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Welcome to the true open world of Atomic Heart. After taking the train out of the Vavilov Complex region, you’ll ride off into a new map that’s truly massive. Exiting the crashed maglev train, you’ll be ordered to reach the Exhibition down below. The massive ‘Arena’ is marked on your map, but the gates are shut. You’ll need to utilize the HAWK Relay and hack cameras to reach the Arena. And that’s when you’ll face an even bigger threat.
The first boss of Atomic Heart is the Hedgie — a giant gardening bot that we first encountered in the Algae Workshop. This boss is surprisingly fast and deadly. If you’re not prepared with the right upgrades unlocked, this fight can feel nearly impossible. If you’re looking for help dealing with the Hedgie, we’ve also got a full guide explaining how to defeat the first real boss fight in Atonic Heart.
More Atomic Heart guides:
How To Disable All Robots In A Region | All Vavilov Complex Blueprint Locations | Testing Ground 1 Puzzle Solutions | How To Use Cartridge Modules | How To Increase Inventory | Testing Ground 1 Guide | Testing Ground 2 Guide | Testing Ground 6 Guide | Testing Ground 8 Guide | Testing Ground 9 Guide | Testing Ground 10 Guide | Testing Ground 11 Guide | Testing Ground 12 Guide
How To Access The Arena | Brave New World
Welcome to the open world. Once you arrive at the Exhibition Grounds from the Monorail Station, you’ll have an entire map to explore on the surface. This area is packed with useful items and hidden Testing Grounds — solving these dungeons unlocks powerful weapon upgrades.
Your first objective is reaching the Exhibition, which is at the center of the Arena on your map. Travelling to the Arena, you’ll find all the gates locked.
- How To Open The Arena Gates: Look on your map. To the south of the Arena, on the edge of the lake with the Boat Station. There’s a tower here — travel there to hack the camera controls.
- Hijack a camera at the Boat Station, then look toward the HAWK Relay building in the middle of the lake. From a camera, you can unlock the door.
- Next, travel to the HAWK Relay and hack it. Select ‘HAWK Maintenance’ to lower the drone. While it is lowered, run on the lake and jump onto the yellow pole.
- Ride it up and the HAWK will launch ziplines to stabilize itself. You can ride these ziplines to reach distant areas of the map. Ride the one in the center of the Arena.
You’ll land right at the entrance to the Exhibition. In the Arena, you’ll find the gates are now unlocked. Stop and restock at the nearby NORA, then save your game. Using the device in the center of the Arena summons a boss.
BOSS: Hog-7 Hedgie
A powerful, incredibly fast boss and can be difficult to predict for your first fight. You’ll need a ranged weapon. The shotgun or standard handgun will work well against the boss. You won’t need much ammo. Fill your inventory with a good supply of healing items before attempting this battle.
- Useful Loadoat: MP Handgun with Electricity Cartridge. Lots of healing items.
- Unlock the Double Dodge, Dodge Invincibility, and Movement Speed upgrades.
- Electro is too weak. Shotgun can work here, but the short range makes this difficult. If you have a Kalash, it also works well but isn’t required.
Hedgie begins by rolling around the area. Use dodges and unlock the invincibility dodge upgrade to make avoiding damage much, much easier. You may also want to increase running speed in the Character menu for this boss.
- When Hedgie jumps, it will slam into the ground generate a deadly shockwave. Jump and dodge over it to avoid damage. If Hedgie jumps near you, it’s a good idea to reflexively jump and dodge even if you can’t see it.
- Don’t shoot! Wait for it to pause after a series of attacks and reveal a red glowing weak point. Shoot the glowing engine to damage it.
- It will also unleash a ranged attack. Keep moving sideways to avoid taking damage or use a quick dodge. The second dodge character upgrade is also useful here.
- After destroying three weak spots, it will rampage. Try to lure it into a pole to stun it, or simply heal and try to stay alive until it reveals a weak point.
NOTE: By luring the Hedgie into running into the device in the center of the arena, you will guarantee a stun. You can also activate more of these devices all over the arena with [Shok]. Raise them up and lure Hedgie into them to deal more damage faster.
Destroy four weak points to defeat Hedgie. After each one broken spot, the Hedgie will recover faster. That’s why you’ll want an accurate weapon that deals high damage against robots. Make sure to loot the robot when you’re done!
