Less than a day after the release of a hotfix to close out-of-bounds exploits on the Stella Montis map, developer Embark Studios was greeted by reports of another such technique, again granting players out-of-bounds travel in this extraction shooter. Meanwhile, this latest glitch gives a gross advantage of access outside the map geometry, entirely free of sight to normal players, to kill anybody without being detected. The appearance of the new problem just days after weeks of community complaints over the original exploit gets dark shades on the immediate future of the game.
Surprisingly simple, this method is based on a convenient system for players rather than for cheating players. Players perform an action that causes their character to be wedged between these large machine assets on the map, activating the game’s “fix stuck player” utility, and switching it on leads to teleports the player character directly atop the environment and outside of play areas.. This was quite similar to what the recently patched exploit achieved using the invisible zipline to give the player a way out of bounds. Such game-breaking vulnerabilities create deep disbalance and, with it, threat to the integrity of the core experience for a title of extraction shooter type, where players risk losing their hard-earned gears upon death.
The unresolved community frustration is further compounded with an uncertain timeline for fixing it. From how long the other out-of-bounds problem took to fix, it would seem that the newest finding is not timely. The developer did announce suspension from weekly updates as their team prepares for the impending winter holiday break. Although the studio deserves some time off, the gap in the pace at which they produce raises fears in the player community that any fix for the present exploit might defer its release significantly, thus holding the high-stakes competitive environment compromised until the end of the year and possibly thereafter into January.
Despite all that, the development calendar is still running well in other aspects. There will be release of the much-anticipated Cold Snap update on December 16 by Embark Studios. Among other features, this content drop is set to introduce a new Snowfall map condition, the “Flickering Flames” event, and a brand new Raider Deck. Players will be hoping that while new content, for long-term health, is what is important, the studio will prioritize a hotfix for this newly opened exploit before the community completely focuses on the holiday season to stabilize the foundation of the game.
