Helldivers 2 slammed by players for “broken” & “unplayable” PC port

The Helldivers 2 PC port is receiving backlash on Steam after players experience crashes, frame drops, and more.

Helldivers 2 launched on PlayStation and PC on February 8, almost a decade after the original was released in 2015. However, after the feature it received at the beginning of the PlayStation State of Play, Helldivers 2 is getting harsh feedback on Steam.

Negative feedback began pouring in within the first few hours of the game’s release. Multiple users were reporting numerous crashes when trying to start up the game. Others said that despite their PC specs, they continuously got frame drops that made the game unplayable.

Developers attempting to address negative reviews on Steam by directing players to report issues to support have found their efforts to be fruitless.

Helldivers 2 raise concerns with anti-cheat

Arrowhead Game Studios

Helldivers 2 has garnered over 4,000 reviews on Steam, earning a ‘mixed’ label on the platform; nevertheless, it holds the top position as the best-selling game on Steam in the United States.

“It really sucks to hate a game that I know I could love if it only worked,” said one reviewer. “Right now, it plays worse than Darktide at launch. I’ve never experienced a game that actually has worse performance the lower you put the settings. Crashes on launch 9/10 times, crashes when changing equipment half the time, and crashes after the mission you just played at 10fps.”

The negative reviews primarily centered around crashes, but a few also expressed concerns about the anti-cheat system employed in the PC port. A system that allegedly stays on the user’s computer even after uninstalling the game. Which has some avoiding Helldivers 2 entirely until the system is changed.

“The truth is, this game’s anti-cheat, Nprotect Gameguard, is the cheapest and most unsafe rootkit anti-cheat on the market,” said another review. “Since it’s kernel level, the anti-cheat has kernel access to your PC, meaning it can go through all your files and control hardware. Some reported that even after uninstalling their games, people still can’t get rid of the anti-cheat as it lurks in your PC.”

Developers have ensured reviewers that they are working on solutions to fix the optimization problems. However, the developers have made no comments regarding the potentially harmful anti-cheat system.