Testing Grounds are areas in Atomic Heart’s world that you can explore for new weapon upgrades and a glut of crafting resources. However, they’re not easy to get into or complete. This guide outlines how to enter and complete Testing Ground 1 and tells you where all the best rewards are.
How to get into Testing Ground 1
Related: Atomic Heart endings, explained
Testing Ground 1, also known as Polygon 1, will become available after the train crash in Atomic Heart’s story. You can also take the second ending towards the end of the game and freely explore this area to tackle all the Testing Grounds one by one. See above for a map reference for Testing Ground 1. To get inside, you need to unlock the door using a camera.
Find a camera interface like the one in the image above. Interact with it and then locate the camera closest to the blue building near the marked map location for Testing Ground 1. This camera faces the wrong way, but if you turn it all the way to the left, you can just about see the Testing Ground 1 door and open it.
Once the door is open, you can head inside and take the elevator down into the Testing Ground. The first challenge once you’re inside is a magnet puzzle. You need to trigger the magnets using Shok and climb up to the top.
Then, do it again, and quickly leap over the wall below and under the one that’s slowly closing down. You need to be fast, but you should be able to get through and into the Testing Ground.
How to complete Testing Ground 1 and find all the rewards there
Related: How to defeat M-9 BELYASH in Atomic Heart
Now you’re inside this Testing Ground, work your way through the first open door. There’s another magnet wall puzzle here that you must solve to get into the next area. If you work your way to the container in this room, you can get the Small Medical Capsule Recipe. Keep moving and head into the ventilation system to continue going deeper. There’s only one way out of there, so you should be fine getting out. Once you’ve dropped out, you can explore a few rooms with combat encounters.
Fight your way through these combat encounters and explore every room on this level before you go up any stairs. There are two robots on wheels trapped in cages. Search the head of the bronze one to get the Fox Handle Blueprint, and search the head of the silver one to get the PM Expansive Magazine Blueprint.
To reach the silver robot, you’ll have to trigger some magnets and open a door. When you turn around from the silver robot and are facing that magnet door again, shoot the magnets with Shok. This will move the door the opposite way and open up a new path for you.
Testing Ground 1 laser puzzle solution
Related: What does Crispy Critters mean in Atomic Heart?
The next room has more magnet walls for you to manipulate, but you can’t exit until you solve the laser puzzle on one of them. The solution for the laser puzzle in Testing Ground 1 is, as you can see in the above image. You need to switch the circuit until the blue laser goes through the middle from left to right, and the red lasers lead to the top and bottom.
Once you’ve solved the laser puzzle and are out of the magnet puzzle room, you can find a golden robot. Search its head to find the KS-23 Extended Magazine Blueprint and the Zvezdochka Saw Dance Handle Blueprint. Craft these, and they’ll make you much more powerful in combat, particularly the melee weapons. You can exit the Testing Ground through the nearby elevator.
Is Testing Ground 1 the same as Polygon 1?
Yes, Testing Ground 1 is the same thing as Polygon 1 in Atomic Heart. You can see the two share a name on the game’s map. The Testing Grounds are set in locations called Polygons that are civilian facilities holding military weaponry underground. Facility 3826 hosts many advanced technologies, and that’s why you’ll find so many mixes of safe and experimental technology together in areas that you might not think they’d be. Most of Facility 3826 was built to work on innovations that would improve the world, so there’s no need for safety since everywhere is an experimental workshop.
