Lockpicking in Atomic Heart is not the most intuitive mechanic in the game, or in video games in general. I spent quite a while messing up and trying my best to work this mechanic out until it finally clicked. This guide will explain how to easily pick the most confusing of the locks in the game.
To make this quicker, I have created a video guide, explaining the lock-picking mechanic in Atomic Heart in much better detail with an example of how it works and the trick to solving the puzzles.
Solving The Valve Locks
These valve locks are quite common. A timer will show up in the middle of the lock and a series of red lights will be rotating around the lock. Pressing X when the red light shines over a valve will cause the valve to go down inside the lock and the light will turn green. Once all of the lights are green, the lock will be “picked”.
The red lights will light up clockwise or anticlockwise around the lock. Each time you interact with the lock to either push a valve down or unintentionally lift a valve back up, the direction of the flashing lights will change. The pattern may seem random but it isn’t, it is just alternating between clockwise and anti-clockwise. This makes it a lot easier to predict where the light is going to go next and makes picking these locks an awful lot easier.
