Over the weekend, a group of Fallout 76 players encountered a glitch that transported them inside the otherwise inaccessible Vault 63, one of the three locked vaults scattered throughout the gameâs world. They didnât find much inside, but took pictures anyway before reaching out to Bethesda Support to explain what happened, for fear the gameâs continued glitchiness might get them banned. The good news is that Bethesda says they wonât be.
In a thread posted on the Fallout 76 subreddit on Sunday, user McStaken explained that they and some other players fast-traveled to participate in a Rad-Rat Horde event that showed up on their map. Somehow, they wound up inside Vault 63, which is located in the southwest corner of the gameâs map. Like Vaults 94 and 96, Vault 63 is visible from the outside but impossible to enter normally.
McStaken and his crew were at first worried that they might be banned for the glitch, but in a statement to Polygon, Bethesda said that the players who entered Vault 63 will likely be fine. âThey shouldnât have to worry about a ban,â a representative for the company said. âSounds like they werenât abusing an exploit, and letting us know is a good thing we definitely appreciate.â
McStaken said once they realized where they were they took some screenshots to share online. The images show off a fully modeled vault interior complete with Vault-Tec equipment littered about and the number 63 painted on all the doors. There are also pictures of a cave-in in the kitchen area and an opening into what looks like an abandoned mineshaft. All signs, including a skeleton wearing a Vault 63 jumpsuit, seem to point to there being no survivors, but since Vault 63 isnât officially part of the game yet, that could change.
Some of the other players commenting on McStakenâs thread reported that they too had experienced this glitch before, although they werenât sure what caused it. Fallout 76 released in such a broken state, with weird glitches that persist even after months of updates, that it can sometimes be hard to tell when players are trying to break the game on purpose or are simply the victims of bugs.
Last month, Fallout 76 players figured out how to break into a âdeveloperâs roomâ that contained copies of every item and a non-player character, all of which appeared to exist for the purposes of testing out new additions and balance changes to the game. Bethesda cracked down on those players with a wave of account bans, saying they had been using cheat software in order to get into the room.
In one of the comments on McStakenâs original thread, a community manager for Bethesda said they were glad the player was eventually able to escape Vault 63 by fast-traveling back out and emphasized that the location is still âunder construction.â Last November when the game launched, Bethesda announced that ânew Vaults openingâ would be part of future updates to the game, but so far there hasnât been any more news about them.
At the moment, Fallout 76 is very much in need of some more story-based content, something players have speculated might arrive whenever the gameâs three other Vaults eventually unlock. Instead, the company has said that the game will be getting a new player vs. player mode in March. On the bright side, players who are being hunted now know they can take refuge in Vault 63 if a Rad-Rat Horde event mysteriously pops up on their map.Â
