Helldivers 2 Review Bombed on Steam After Anti-Cheat Friendly Fire

Arrowhead has switched to Easy Anti-Cheat to cut down on cheaters in Helldivers 2, but that decision has proven controversial on Steam. The new anti-cheat was supposed to prevent mods that give players unfair advantages, but it’s broken mods players use to tidy up the game.

"We know mods are part of the DNA of PC gaming and gaming communities as a whole," the studio wrote in a post last week. "In general, we appreciate the creativity behind cosmetic and non-gameplay mods, which players can enjoy without negatively impacting those who play alongside them.

"Where we need to improve is how we protect players against modifications that create unfair advantages or negatively impact others, which goes beyond software manipulation to tamper with our game."

Following the change, recent reviews on Steam plummeted to “Mostly Negative,” while all-time reviews of the game remain “Mostly Positive.” Many have called out Arrowhead for punishing players for using mods that fix, in their opinion, issues with the game the developer has failed to address.

Useful mods include hellpod steering fixes, smoother vaulting and climbing mechanics, AI improvements, and more. Easy Anti-Cheat doesn’t differentiate between these and, say, mods that give players invincibility.

Some players have claimed the anti-cheat blocked them from launching the game at all, despite no mod installs. Currently, in the UK, the game doesn’t even appear on Steam.

“Arrowhead could have embraced the mods,” one Steam review said. “There could have been Workshop support, Left 4 Dead 2 is still thriving to this day. Arrowhead could have had public vanilla lobbies separate from modded ones. Baldur’s Gate 3 has this!”

Helldivers 2 is a co-op game where players work together to fight off various alien races across the galaxy, as enemies fill the screen, bullets fly, and your squadmates die in horrible and hilarious ways. From Arrowhead’s perspective, mods could help you grind to unlock all those cosmetics you could otherwise pay real money for.

IGN has asked Arrowhead for comment.