Important takeaways
- Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2's latest update has teased fans by introducing a series of nerfs that make parrying more difficult and popular weapons deal less damage.
- This has led to a bombardment of negative reviews on Space Marine 2's Steam page, complaining about the nerfs and calling the game Helldivrs 2.0.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is a pretty awesome game for the most part, but we've seen this year that even the most beloved and well-known games can become public enemy number one if developers decide to run popular strategies into the ground. Helldivers 2 has only just managed to recover from the terrible criticism and review bombing it suffered due to unpopular nerves earlier this year, and it looks like Space Marine 2 is on the same trajectory.
Alongside several exciting announcements, such as a new operation that will pit players against a Hierophant Bio-Titan, developer Saber Interactive announced a series of gameplay and balancing tweaks that have gone down much less enthusiastically. For starters, the parry window on fencing weapons has been reduced, which is a very unpopular move as many used the weapons for their generous parry windows.
Family
Space Marine 2's three-person Co-Op caused “compromises” to the story
The three playable characters never diverge, complicating the story.
Bonus damage to enemies hit by an Auspex Scan has been reduced by 30 percent, and damage dealt to bosses by a Melta Charge – something many players use on higher difficulties – has been reduced by a whopping 70 percent. On top of that, Ruthless difficulty missions now give players less armor and less ammo, making that difficulty much harder for seemingly no good reason.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 review bombed over latest Nerfs
Following these nerfs, the game's Steam page has been bombarded with nearly 400 negative reviews, all complaining about the nerfs. That doesn't seem like a huge number in the grand scheme of things, and the game's overall rating on Steam is still very positive, but it's by far the most negative reviews left for Space Marine 2 in over a month.
You can tell that many fans think these nerfs are a bad thing by looking at the reviews that have been left today, including one from a Steam user named Ducky that reads “Nerf a game, I'm leaving a bad review. Simple as that. Many reviews also mention Helldivers 2 – which is understandable given how closely linked the two fanbases are – and how Saber has ignored the mistakes Arrowhead made earlier this year.
The developers are dangerously close to doing the tried and tested Helldivers 2 method of imploding a great game into whatever fever dream their balancing team thinks is fun.
Public backlash was enough for Arrowhead to reverse course, and Helldivers 2 fans are much better off now because of it. However, Saber Interactive is far less open and honest with its community than Arrowhead, so we'll have to see if these nerfs stir up enough controversy for the developer to reverse some of the more unpopular decisions it's made.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 sees you once again fighting for the Emperor, against armies of Tyranid aliens. You must fight to ensure the empire's survival in the face of extinction.
