Atomic Heart's latest trailer throws shade at Hogwarts Legacy, the open world Harry Potter action-RPG from Avalanche Software. February 2023 is a big month for new game releases, with Hogwarts Legacy easily one of the biggest new games of the year and Atomic Heart having quite a bit of hype behind it as well.
Hogwarts Legacy released on February 10 to rave reviews and record-breaking sales. Atomic Heart's release date isn't until February 21, but with the game in such close proximity to Hogwarts Legacy, they will likely be in head-to-head competition. It's highly unlikely Atomic Heart will be able to go beat Hogwarts Legacy in a sales competition, but it's possible it could come away with higher review scores. In any case, it seems that the marketing team is well aware of the impending conflict between Atomic Heart and Hogwarts Legacy, releasing a new live-action trailer that throws shade at the Harry Potter game.
The short trailer features a young girl clearly meant to represent a Hogwarts student. The girl attempts to use spells to fight robot dummies, but to no avail. That's when Supernatural and The Boys star Jensen Ackles, representing the Atomic Heart protagonist, shows up. Ackles shows the witch how best to kill robots, utilizing brutal melee weaponry along with some of the special attacks that Atomic Heart players will have at their disposal once the game releases next week.
The new Atomic Heart trailer is mostly live-action, but it concludes with a fresh look at some gameplay. In the trailer's gameplay footage, players can see some Atomic Heart combat in action as the protagonist smashes enemy machines with weaponry not unlike the kind Ackles wielded in the live-action portion. The combat is clearly fast-paced and flashy, but perhaps the most interesting thing about it are the enemies that players will find themselves up against.
The gameplay portion of the latest Atomic Heart trailer underscores the game's enemy variety, with players facing humanoid robots, a giant ball-like robot that's been used in a lot of the game's marketing material, and even what appears to be a massive whale with a laser beam attached to it. If this latest trailer is any indication, Atomic Heart should have plenty of enemy variety come launch next week.
Anyone interested in playing Atomic Heart should know that besides paying for the game outright, they can also play it through Xbox Game Pass. Atomic Heart is a day one Xbox Game Pass game, perhaps the biggest addition to the service for the entire month, so subscribers to Microsoft's service have a lot to be excited about.
Atomic Heart launches February 21 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.