Atomic Heart fires shots at Hogwarts Legacy in bold pre-release trailer

Atomic Heart took a direct shot at Hogwarts Legacy, the biggest release of the year so far, in a live-action trailer featuring The Boys star Jensen Ackles.

Atomic Heart is a much-anticipated release considering it’s been almost 6 years since its original teaser trailer came out. The Bioshock-esque look and feel of the game has caught gamers’ interest over the years, and its launch is getting close.

A trailer released right at the beginning of February 2023 gave people an extended, in-depth look at how the game plays from moment-to-moment, and seemed to be the last we’d see from the game until launch day.

However, a live-action trailer featuring The Boys star Jensen Ackles took a jab at the recently released Hogwarts Legacy, discarding magic in favor of a club with buzzsaws on it and some lightning powers.

Atomic Heart trailer takes a jab at Hogwarts Legacy

Though the visual style, gameplay, and tone of Atomic Heart and Hogwarts Legacy are very different, they exist within the same genre: Open-world RPG. They both put you in a unique world far away from our own in an expansive environment filled with things to do and places to go.

Hogwarts Legacy has been a breakout success with sales numbers that’ll make the game hard to beat in terms of revenue and viewership on platforms like Twitch. It’s incredibly popular.

With Atomic Heart coming out shortly after Hogwarts Legacy, they decided to release a trailer that fires some shots at the wizarding world.

The trailer features a young witch, one who’s frustrated that her magic isn’t working on the very unhappy mannequin in front of her. She breaks her wand in frustration and throws it to the ground.

In walks Jensen Ackles, his glove glowing bright and a deadly looking club resting on his shoulder. He proceeds to wreak havoc in the room, slamming the club into everything in sight and sending lightning surging through a lineup of mannequins.

The Atomic Heart developers are clearly poking fun at Hogwarts Legacy, but it remains to be seen whether or not the final release can stand up to the meteoric launch of one of 2023’s biggest games.