The Survivor 2299; Nuclear winter has come [UPDATED]

In this rather feverish news article from 2013, our writers took a look at The Survivor 2299, which sadly turned out to be a hoax.


Published: December 1, 2013 5:10 PM /

By:


The player character looking down at Dogmeat in Fallout 4, which many people believed The Survivor 2299 could have been

"Nuclear winter is coming in..."

Ever since the website went live, Fallout fans worldwide have been sitting on the website for god knows how long translating morse code, reporting HTML tweaks, sifting through various behind the scenes changes, and of course mashing the living day lights out of their F5 keys.

Not only has the new website ruined some perfectly good keyboards, but it has also acted as a fine layer of plasma slime that has brought some key Fallout communities together. The Bethesda forums experienced a huge posting surge, the official Fallout subreddit has become a huge hub of information, and even the more mainstream gaming communites are into it.

Recently, however, we hit an official milestone in the buzz surrounding the website.

On the 1st of December at 9:35pm (GMT), the "thesurvivor2299.com" miniature nuclear winter timer hit 0. After a brief server outage, the website flashed out the following: "KVNGR REV ALPHA PPS VT PIZ UHMYLPVOQ CM XHWMZP. NBJB SPI'F BYQS QT D'Y BYFGEOB FI VQDYL MAQ. -NGQHT 5120- Nuclear winter has come." (See update below!)

A new morse code pattern displays this:"CQ CQ BST IS GONE II BST IS GONE N HPE FREQ 3450 RT GB AMERIC@", which means "GENERAL CALL, GENERAL CALL, BOSTON IS GONE, I REPEAT, BOSTON IS GONE. NO HOPE. FREQUENCY 3450 RETURN TRANSMISSION. GOD BLESS AMERICA".

Perhaps a conformation that the new Fallout will take place in Massachusetts? Or maybe that we could see some pre-war gameplay? Stay tuned for more information, along with a decryption of the encoded text.

[UPDATE] Some Redditors have translated the code on the screen to read "THE INSTITUTE IS SEALED. THEY WON'T HELP US I'M HEADING TO BLACK ROW. -TBNLS 5120-"  We believe that 'The Institute' in question there is MIT. We will keep you posted as more info flows along!

[UPDATE 2] The morse code just changed at 4:26pm EST. It now reads "CQ CQ DE OVS 119 EMERG EN UNKN SOS SOS VT 119 QBN 7667 EN UNKQ" Translation via reddit (and us) comes as "Calling all stations, this is overseer 119 emergency enemy unknown, SOS. Vault 119 Quabbin 7677" More to come!

 

[Update 3] It looks like they have also added a new countdown timer to the screen:

2099-2

 

The clock is pointing to another release on Wed, December 11th at 4:00pm EST.

 

[Update 4] We now have confirmation that The Institute refers to MIT, there is currently no word on what "Black Row" could mean, the closest thing we have is black mountain (almost certainly not it).

The "Quabbin" in the most recent morse code message refers to Quabbin reservoir near Boston, a site which has been referred to before on the website. All of this information definitely points to a Boston situated game, or at least some heavy Massachusetts backstory. There is currently a lack of information pertaining to the "enemy unknown"

[Update 5] The term "vault119" is mentioned in the code, a relevant website is also up (vault119.com), registered on the 29th of December, name withheld. There is currently no evidence linking the two sites together. It's the concensus of the Internet that the Vault119 site is a hoax, please do not put your e-mail in there. I'd hate to see you spammed.

[Update 6] New morse code: "CQ CQ DE VT OS 119 ANBNR QBN SOS V DR BRE II SOS V DR BRE EN UNKN LVL 1 2 3 GONE SRV ON SL LVL 4". Which means: "CALLING ALL STATIONS, FROM VAULT119. ANYBODY NEAR QUABBIN SEND HELP, VAULT DOOR BREACH, REPEAT, SEND HELP, VAULT DOOR BREACH. ENEMY UNKNOWN, LEVEL 1 2 3 GONE, SURVIVOR ON LEVEL 4". Exciting stuff guys

[Update 7] New text translation: "MY DEAR SISTER. I'M HEADING TO THE INSTITUTE. GOD KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS PLACE NOW. THE OLD BASTARD WILL HELP US. HE MUST HELP US. -0321-" "THE INSTITUTE IS SEALED. THEY WONT HELP US, I'M HEADING THE BLACK ROW - TBNLS" again we hear of black row, Reddit speculators suggest it could be pre-war merchant's row

[Update 8] Site is down for now. Will continue updating when it comes up.

[Update 9] After hours of being down. The site is back up. The speculation is abound on why it was down. Some people think that it was just over traffic. Others think that it may have been a legal thing if it's a hoax. Only time will tell.

[Update 10]There is new Morse Code posted on their site. The Message reads: "CQ CQ CQ DE VT 119 SOS LVL4 UND ATTK OS IS DEAD II SOS LVL4 UND ATTK OS IS DEAD WE WNT MK IT." It also looks like they added more time to the counter. It would now end on December 11th at 8:00PM EST.

It's believed to read "CALLING ANY STATION CALLING ANY STATION CALLING ANY STATION FROM VAULT 119 SOS LEVEL 4 UNDER ATTACK OVERSEER IS DEAD I SAY AGAIN SOS LEVEL 4 UNDER ATTACK OVERSEER IS DEAD WE WON'T MAKE IT" I'll update the translation as soon as we get more!

[Update 11] Sorry for the delay folks, (naptime) but we have new code already: CLG BR OTST GX IS SF TL LVL 4 BRE N SRV 899 CRPS WE LVG VT 119 KN.

The supposed translation is CALLING BLACK ROW, OTHER STATIONS GROUND IS SAFE TOTAL LOSS LEVEL 4 BREECH NO SURVIVORS 899 CORPSES. WE'RE LEAVING VAULT 119, OVER.

[Update 12] Redditors have found a new page on the site located at thesurvivor2299.com/VT119/ Which shows the following screen:

survivor22993

The screen also has encoded message on it saying:

"REV FEAR - MGSS LHM'H EVHV KBIM'R QIUBMU. CB'L Z YYG MN HBM ZQSUB ZZAY". It has been dechyphered saying "THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT'S COMING. IT'S A KEY TO THE GREAT GAME".

hmmm....

[Update 13] There was a new Morse Code that came in: CLG BR OTST RPT SUSP ACT NER SL TI 1 VTD 02 N 3 UNWN HUM 03 MIL NW K

Translation: CALLING BLACK ROW OUTSTATION. REPORTING SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY NEAR SECURE LOCATION: THE INSTITUTE...ONE VAULT DWELLER 2 MILES NORTH; THREE UNKNOWN HUMANS 3 MILES NORTHWEST, OVER

The story is getting good...

[Update 14] Another update to the site:

There's a New Chipher on the front page:

ZYX 5625478+7878 - HVCD AYX XOTF LFG IVL EGIBDYU CD RZWVI?

UJY'H VOSC FW SFP'GS POCVK KYVI L UWX IVYGLV. XZAG YU,  DHNY PJFF CCZ! ZM'K NZHP HQ QV. NAWLV OSS HEJB RGO TVXS HBVD?

Dechyphered to: WHAT THE F**K ARE YOU LOOKING AT KIDDO? DON'T TELL ME YOU'VE NEVER SEEN A GUN BEFORE. COME ON, MOVE YOUR ASS! IT'S TIME TO GO

There is also new Morse Code coded as:

CLG BR CLG BR RPT DY SEV ON HVB PPL AR SCRD LST NGHT WE HRD STR NES FM TI ATM WE SE STR HUM DX Ø2 MIL N SMTH INT RGTH WID TH PL K

Translated into:

Calling Black Row, Calling Black Row. Report: day seven, on Harvard Bridge. People are scared; last night we heard strange noises from The Institute. At the moment we see strange humans distance 2 miles north. Something isn't right with that place, over.

We will keep you posted!

[Update 15] Yet another update! Wow, they are really giving us a great tease here huh?

There's a new code: CLG BR EMRG IS OVR WE AR OTNB WT AMO STH ATK CMP WA DD N WY OU ALL UNT CD 5210 EVAC Z Y X YUR NXT

Which translates to CALLING  BLACK ROW, ["EMERGENCY IS OVER," OR "EMERGENCY! IT'S OVER."] WE ARE ["ON THE NORTH BRIDGE" OR "OUTNUMBERED"] WITHOUT AMMO. SOMETHING ATTACKED CAMP. WE ARE DOOMED, NO WAY OUT, ALL UNITS ["CONFIRMED DEAD." OR "CODE:"] 5120: EVACUATE. Z Y X, YOU'RE NEXT

December 5th Survivor2299

[Update 16]

We have another update, this time a cipher, which has been modified slightly: AK: {REV ____ 5120} [CPS] PASS {LOC BB YEAR LET} - | H EY XHWHD OF GXSIHS EVE, ZFR G'K ATGEVY ROCL'JM QEOX.GTJX ZSFF QRYTYHA HWEUHG WG VKKP HHWE. MCCCZNU SQ UUE VMXECEDCZ. MFE BNMC NEGE QLZCR TP MZ MR YUOG ACBSM |

Which translates to (with AK as alphabet key, and PASS as passphrase): I AM SORRY TO INFORM YOU, BUT I'M AFRAID THEY'RE DEAD. YOUR LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM IS JUST FINE. WELCOME TO THE INSTITUTE. THE ONLY SAFE PLACE IN THIS WORLD.

The plot thickens!

[Update 17] We have come across a piece of news that may confirm that Fallout 4 Will NOT be announced this weekend at VGX. Check it out here.

[Update 18] Looks like the site has changed once again:

There's a new cypher that reads:

REV 3120 PAB UNAT BA XVQ, VG'F ABG BIRE LRG VG YBBXF ONQ XRRC GURZ OHFL, V'YY TRG UVZ GB GUR FURYGRE

The tricky decoding (dechyphering and reversing the message) says:

CNO(?) HANG ON KID, IT'S NOT OVER YET IT LOOKS BAD KEEP THEM BUSY, I'LL GET HIM TO THE SHELTER

There's new Morse code as well that comes out as: CQ CQ CQ BR AA EMRG MSG WE R UR ATK FREQ 2250 II AA EMRG MSG WE R UR ATK FREQ 2250 II AA EMRG MSG WE R UR ATK FREQ 2250

Which comes out as:

CALLING ALL STATIONS (X3). BREAK. ATTENTION ALL. EMERGENCY MESSAGE. WE ARE UNDER ATTACK. (TURN TO) FREQUENCY 2250. I SAY AGAIN.  ATTENTION ALL. EMERGENCY MESSAGE. WE ARE UNDER ATTACK. (TURN TO)  FREQUENCY 2250.

Sounds like it's going down. Hoax or not, at least it's a decent story! Stay Tuned for more!

[Update 19] There's new Morse code and the cypher has been taken down...

New Morse Code says: PSE AS

2299psb

::Holds Breath::

[Update 20] Taking some wind out of the sails Bethesda tweeted the following:

PSA: If you don’t hear it through an official channel like this, assume all rumors and speculation are false.

— Bethesda Softworks (@Bethblog) December 6, 2013

The fanboys at Reddit and IRC are calling their bluff tho, making it sound like the "Please Stand By" came at the right time. We will still follow this as we learn more.

[Update 21] And with the final update...the site was a fake :( We're as sad as you are! Look forward to a recap and to see if we can get some answers.

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


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