Battlefield 4 "death shield" bug discovered, causes projectiles to bounce off invisible walls

A previously undiscovered bug has been exposed in Battlefield 4, and it could be responsible for some of the game's more frustrating moments. The "death shield" is an invisible wall that extends from downed (but not dead) players. As they lie there, waiting for a revive, the 'shield' blocks all incoming projectiles—even bouncing them back to damage your soldier. It's another blow for a game that's already had more than its share of problems. On the plus side, I can now pretend like my own incompetence is really the result of a bug.

YouTuber Jack Frag stumbled across the bug, and has provided video evidence of what it does:

When a soldier is killed in Battlefield 4, there's a period of time in which they can be revived. When a player is fully dead, explosives and projections will pass over them fine, but in the pre-death downed state, it seems the game is misreporting a soldier's hit box. Presumably this is most noticeable on the corridor-heavy maps like Operation Locker.

If they weren't aware of it before, DICE have been alerted to the bug's existence. QA lead Jaqub Ajmal explained that they were " looking into it ".

Have you been affected by Battlefield 4's Death Shield? I definitely have. Definitely. And you can't prove otherwise.

Thanks, MP1st .

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.