Fallout 76 Player Finds Glitch, Becomes The Highlander

Out of all the bugs and exploits we’ve heard surrounding the latest Fallout, this is a good one. Yesterday, during the feast of many turkeys, a Fallout 76 player became The Highlander. That is, the player’s character accidentally stumbled onto an immortality glitch. No amount of ghouls or even a nuke can stop West Virginia’s new god. And the sad part is, the player wants to die.

At first, immortality in the game sounds like a picnic basket of good times. Imagine being the unkillable bounty target, confidently walking into a busy city while players armed to the teeth repeatedly try and fail to claim the vault of caps on your head.

For Reddit user Brogadyn, who posted the story, we’re sure it was fun at the start. But now, nearing the Fallout 76 level cap, Brogadyn has gotten sick of the bug, and wants the character to embrace eternity — if, for nothing else, than to be able to play the game properly once more.

“She can even eat a nuke blast to the face and be fine,” Brogadyn wrote. “There is literally zero ways that she can die even if I wanted her to (which I very much do at this point).”

The aftermath of another pointless battle. Credit: Reddit user Brogadyn.

There Can Be Only One!

Brogadyn has been avoiding much of the story content over the glitch, not willing to ruin the game experience — and now wants help. The player turned to Bethesda in desperation, pleading for a fix in an email. The response? Less than helpful. Apparently, the reply appeared to be an automated message that lists a guide in how to check your Pip-Boy for status effects, followed by some basic information.

It’s frustrating, Brogadyn explains, for more than one reason. The character was technically at 0 hit points, and can’t use health items. The situation sounds eerily familiar to me. I seem to recall playing a game in which I tried healing just as my character began a death animation, which reanimated the corpse at no health. I can’t remember which game, but perhaps Brogadyn did the same and caused the already buggy game to freak out.

Being unable to use health items leads to the other reason: Brogadyn can no longer cure the character. Mutations are piling on, and nothing can remove the status affects.

“Some of the given mutations right now are twisted muscles talons,” Brogadyn wrote. “So my actual spec of rifles is somewhat nerfed when I cannot cure these ever so I’ve just been running around melee smacking things without any melee perks since Friday, which isn’t necessarily fun anymore.”

Luckily, a Bethesda representative did discover the Reddit post and reached out, so perhaps something can be done. Until then, maybe pick up a sword and do some roleplay? If only there was a way to change those specs…

If you’re feeling particularly risky, Fallout 76 can be picked up now for PC. It’s available for $34.99 USD (42% off) today on Black Friday at Amazon.