Atomic Heart Development A Mess, Game Files Possibly Leaked

Atomic Heart has been having its fair share of troubles. Although the game was a much-anticipated title because all gameplay presentations and showcases looked quite impressive, new facts regarding the game and its development came to light recently in a report on DTF.ru which has caused many to question the reliability of said showcases.

The DTF.ru report showed clearly how mismanaged Atomic Heart’s development was and still is, and how it is the victim of overambition.

Now more oil has been added to the fire in the shape of the risk of the game being leaked online. Reddit user CamurAtes created a post stating that they possess the game’s files, while asking fellow Redditors what to do with the files, and many suggesting to leak them.

Major Takeaways:

• The development of Atomic Heart has been a chaotic mess.
• A person is in possession of the complete game files and could leak them.
• The game could possibly be a broken mess, not what has been shown to the public.

Atomic Heart has impressed not only gamers but the industry as a whole ever since it was announced. It seemed an amazing game not just visually but from gameplay showcases as well.

The game showed a unique mixture of Metro and BioShock games with amazing environments, enemies, several gameplay mechanics, and an intriguing game world.

Recently the game’s release date was also revealed via a release date trailer which stated that Atomic Heart is coming to PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Game Pass on February 21, 2023.

However, new information recently came to light about the game which seems to be telling a different story about the game and that the finished product may either get delayed or release not at all what people are expecting it to be.

According to the DTF.ru report, the game has been the subject of severe mismanagement over the duration of its development. There were several milestones and dates that were never really reached due to a lack of testing and management of their implementation, especially for the console versions of the game.

Robert Bagratuni, an investor in the project and one of its key figures, was reported to have stated:

We have a lot of work to do, and I believe we can and should give up primitive joys like weekends and vacations for the sake of the project. We will reimburse with bonuses to the NG that will amaze your imagination.”

As a result, there has been a severe crunch throughout the development of Atomic Heart, however, the promised bonuses were never given and hence there must be a lack of motivation in the developers to even finish the project.

Moreover, the development was forced to speed up throughout several stages, and developers were inconvenienced through meetings at irregular times, and many more deviations from plans.

However, this is but a slice of the troubles that have plagued the game. Development builds of the game would be presented to investors every annual quarter, which resulted in the demand for significant changes to the project.

Gameplay trailers of Atomic Heart were reportedly developed as vertical slices instead of being captured from a working build of the game, giving the impression of a polished game to audiences.

According to DTF.ru, the entire Art team of the game left it in 2020, and at some point the entire QA team as well. It is possible that the person in possession of the game files was a part of the former QA team that left the developer or even may be part of the new team.

Mundfish hired contractors and several interns for QA following the departure of the QA team. It is very much plausible that as a result of such haphazard management the person in possession of the game’s files is from the team.

The person posted some images from their playthrough. The person also stated that they have played through the first 30 minutes of the game and that it was boring and felt like a walking simulator.

When asked by a user about the performance of the game, CamurAtes had this to state:

While today’s games are quite taxing, especially while using Ultra graphics presets, a powerful GPU such as Nvidia’s RTX 3080 should be able to maintain Atomic Heart at 60FPS especially in 1080p and with DLSS, however, Ray Tracing may also be severely affecting the game’s performance.

Or it could be an unoptimized mess, but CamurAtes does state in another comment that they expect the game’s performance to be better when it releases.

Since the user has only played about 30 minutes of the game, it could mean that they are a new hire, or that the game’s files were leaked and have somehow found their way to a civilian who was not even involved with the game’s development.

Regardless, we hope that this mess gets sorted out quickly and the game indeed is the fabulous product that many have been hoping for, not just for the sake of the many people who have been impatiently waiting for the game to release, but also the developers who have poured their heart and soul into it and endured so much.