The latest Fallout 4 DLC is one of the most anticipated updates in the franchise, and there are a lot of things to discuss. But first things first.
For a couple of months now, lucky players were part of the beta testing held by Bethesda. Basically, anyone part of this has agreed to a non-disclosure agreement. However, this has not worked out 100%, Kotaku reported.
Since March, various spoilers about game details have been leaking out—sometimes weeks ahead of the official announcements. These were not big enough to make an impact (for the most part) since the other DLC did not seem to be too heavy story-wise. Leaks, then, were not that big a deal and even helped promote the content.
Far Harbor is a completely different story. Gameplay is dependent on the player's choices and how this affects the in-game future is very real. With this in mind, leaks became a big deal. Funnily enough, beta players were breaking their NDAs just to assure fans that glitches and problems from Fallout 4 have indeed been fixed.
Leaks included a “skills check” that was pretty much absent in the basic Fallout 4 game. Another one was a screenshot of a Harpoon Gun—something Bethesda refrained from including in the main game. A new vault was also introduced.
Probably the worst leak for Far Harbor beta was the DLC itself available for download as a torrent. That, plus someone also uploaded the DLC to Nexus. The whole DLC, valued at $24.99, was available to anyone who stumbled upon it. The mod has since been taken down, but the cached version shows that a minimum of 800 people got their hands on the DLC.
Forbes reported that choices and options now matter a lot more in the game and murdering everyone on the road to victory might not be the best way to win anymore. Lead designer William Shen explained, “Everyone you meet has their own agendas and goals they try to drag the player into. … Everyone has a sympathetic side, and a side that's not-so-sympathetic, and you have to decide where to you're going to land. We wanted to include a ton of options.”
Far Harbor launches today on PC, Xbox One and PS4.
Watch the Fallout 4 Far Harbor gameplay below:
