Helldivers 2 developer Arrowhead Game Studios is facing fresh backlash from the community after nerfing fire damage weapons days before releasing its pyromaniac-themed premium warbond, Freedom’s Flame.
The balance changes introduced by this week’s Escalation of Freedom update include a number of tweaks to the game’s fire damage system designed to make flame-spewing weapons behave “more realistically."
Some frustrated community members have taken to social media to complain the update has dramatically nerfed fire-based weapons such as the flamethrower, once considered a potent antidote to armored terminids chargers.
Helldivers 2’s Steam page has seen more than 2,000 negative reviews push its recent review score from ‘mostly positive’ to ‘mixed’ in a few days. Others took to social media to vent about the developer’s perceived nerf-happy approach to weapon balancing.
Arrowhead has acknowledged the backlash, with community manager Baskinator assuring players on Discord that developers had “heard your feedback” related to fire damage, and the studio was now “having a lot of internal discussions about the best course of action.”
Studio CEO Shams Jorjani subsequently said on X/Twitter that a hotflix will be deployed “at some point” that will “focus on bugs, and might include some balance changes," but “other things need time to cook a bit more."
This isn’t the first time Arrowhead has faced the inferno of community rebellion. Helldivers 2 director Johan Pilestedt said in May that the studio had been overzealous with the frequency of its nerf-laden updates, noting "it feels like every time someone finds something fun, the fun is removed."
The player base also rose up en-mass earlier this year to protest an unpopular policy that would have required PC players to have a PSN account to play the online co-operative shooter, eventually forcing the entertainment giant to abandon the plan altogether.
The Escalation of Freedom update brought more than just controversy to Arrowhead's co-op PvE shooter. Check out the patch notes to find out about the wave of fresh features, including a new 'Super Helldive' level 10 difficulty, novel mission objectives, menacing enemies, and more.
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
