Premature Evaluation is the weekly column in which Steve Hogarty explores the wilds of early access. This week it’s extremely not buggy pirate ’em up Atlas
Developer: Grapeshot Games, Instinct Games
Publisher: Grapeshot Games
Release: Out now (early access)
On: Windows
From: Steam
For: 23.79, $30, 25
Last week brought news that beleaguered swashbuckling MMO Atlas had been hacked by a bunch of salty ne’er do wells. The keys to an admin account were stolen, allowing hackers to go on what amounted to a trans-dimensional naval joyride. Invincible armadas armed with inexhaustible supplies of cannonballs briefly ruled the waves, which was to be expected. But then planes fell from the sky. The oceans boiled with giant whales. I think there was a World War Two tank at one stage, scooting across the sea like an angry speedboat.
The developers, Grapeshot, pulled everything offline, hosed all the weirdness off their servers and pressed the big reset button they keep hidden in the basement. Now everything is back to normal again. Except, get this, Atlas was far from normal to begin with.