Why did Helldivers 2 have mixed reviews on Steam at launch?

Helldivers 2 is finally on PS5 and Steam, but to decidedly mixed reviews at launch. Many fans - roughly 6,000 of the reviews, in fact - are happy that the game is out. Not everyone is, unfortunately. While any game can receive negative reviews, this one has amassed thousands. Many reasons are understandable. Instead of just saying, “This game is bad,” people have genuine complaints about the game.

We’ve taken a dive through the comments for Helldivers 2 to see why it has mixed reviews on Steam. This doesn’t mean the developers will heed anyone’s words, but potential players deserve to know what the major problems of the game are going into it. Here’s what people are upset about in this latest online game.

Update (February 11, 2024) - The game now has a Mostly Positive rating on Steam.

---

Why Helldivers 2 has mixed reviews on Steam

People have been incredibly vocal about their complaints. (Image via Steam)

One of the biggest culprits of the mixed reviews on Steam for Helldivers 2 has to be the anti-cheat. Most people simply accept anti-cheat as a fact of life in online games - even the kernel-level access ones.

However, this game reportedly uses a very cheap, old anti-cheat product designed for MMOs instead of something modern like Easy Anti-Cheat. It makes sense to be upset about something.

This game uses nProtect GameGuard, which is an anti-cheat that has come under fire multiple times in the past. Many players have complained about this, hoping to see an update to the anti-cheat sometime in the near future.

Other complaints have led to Helldivers 2 receiving mixed reviews on Steam, such as the various microtransactions and, in particular, the battle pass. People feel like the Warbonds contain pay-to-win items, which was always going to cause fan outrage. While the developers insist this is not the case, fans do feel otherwise.

Many gamers have had issues with optimization, crashes, and other game-breaking bugs. (Image via Steam)

However, the most prevalent complaints appear to be about the game simply not being optimized, or working as intended. Multiple people have complained about the game crashing during missions, frequent disconnects, and worse. One player got stuck being unable to load the game because they tried to equip a helmet.

Apparently, the developers told players that they needed to beat the first mission before changing equipment. At least one Steam user felt this was a poor response to a game-breaking bug that the title shouldn’t have shipped with. It’s comments like this that led to Helldivers 2 having mixed reviews on Steam.

However, the developers have responded to at least one comment, recommending users with major problems send in a support ticket so the issues can get flagged, fixed, and people can enjoy the game properly.

---

The interesting thing about Helldivers 2 getting mixed reviews on Steam at launch is that the overwhelming majority of people have nothing bad to say about the game itself.

They love the game and want to enjoy it, but issues like these make it incredibly hard to do so. Since there is no single-player campaign in Helldivers 2, players who can’t get online due to game crashes are just out of luck for now.