Where to find Atomic Heart’s testing grounds (2024)

Atomic Heart’s Testing Grounds are optional dungeons that are totally worth the effort of tracking down. Also known as Polygons, each one you find gives you more weapon attachment blueprints. Once you’ve obtained the Facility 3826 map, you’ll be able to freely visit and explore these underground bunkers.

Here’s an overview of every Polygon Testing Ground location in Atomic Heart, plus detailed instructions on how to unlock them.

No matter which Polygon location you want to unlock, the main steps are always the same:

Every Testing Ground contains a bronze, silver, and gold chest with blueprints. They’ve got a very distinctive look, as shown in the picture above on the right. Work your way through the puzzles and enemies, and you can’t really miss them.

While the steps above teach you the basics of hunting for Polygons in Atomic Heart, it’s still quite difficult to find every terminal, open the correct cameras, and locate the entranceways by yourself. If you don’t want to spend a lot of time searching the area, here’s exactly where to find every Testing Ground, and exactly what you’ll need to do to unlock it. (Note that, as far as we can tell, there are no Polygon Testing Grounds for numbers 3, 4, and 5.)

While approaching Polygon 1 from the east, look for a large white platform with a spiral staircase. The Terminal is on top of this platform. Use the camera as shown in the picture, then look for the Polygon 1 entrance, inside a small blue building. The blue building is very close to the white platform you’re standing on.

Inside Polygon 1, you’ll find the following loot:

The terminal is on top of the white platform with the spiral stairs, south of the yellow area. The elevator leading to the Polygon 2 entrance is inside the small blue building, between the Terminal location and the massive Plant 01 building in the east.

You can grab the following loot inside Polygon 2:

To unlock Polygon 6, take the elevator to the top of the high tower across the lake and use the terminal. Heads up: There’s a similar tower closer to the Testing Ground location, but that’s not the correct one! You can see the Polygon 6 entrance from the tower; it’s inside a tunnel south of the boathouse.

Polygon 6 contains the following loot:

Carefully approach the grey building, as it’s surrounded by enemies. You need to climb to the highest part of the roof to find the terminal. This time, you need to activate three cameras to access the Polygon. The one in the south is a bit tricky; you’ll have to look to the right and then down in order to see the interaction button.

The elevator leading down to Polygon 8 is inside the building. Enter through the main entrance (southeast side) then find the elevator on your right. Polygon 8 contains the following blueprints:

This Polygon Testing Ground is a particularly tricky one. While the terminal is quite easy to find — it’s on top of the blue house in the northeastern part of town — you first need to reactivate the cameras. To do so, drop down a tunnel as shown in the picture, in the southern part of town. Be careful, as it’s riddled with monsters down there.

Once you’re inside the tunnel, keep following the path until you reach a room with four boilers and a door puzzle on your right. Solve the door puzzle, grab the orange glowing orbs, put them in the see-through tube, and guide them to the boilers. You need to repeat this for every boiler in the room, until they explode. After that, follow the path to go outside again (use the Polymer path in the final room), and make your way up the blue house with the terminal, where the cameras should now be activated.

The elevator to Polygon 9 is in the little shack just behind the large statue. Inside, you can find the following loot:

The terminal necessary for unlocking Polygon 10 is found on the top floor of a wooden house. Climb the drainage to reach it. The elevator to the Polygon is right next door, in the smaller building.

You’ll find the following blueprints inside Polygon 10:

The terminal needed to open Polygon 11 is located in a high tower, much further north than the yellow area. After using the camera, run south along the path and enter the little grey building you just unlocked (right side, on the grass). Interact with the machine, then click HAWK maintenance. This will cause one of the flying surveillance machines to come down, right in front of the little grey building. Grab this machine, and after it floats up again, use the zipline to get down.

You now find yourself in a fenced area, with a small wooden cabin on the south side (see picture above). Enter this cabin and grab the Key Disk lying on the floor, next to the corpse. You can escape this area on the northside, by climbing over the fence.

With the Key Disk in your pocket, you’ve got everything you need to unlock Polygon Testing Ground 11. Run south along the coastline until you see the little blue building with the elevator. Solve the puzzle on the door, insert the Key Disk, and you’re free to start the hunt for the Polygon 11 loot:

Polygon 12 is on the eastern part of Atomic Heart’s map, across the large bridge. If you can’t cross the bridge yet, don’t worry: The main storyline will take you there eventually.

The entrance to Polygon Testing Ground 12 is in the southern part of the yellow area. Go down to the beach and look for the cave entrance as shown in the picture. Simply follow the tunnel until you reach the elevator leading down.

Polygon 12 contains the following weapon blueprints: