Atomic Heart (opens in new tab) is currently rated "very favorable" with over 5,000 reviews on Steam, despite widespread controversy regarding the game's origins (opens in new tab). However, the top review at the moment sums up what every player of Atomic Heart must face. The review by Matt_KPLS, who recommends the game after playing it for about 90 hours, simply states.

One of the strangest elements of Atomic Heart is a vending machine called Nora with whom the player must interact after being attacked by a vending machine in a cutscene. With the help of gloves, the attack is repelled and the vending machine is defeated and ...... Things take a strange turn. It is as if the sub/dom fetish has been transplanted into a household appliance, and the machine begins to treat you as its master, proposing to you repeatedly in grotesque sexual terms.

Reaction to this has been mixed, but certainly responsive. In fact, some are very enthusiastic. "YES NORA YOU CAN TIE ME TO THE BED," a favorable review on Nyceur (opens in new tab). DashiVR (opens in new tab) says, "Samsung gets on this!" He writes.

Other players don't seem to know how to take it." 'Fridge rape' can now be checked off my bucket list," Exderon writes (opens in new tab). Kaif writes only (opens in new tab) "Touched by the Fridge," while D offers an Atomic Heart alias (opens in new tab): "Fridge Sexual Harassment Simulator 2023."

"Rebellious, dominant men turn me on," Nora tells the player at their first meeting.

"How savage! I love tough men! They burn me up!" The appliances became even more explicit, and the moment that crossed the Rubicon for me was when Nora demanded, "Squirt your polymer inside me."

To give credit where credit is due, Mando Fish tries to be disturbing rather than provocative with Nora. But this is the Internet, and instead of being unsettling, people want to rule the 34 hells out of this refrigerator (NSFL example (opens in new tab)). I never wanted to fuck a refrigerator until I played "Atomic Heart," writes Nyanny (opens in new tab).

We know it's ironic, but it's a little worrisome given that refrigerators are common appliances in the real world.

The thing about Nora is that while you can use other "normal" vending machines, she keeps showing up for a good portion of the early stages and you have to deal with chat if you want to upgrade yours. How is it that the elevator scene spread from "Atomic Heart" instead of the erotic refrigerator vendor whose horrifying sexual dialogue is consistently overlaid and played while trying to do +1 pistol damage!" No wonder L. Jacobs (open in new tab) mused.

Nora, of course, is named "Fridge Mom." There is no shortage of people online eager to post what they want to do with their refrigerator moms. Yes, I am hoping that my own family and friends will not read this article.

You want memes' We got memes.

Nora disappears for a good portion of the game and becomes a "normal" vending machine. Don't worry: the horny fridge will return in a later stage.

Comparisons to "Bioshock" are inevitable, but the world Mando Fish has built is compelling and unsettling at the same time. Nora's familiarity with the player may have been intended to land exactly as a gross moment in the alternate history of this personified robot, one that would be endlessly clipped and discussed on social media.

Or perhaps Nora just thought Mando Fish was funny. My own thoughts somewhat overlap with those of Steam reviewer Sierend (opens in new tab): "I don't know how this red fridge is supposed to behave (laughs).