Nine months ago, we touched on a World War 1 shooter that was set to do things a little differently: in a fittingly over-the-top fashion. In that time, Over The Top: WWI has hosted playtests basically every month: a smart decision for a game whose chaos is predominantly determined by how many people it can cram onto a single battlefield. The upper number is 200. And with over 1,000 players in there at launch today, enough have decided to pay for the privilege of contracting trench foot that you should be in for a good time.
Over The Top WW1 is by no means a realistic take on the most brutal war in history. Instead, it’s potentially best described as Garry’s Mod meets Battlefield, and it might just be one of the best games like Fall Guys (if you squint your eyes a little). Basically, anything goes. And the goal isn’t really to come out on top. You go with the flow, have a laugh, and just be a good sport when someone clubs you with an entrenching tool or squashes you with a tank.
Out of curiosity, I hopped into the Steam Discussion pages shortly after release to see what people had to say. It’s a place to ask questions – generally before parting with your hard-earned cash – but seeing someone ask if there’s any anti-cheat in place had me thinking… Why?
Again, my first impression of Over The Top: WW1 is that it’s designed to be a little silly. Low-brow. More Fall Guys than Call of Duty. And sure, it feels good to win in Fall Guys, but you generally don’t care if you lose – unless it’s to a cheater, in which case, it’s a fair concern. But here? If someone manages to worm infinite ammo and no recoil into a match, what’s the big deal? The whole server gets chewed up by one godlike footsoldier? Honestly, that sounds par for the course. Make it a perk for dying too much. Let the down-on-their-luck soldier have their 15 minutes of fame. Ok, maybe make that seconds.
Thankfully, the developers agree that robust anti-cheat measures probably aren’t needed here. For one, “all critical game functions are controlled by the servers,” says one, which already rules out most of the hacks floating about. “Somebody will probably make ESP hacks” they add (these are Extra-sensory perception hacks like x-ray vision), “but you won’t see infinite health or rapid fire rifles.” Ok, well there goes my idea.
Still, another developer, who goes by the name Frederick William of Pressia on the boards, chimed in to say, “with how combat is and how many players there are, I don’t think it would be useful.” And that’s a solid point. With up to 200 people trudging around the place, spotting someone through a wall isn’t likely to amount to much. Remember that church sniper meme from Person of Interest? It’s like that. You’re always in someone’s sights.