Helldivers 2 devs say players are 'absolutely right to expect better' after latest update's crashes and stumbles—promise mid-October patch and 'better communication'

A Helldiver from Helldivers 2 seeing the ruination of Super Earth in the visor of their helmet.

(Image credit: Arrowhead Studios)

Helldivers 2 is in the "it's so over!" part of the chart again, unfortunately. Despite its latest patch being a ton of fun, the entire engine is also buckling and groaning under the weight of extreme technical debt.

Crashes, bugs, terrible performance, and an ever-balooning file size are all starting to get the game a Mixed recent review score on Steam at the time of writing—although just barely. Currently, 69% (nice) of all reviews in the last 30 days are positive.

"We’ve seen the feedback across Discord, forums, Reddit and our dashboards. You’ve been loud, clear, and absolutely right to expect better. We also recognise that our recent updates haven’t hit the mark, and our silence hasn’t helped. That’s on us. We read all of it, and we are hard at work creating a roadmap to address this."

"For some of the bigger performance pieces, unfortunately, we can’t wave a ‘short-turnaround-magic-wand’, nor would a 60-day patch fix them fully (rather it would be duct tape where we need to solder); so we’re working on a bigger development plan as to how we can address some of the larger concerns.

"Short term, we think the above will make a noticeable improvement, and beyond that, we’ll keep working on the top issues you keep raising."

A message that reads: "Greetings Helldivers,We know many of you have been experiencing issues including performance drops, stability hiccups, freezes, and the annoying audio bugs. We&rsquo;ve seen the feedback across Discord, forums, Reddit and our dashboards. You&rsquo;ve been loud, clear, and absolutely right to expect better. We also recognise that our recent updates haven&rsquo;t hit the mark, and our silence hasn&rsquo;t helped. That&rsquo;s on us. We read all of it and we are hard at work creating a roadmap to address this. :heartdiver: Starting with the good news: there is an incoming update (mid October-ish) where we&rsquo;ll start chipping away at:Some key crash fixesFixed the Primary weapon/Side-arm audio that stops during a missionMinor performance improvementsLong overdue bug fixes, like Charger footstep sounds (pretty useful) or weapon audio stopping mid missionNo more landing on cavesA Balance Pass (we&rsquo;re unleashing Niklas &amp; Lennart)For some of the bigger performances pieces unfortunately we can&rsquo;t wave a &lsquo;short-turnaround-magic-wand&rsquo;, nor would a 60 day patch fix them fully (rather it would be duct tape where we need to solder); so we&rsquo;re working on a bigger development plan as to how we can address some of the larger concerns. Short term, we think the above will make a noticeable improvement and beyond that we&rsquo;ll keep working on the top issues you keep raising. In the future, we&rsquo;re planning more transparency and more talk! We&rsquo;re looking to share more about the processes, performance and how we got here, plus further improvements and evolution. For starters expect another post next week to kick that off. Between the Xbox launch, the Halo: ODST Legendary Warbond, the free Into the Unjust update, and other surprises, we&rsquo;ve welcomed a ton of new players, brought back veterans, and delivered a lot of content. Now, it&rsquo;s time to double down on fixes, polish, and better communication.TL;DRWe hear you, we want things to be in a better state, we are taking it very seriously, we will continue working and sharing.Thanks for sticking with us! For Super Earth! :diversalute: :heartdiver: The Arrowhead Dev Team" — (Image credit: Helldivers 2 Discord)

The developer also states that it'll be making an active effort to communicate more—admitting that its radio silence hasn't quite helped: "In the future, we’re planning more transparency and more talk! We’re looking to share more about the processes, performance and how we got here, plus further improvements and evolution. For starters, expect another post next week to kick that off."

I do feel a little for Arrowhead here—the Helldivers 2 playerbase is, uh, let's call them vocal, and direct communication hasn't exactly worked out smoothly in the past. But I meant it when I said that Helldivers 2 goes through a cycle of "it's so over" to "we're so back", to the point where you can set your watch by it.

Or, as I did, write an article back at the end of 2024 documenting the game's repeated ups and downs. Nothing's certain but death, taxes, and Arrowhead kinda-fumbling a patch and then making up for it later.

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.

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