The Cheating Pandemic In Fall Guys

Fall Guys burst onto the scene in early August. The casual twist on the Battle Royale genre took the gaming world by storm. Within a few days, the previously unheard of title was the #1 game on earth.

It's hard to put into words how much of a hit Fall Guys has really been. In a mere 22 days, Fall Guys became the most downloaded PlayStation Plus game of all-time.

Despite the success, Fall Guys has not been without its fair share of obstacles. Launch Day was a disaster. The lack of servers made it impossible to find a match for almost two days.

Now, there is a disease spreading throughout Fall Guys. We call it "cheating". Vile humans across the globe are installing hacks onto their PCs with the intent of robbing innocent beans of their crowns. Let's discuss the origin of cheating in Fall Guys, what the developers are doing about it, and how the community is handling the situation.

The Birth of cheating in Fall Guys

Fall Guys is as casual a game as they come. Players run around as jelly beans jumping, grabbing, and racing their way to the finish line. The pastel colour pallet, catchy music, and ridiculous cosmetics all add to the overall vibe of the game.

Early on, though, Fall Guys' innocence began to take a turn for the worst. Cheaters and hackers appeared in matches to steal the crown away from honourable players. These cheaters would use a super-speed hack to fly up Fall Mountain and undeservingly claim the elusive crown.

In the beginning, it was a minor problem. Running into hackers was few and far between. But as with any disease, the sickness spread. Devious players around the world followed suit and installed their own hacks. Things have only gotten worse in the time since. The cheating has evolved into a full-on pandemic.

The Recent Cheating Outbreak

Cheating in Fall Guys has reached unprecedented levels in recent weeks. It feels like every other game has at least one hacker in it. And this isn’t just one man’s experience; the entire community is feeling it. 

The official Fall Guys subreddit had to create an entire stickied post dedicated to the topic. According to a moderator, “the number of submissions about people cheating on PC has increased massively, and these submissions make up a large part of the daily content on this subreddit.” The mod team was forced to address the issue because the outcry has literally taken over the subreddit.

The actual cheating techniques themselves have also steadily gotten worse. In the beginning, hackers only had super-speed. Fast forward a couple of weeks, and hackers can fly, teleport, and even win a round instantly. The cheating has been optimised. Instead of waiting through five or so rounds, cheaters can win in the first round depending on the level.

How the Developers have Addressed Cheats and Hacks

The Fall Guys developers have addressed the cheating problem multiple times, dating back to early reports.

At first, Mediatonic claimed that hackers would be immediately banned after the match ended. The official Fall Guys Twitter account reported that the current system “automatically detects when players cheat, and most players that cheat are caught the first time.”  Yeah... right.

If you’ve played Fall Guys at all recently, you know this is not true. Hackers are often wearing the rarest, most expensive costumes. Many in the community have joked that the “My Friend Pedro” banana costume essentially represents cheating. This outfit costs ten crowns. Not many players can pull off ten wins legitimately, so oftentimes it is assumed the wearer is a hacker. If the game was actually catching these cheaters, there’s no way they should have such expensive costumes.

The Mediatonic team has since backpedalled on this statement. The Lead Game Designer came out and admitted that they are definitely not catching cheaters after one match. However, the team is working furiously to fix the issue. Soon, Fall Guys will implement the same anti-cheat system used in Fortnite. The goal is that this will eliminate or at least significantly reduce the number of hackers.

The Community Reacts

Like the internet always does, the community turned an unpleasant situation into some laughs. Check out a few of the memes spreading around the Fall Guys community over the past few days:

Click to enlarge

A hacker wearing the infamous banana skin flies above the slime, mocking a helpless bean.

What a perfect opportunity to mix the two hottest games out right now - Fall Guys x Among Us. With the cheating outbreak, it’s not a matter of “if” someone’s hacking, but “who” is hacking. Chances are, there’s a cheater among the lobby.

In the end, we as a community need to give the developers a break. Fall Guys is their baby, and they want it to succeed as much as anybody. You can guarantee that the team is doing everything in their power to get the situation under control ASAP.

If we’re going to point fingers, point them at the hackers. They are the ones actively ruining the game. But what can you expect from human beings that are willing to cheat in a game like Fall Guys anyway?

Fall Guys may be experiencing a cheating pandemic, but the world is going through a real pandemic right now as well. Times are tough, and it’s amazing that we gamers have something like Fall Guys to get us through it. Let’s appreciate what we have, and hold out faith that the developers will get the cheating situation under control soon.
 

Stay tuned here @GGReconEsports for Fall Guys news, guides, features, and more.  

Images via Mediatonic |  @MarDrawz