Infamous Dark Souls Hacker Sets Their Sights On Elden Ring
One of the downsides of massive success is that it has a tendency to attract some unsavory people. In the case of "Elden Ring," it has inspired a notorious "Dark Souls" hacker to exploit the game and ruin it for other players, all for what they claim is the betterment of the game. As reported by Kotaku, Malcolm Reynolds, like one fan-favorite NPC, has made the jump from "Dark Souls" to "Elden Ring." Reynolds uploaded a video on YouTube of his antics, which involves invading other players' worlds and getting them soft-banned from the game. This is done by using modified spells and attacks that cause an invalid item to get placed in a players inventory, so when the invasion ends, the game's anti-cheat software will see the invalid item. When that item is detected, the game considers that player a cheater and will only let them play online with other cheaters.
Reynolds told Kotaku that the anti-cheat software in "Elden Ring" is easy to bypass, which allows him to ruin the game for other players. Because Reynolds spells are modified, defeating him isn't really an option. The only way for players to avoid getting stuck with the item and the soft ban is to disconnect from the server or quit the game. While the act might seem diabolical, in Reynold's eyes, he is a necessary evil.
Reynold's wants FromSoftware to stop him
Based on a Reddit post from 2016 and his current antics in "Elden Ring," it's pretty clear that the "Soulsborne" community doesn't like Reynolds. However, in a statement to Kotaku, Reynolds' seems to think what he is doing could have a positive impact. "I'm necessary evil," Reynolds said. "You might be asking if getting caught is part of the plan, and yes it is. If I pull it off will the game die? I don't think so, but maybe Bandai will fix it."
While Reynold's might be right that FromSoftware and Bandai Namco need to implement better anti-cheat systems, Reynolds isn't exactly focused on getting the game improved. He has a YouTube channel dedicated to similar videos and his exploits seem to be only affecting himself. Regardless of if he has a point, he could be showing these exploits to FromSoftware without ruining the experience for other players. The majority of comments on the "Elden Ring" YouTube video criticize Reynolds for this exact thing, stating he doesn't need to ruin the experience for others.
It's not like "Elden Ring" needs to be any more punishing, with only half of players beating the second story boss. Perhaps by the time a dedicated PvP area is added to the game hackers like Reynolds will have been dealt with.