Atomic Heart brings its explosive FPS action and intriguing sci-fi story to PC, PlayStation, and Xbox tomorrow on February 21, but a recent version of the game has apparently already made its way online.
As reported by GameInfinitus, a developer build of Atomic Heart has been shared on the internet by someone who claims to have acquired it "from a peculiar source." The leaker uploaded the game without any anti-piracy protection, effectively allowing anyone to download and play it without having to pay for it.
It's unclear exactly what state this version of Atomic Heart is in; it's said to be functional, but as it's a developer build, it's likely to be lacking the polish found in the final version and could well contain bugs that the team at Mundfish has since ironed out.
Late last week, Atomic Heart publisher Focus Entertainment issued a tweet advising players to mute certain words, such as "P3" and "Petrov", to help avoid learning specific story details ahead of time. Now, with this developer build out in the wild, many more spoilers are likely to be doing the rounds, so it's best to be extra wary.
A message from the #AtomicHeart team pic.twitter.com/b7GoLwJqpNFebruary 18, 2023
Last month a report surfaced alleging that Mundfish's Russian store website contained a clause informing users that their data could be collected and sent to Russian state authorities. Mundfish has denied the claims.
In our Atomic Heart review published earlier today, we wrote that "Atomic Heart has a lot of big ideas, but it doesn't do a good enough job with the basics. With an incomprehensible storyline, weightless combat, and frustrating first-person platforming, Atomic Heart is left to stand in the shadow of the video games that so clearly inspired it."
Check out our guide to new games 2023 for all the upcoming releases you'll want to keep on your radar.
