The First Descendant

The First Descendant

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ONYX 29 Jul @ 11:11pm
Thinking of installing to play. Does this game still use dodgy anticheat?
Hi, as title. Want to play with a friend who says the game is great, but I've read that the game's anticheat is basically spyware that collects data from the depths of your PC and sends it off to ???

Is this still the case? Was it ever the case? Was it all a bit overblown?

I'd like to play but it makes me very uncomfortable to willingly install something that does shady stuff with my data.
Originally posted by DAOWAce:
Yes, use a secondary PC with nothing on it if you can.

If you can't.. close anything sensitive and lock those files away with encryption if you're that worried.

Black Cipher is really bad for poking through your system, and also consuming a non-insignificant amount of CPU/RAM for what it's doing (1 core while scanning, 1% while 'idle', 600MB). It also disables process interaction, so you can't lower its priority or even change affinity for the game to run better on dual CCD CPU's, which is asinine.

EAC is also used, and you can avoid it like in single player games; it doesn't seem to actually do anything.

Whether Black Cipher is what's causing the game to utterly cripple Windows when it's running, or if it's the badly programmed UE5 game itself, I don't know... It's very severe.

Still better than Riot's rootkit, IMO.
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Every time something is free, you pay with your data.
It uses easy anti cheat its mentioned in the store page, you can also look in steamdb, its probably better if you also look at the list of games that have it in steamdb and if you have any of those games then you already have easy anti cheat in your pc.

It also uses blackcipher, just do the same.
Last edited by penril_knight; 29 Jul @ 11:17pm
Originally posted by amon.the.arcadian:
Every time something is free, you pay with your data.
the word free is in itself misleading
because nothing is free even when you breathe air it costs your body energy and shorten your life span
Originally posted by ChickenBalls:
Originally posted by amon.the.arcadian:
Every time something is free, you pay with your data.
the word free is in itself misleading
because nothing is free even when you breathe air it costs your body energy and shorten your life span
The law of equivalent exchange..

If you want to look at beautifully rendered polygon butts, you have to give something equal in return.

My butt is old and ugly, so I guess it has to be my data then...
Talk Dirty (Banned) 30 Jul @ 12:38am 
Originally posted by ONYX:
Hi, as title. Want to play with a friend who says the game is great, but I've read that the game's anticheat is basically spyware that collects data from the depths of your PC and sends it off to ???

Is this still the case? Was it ever the case? Was it all a bit overblown?

I'd like to play but it makes me very uncomfortable to willingly install something that does shady stuff with my data.
that will be riot game they take what they like from your pc
Your data is stolen and used by basically every single major company online almost regardless of what you do.
Rooxon 30 Jul @ 3:22am 
Uh buddy, just by existing software is stealing your data. By having a Google profile and using the internet at all people get data on your likes, dislikes and tailor the content you see accordingly. Seriously don't think about that too much, cuz they aren't targeting *you* specifically, your data is just a small drop in an ocean of information. The patterns across more of us are more important than any single person.

That being said, the game still uses anti-cheat which it obviously has to - even with this some people were able to figure out how to cheat/exploit and there's trouble in the leaderboard times, there's many players getting penalties for doing shady stuff each major update. They literally release the list of players affected.
The author of this thread has indicated that this post answers the original topic.
DAOWAce 30 Jul @ 2:53pm 
Yes, use a secondary PC with nothing on it if you can.

If you can't.. close anything sensitive and lock those files away with encryption if you're that worried.

Black Cipher is really bad for poking through your system, and also consuming a non-insignificant amount of CPU/RAM for what it's doing (1 core while scanning, 1% while 'idle', 600MB). It also disables process interaction, so you can't lower its priority or even change affinity for the game to run better on dual CCD CPU's, which is asinine.

EAC is also used, and you can avoid it like in single player games; it doesn't seem to actually do anything.

Whether Black Cipher is what's causing the game to utterly cripple Windows when it's running, or if it's the badly programmed UE5 game itself, I don't know... It's very severe.

Still better than Riot's rootkit, IMO.
Kestrel 30 Jul @ 3:36pm 
honest man fears nothing :steammocking:
Originally posted by ONYX:
Hi, as title. Want to play with a friend who says the game is great, but I've read that the game's anticheat is basically spyware that collects data from the depths of your PC and sends it off to ???

Is this still the case? Was it ever the case? Was it all a bit overblown?

I'd like to play but it makes me very uncomfortable to willingly install something that does shady stuff with my data.

ohhhh boy..
your one of THOSE, people.
do yourself a favor, and just stay off the internet in general, live like those folks who live without modern day technology, there ya go.
Originally posted by Kestrel:
honest man fears nothing :steammocking:
nah, a man who fears nothing, loves nothing.
watchu talking about is a boy, kid, not a man.
Last edited by lacres181; 30 Jul @ 4:01pm
ONYX 30 Jul @ 10:42pm 
Originally posted by DAOWAce:
Yes, use a secondary PC with nothing on it if you can.

If you can't.. close anything sensitive and lock those files away with encryption if you're that worried.

Black Cipher is really bad for poking through your system, and also consuming a non-insignificant amount of CPU/RAM for what it's doing (1 core while scanning, 1% while 'idle', 600MB). It also disables process interaction, so you can't lower its priority or even change affinity for the game to run better on dual CCD CPU's, which is asinine.

EAC is also used, and you can avoid it like in single player games; it doesn't seem to actually do anything.

Whether Black Cipher is what's causing the game to utterly cripple Windows when it's running, or if it's the badly programmed UE5 game itself, I don't know... It's very severe.

Still better than Riot's rootkit, IMO.
Thank you for being one of the very few people who treated my concern seriously and answered the question - possibly the only one who did both of those things at the same time.

I'd all but given up if I'm honest, but I suppose that's my fault for expecting better from a Steam forum.

I'm unable to run via a secondary machine so I'll just have to sit this one out. I doubt I'm missing much if this thread is at all indicative of the wider player community.

Thanks again, DAOWAce.
Last edited by ONYX; 30 Jul @ 10:42pm
Kestrel 30 Jul @ 10:53pm 
Originally posted by lacres181:
Originally posted by Kestrel:
honest man fears nothing :steammocking:
nah, a man who fears nothing, loves nothing.
watchu talking about is a boy, kid, not a man.
i stand corrected :steammocking:
3253585 31 Jul @ 3:17am 
Originally posted by ONYX:
makes me very uncomfortable to willingly install something that does shady stuff with my data.
Your iPhone, Windows and Google steal your data every day, but for some reason you don't worry about it.
But the anti-cheat makes you feel uncomfortable...
You have to be mentally ill to not notice one thing at all, but worry and shake about the other.
OP do you have the facebook or X or instagram or tiktok apps on your phone? Because they are way worse. Just throwing that out there. Also never connect to any public wifi ever because they all do the same thing. Oh, and don't use chrome, edge, or firefox browsers either.
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