Atomic Heart dev build leaks online hours ahead of official release

Atomic Heart is the much anticipated, first-person shooter video game from developers Mundfish for current and previous generation platforms and PC. While the title is scheduled for release worldwide on February 21, 2023, an early build of the game has been leaked online.

Interested viewers can refer to this article to learn all about the leak and what it entails.

Note: Spoilers for Atomic Heart may follow. Viewer discretion is advised.

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A dev build for Atomic Heart was released days before its official launch

News of an alpha yet mostly complete dev build of the game was released to the public on 17 February 2023, four days before its official worldwide launch for the PC, PlayStation, and Xbox series of consoles.

The leaker, named “MrLemon”, uploaded a copy of the game to the public, which they apparently had for a week prior. Over time, numerous third-party copies and “repacks” of the title have been reported to be seen floating around on the internet, up for grabs for the curious player.

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How can players play Atomic Heart?

Atomic Heart officially releases worldwide just a day after writing this article, on February 21. The final and official build of the game can be grabbed on the respective storefronts for the platforms, with pre-orders and pre-installs being live.

Atomic Heart is also a day one Game Pass release for both Xbox and PC, so players with access to an active subscription to Microsoft’s service can opt to download and play it.

Dev copies of the leaked build can be found floating around the internet on many websites, as are several spoilers on YouTube.

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How does the leaked dev build differ from the final release?

Other than the usual bugs expected from an alpha release, numerous redditors have noted the following oddities:

• English and Russian voice-overs are complete in this build. Other expected language options are either incomplete or do not exist.
• A slew of bugs and visual glitches, as is expected from a beta build of the game.
• Combat is reportedly poorly balanced, with maxed-out damage and health from the get-go. Fortunately, there seems to be a workaround for this issue.
• This particular build lacks any DRM protection, which is present in the form of the rather controversial Denuvo in the retail version of the game.
• Certain players have also reported minor performance hiccups and a need to use the debug tool to clear certain sections of the game.
• Certain graphical settings, such as RTX for Nvidia Geforce cards, appear to have no effect on the performance, likely owing to improper implementation.

Curious players should note that this build is not indicative of the final product.

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What is Atomic Heart?

Atomic Heart is, at its heart, an FPS video game with minor RPG elements. Players take on the role of Major Sergei Nechaev, a special operations officer tasked with finding the cause of the chaos at Facility 3826 and finding a way to bring order.

The game takes place in a fictional depiction of an alternate 1955, where the USSR reigned supreme in robotics and energy - until a massive malfunction caused the robots to turn against humans.

The game’s combat has been likened to the much-loved Bioshock series and can be seen to draw heavy inspiration from the same in both combat and general setting.