Summary
- Recent negative reviews for Helldivers 2 criticize post-launch management, nerfed weapons, and crashes.
- The game saw success at launch but faced backlash following the Escalation of Freedom update.
- Developers are addressing player concerns, including balancing issues and tweaks to the flamethrower.
Helldivers 2 is seeing yet another wave of negative reviews following a favorable response to its launch in February. While the reasons given for the recent negative reactions to Helldivers 2 vary among players, they seem to share a common thread of criticism for the multiplayer third-person shooter's post-launch management.
Despite some login problems and matchmaking issues, the launch of Helldivers 2 went exceptionally well, selling nearly 3 million copies in its first 16 days and sporting big active player numbers. Within a day of launch, Helldivers 2 surpassed God of War as Sony's most-played game ever on Steam.
But the journey hasn't been without its ups and downs, and the game still seems to be facing backlash from changes made in the Escalation of Freedom update from earlier in August. Helldivers 2 still enjoys a mostly positive all-time review score on Steam, with a 72 percent approval rating, but recent reviews are skewed in the other direction, with just 39 percent giving the game a thumbs up. While the recent update diversified the enemy types by adding three Terminids and two Automatons, it also resulted in the nerfing of several popular weapons and strategems, a trend that seems to be the major complaint behind a lot of the negative recent reviews. Other complaints from recent reviewers include continuing crashing and disconnection issues, repetitive gameplay, and a lack of variety among enemies.
Review Bombs for Helldivers 2 are Becoming a Recurring Theme
That wasn't even the first wave of review bombing to hit the game. Helldivers 2 reviews dipped into the mixed category a little over a week after launch, largely due to players being unable to get into matches because of servers being packed to the brim. However, the addition of more servers helped to quell that wave of criticism.
Helldivers 2 also received a lot of negative reviews in May, after developers required that all players be linked to the PlayStation Network in order to access the game. That included PC users playing the game on Steam, many of whom weren't happy about having to link their accounts together, resulting in another big batch of negative reviews on the platform.
In spite of the recent criticism, developers seem aware of player concerns and are trying to address them. Game Director Mikael E made a post to Steam on August 13 laying out Arrowhead Games' plans for the following 60 days, which include re-evalutaing balancing issues and making tweaks to the flamethrower, a weapon that's previous nerfs have been the subject of a lot of the game's recent negative reviews. Helldivers 2 developers have addressed controversy surrounding the game head-on in the past, such as Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt taking some of the blame for the PlayStation Network linking fallout.
Helldivers 2
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 83 /100 Critics Rec: 91%
- Released
- February 8, 2024
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Arrowhead Game Studios, Nixxes
- Publisher(s)
- Sony Interactive Entertainment, PlayStation Publishing
WHERE TO PLAY
The Galaxy’s Last Line of Offence. Enlist in the Helldivers and join the fight for freedom across a hostile galaxy in a fast, frantic, and ferocious third-person shooter.
URGENT BROADCAST – SUPER EARTH ARMED FORCES
Freedom. Peace. Democracy. Your Super Earth-born rights. The key pillars of our civilization. Of our very existence. But the war rages on. And everything is once again under threat.
Join the greatest military force the galaxy has ever seen and make this a safe and free place to live.
BECOME A LEGEND
You will be assembled into squads of up to four Helldivers and assigned strategic missions. Watch each other’s back – friendly fire is an unfortunate certainty of war, but victory without teamwork is impossible.
LOADOUTS
Rain down freedom from above, sneak through enemy territory, or grit your teeth and charge head-first into the jaws of combat. How you deliver liberty is your choice; you’ll have access to a wide array of explosive firepower, life-saving armor and battle-changing stratagems… the jewel in every Helldiver’s arsenal.
REQUISITION
Super Earth recognises your hard work with valuable Requisition. Use it to access different rewards that benefit you, your squad, your destroyer ship and our overall war effort.
THREATS
Everything on every planet wants you dead. That’s what we’re dealing with. Each enemy has distinct and unpredictable characteristics, tactics, and behavior – but they all fight ferociously and without fear or morality.
THE GALACTIC WAR
Capturing enemy planets, defending against invasions, and completing missions will contribute to our overall effort. This war will be won or lost depending on the actions of everyone involved.
We stand together, or we fall apart.
- Engine
- bitsquid
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- All platforms
- Franchise
- Helldivers
- Number of Players
- 1-4 players (online)
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter, Extraction Shooter, Action, Science Fiction
