed like the story that had been told within the movies was so specific and elaborate already that once we started working through the story, we knew we had our hands full just with this set of characters and narratives.”

This is a bummer on all fronts for comic fans, but it makes sense given just how many characters are involved.

That's it for this week, folks. If you enjoy the column, share it with your closest friends, and come back in seven days for more sci-fi goodness!