Space Marine 2 is wildly successful, selling over 4.5 million copies in its first month. However, due to a series of balance changes, the developers have inadvertently caused civil war among its PC users. To put it more bluntly, Space Marine 2 nerfs. Thus, PC users over on Steam had to resort to their favorite outrage activity: review bombing, this time for Space Marine 2.
At the time of writing, Space Marine 2 still holds a favorable score for ‘Recent Reviews’ and ‘All Reviews’ metrics. Looking at the review graphs, however, paints a different picture. Over the past two days, the number of negative reviews has skyrocketed. This happened after Saber Interactive’s most recent round of balance changes in its first big update (Patch 4.0).
Some damage numbers have been reduced by as much as 30 to 70 percent. This has led to more difficult content with no viable way to deal with some enemies and attack types.
It’s Helldivers 2 All Over Again
Moreover, PC players are now likening the nerfs to what Helldivers 2 developers were doing when it declined in players. That would be releasing a bunch of nerfs that weaken the most popular options. One player even stated that the “nerfs were unnecessary” while another claimed that the “devs are dangerously close to doing the Helldivers 2 tried and true method of imploding an awesome game.”
It’s worth noting that there’s a considerable overlap between Helldivers 2 players and Space Marine 2 players. A lot of disgruntled players from the former migrated to the latter after the series of nerfs that they deemed as detrimental to fun. Now, that kind of balancing issue has crept over to their new ‘home,’ hence the review bombing and accusations.
The good news is that Space Marine 2 is a live-service game and is thus bound to be flexible with its balancing, assuming the developers consider the review bombers’ complaints about the nerfs.
