It seems to be only die-hard Fallout fans that are overly excited for Fallout 76. Our views on the game so far are that it feels clunky, lonely and somewhat lazy from Bethesda; in a way, it feels like they’ve just cloned Fallout 4, made a few tweaks, added some cards and created a new map using assets from the previous title. I mean, even the box is the same, all they’ve done is turn the guys head to the side. That being said, I’m sure it will be a great game…maybe.
We’re not the only ones thinking the above either, and to make matters worse there’s now hacking concerns for the game which were brought to light by Reddit user ‘teetharejustdone’ in a thread where he/she explains the potential holes in the Fallout 76 code. One of the issues includes the lack of server check to verify file integrity, which essentially means you could make trees smaller or player models brighter colours so you can see them easier. Another issue that teetharejustdone spotted was that client to client communication is not encrypted, which essentially means you’ll be able to view other players stats or even their home IP address.
These issues aren’t hard to exploit either, there’s already a ‘cheat’ mod online over at Nexusmods and this is all before the game is even released.
If we go back to my opening paragraph where I say that Fallout 76 is essentially a re-skin of Fallout 4, it shouldn’t be too hard to work out why hackers have been able to find these vulnerabilities so quickly. The core Fallout 76 code is basically identical to Fallout 4.
Bethesda has openly admitted to the hacking concerns in a statement to Eurogamer:
“Many of the claims in the thread are either inaccurate or based on incorrect assumptions. The community has however called to attention several issues that our teams are already actively tracking and planning to roll out fixes for,” a Bethesda spokesperson told us via email.”
“Our goal is always to deliver a great experience for all our players. Cheating or hacking will not be tolerated. We know our fan base is passionate about modding and customising their experience in our worlds and it’s something we intend to support down the road.”
It’s good to see that Bethesda are committed to their PC audience and they know that modding is a big part of PC gaming—especially in the Fallout world—but how they go about implementing mods without giving people an unfair advantage is yet to be seen.
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