After Helldivers 2’s Game-Changing Update Made Everything Easier, Some Hardcore Fans Want a New Harder Difficulty — and the Devs Agree [IGN]

Helldivers 2 received a shot in the arm this week with the release of update 01.001.100, a patch that completely reworked weapon balance, added a new Galactic War feature, and made loads more changes aimed at making the PC and PlayStation 5 co-op shooter easier and more fun.

The update came after a troubling period for the game and for developer Arrowhead that saw its disgruntled playerbase complain that nerfs had gone too far and as a result had stripped the fun out of Helldivers 2.

Early indications are that this latest patch has brought fans back on-side, and even sparked a modest increase in concurrent players on Steam (Sony does not make PlayStation player numbers publicly available).

But now, after complaining that Helldivers 2 offered too tough of a challenge, or, more specifically, did not provide players with the right tools to reasonably face touch challenges in the game, some of Helldivers 2’s most hardcore fans are saying the game is too easy.

Creative director Johan Pilestedt took to social media to ask fans what they thought of the Helldivers 2 patch, and a recurring theme was that the game perhaps needs an even harder difficulty level, given how easy it had become overnight.

Maybe a tad too easy? 🤣

— Pilestedt (@Pilestedt) September 18, 2024

“We are going to look at the challenge of the game for those high tier players, it’s in the pipe,” Pilestedt confirmed. Then, in response to one fan who said, “Everything is great but we need a new harder difficulty now,” Pilestedt replied: “I agree!”

Arrowhead now faces the prospect of having successfully tweaked Helldivers 2 for the majority of its playerbase, but also having to provide that rock hard challenge for its hardcore fans. A rock hard difficulty should help.

One fan wondered why Helldivers 2 players didn’t simply play on easier difficulties rather than complaining about the game or leaving it behind (a comment that disregards the fact that some of Helldivers 2’s most coveted resources are locked behind the harder difficulties). “Now any level is a walk in the park,” they said. “Even big bugs get thrashed sooo fast, it’s kinda sad.”

Pilestedt’s reply to this got to the heart of the problem with Helldivers 2 pre-patch: “Right, It’s because it just didn’t feel enjoyable or believable to hit a Charger with an RR and it brushing it off.”

What Arrowhead is unlikely to do is return to drastically nerfing Helldivers 2’s stratagems and weapons, given that’s what got the game into trouble in the first place.

“I swear to god if yall start nerfing this stuff…,” worried one fan. “Agree,” Pilestedt replied. “Especially when it comes to damage; nerfing is an unimaginative way of tweaking a game.”

Helldivers 2’s next Premium Warbond, dubbed Chemical Agents, launches tomorrow, September 19. While Chemical Agents does not include any new weapons, it adds two stratagem variants — the TX-41 Sterilizer, which lets you spray a gas at the Terminids and Automatons, and the Guard Dog’s ‘Dog Breath,’ which is a corrosive gas sprayer — and, in keeping with the alien exterminator theme, the G-4 Gas grenade, which covers the whole area in a cloud of noxious fumes.

Arrowhead will be hoping update 01.001.100 is the first step on Helldivers 2’s road to recovery, a road that will keep the game going for years to come.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.