Helldivers 2 review round-up: What do early players say?

There's clearly a lot to like, though, with the game reaching a peak of 81,840 players on Steam, according to SteamDB.

And Helldivers 2 has found enough success that it has even overtaken the seemingly unstoppable Palworld on the Steam Top Sellers list!

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PlayStation players, too, are taking to Helldivers 2, perhaps with a sense of wanting to avoid the co-op FOMO having missed out on the Palworld bonanza.

As it is launching on both PC and PlayStation 5, check out the situation with Helldivers 2 crossplay to see if you can play with your friends on different platforms - as Helldivers 2 shines best when you do so.

But all this is hearsay; let’s hear it from the horse's mouth!

Helldivers 2 review round-up: What do early players say?

As there were no review samples given to the press ahead of time, we’ll instead be seeing what the players make of the game, as well as taking a look at some previews from the likes of IGN and one review in progress from Metro.co.uk to get a lay of the land.

Currently, as of writing, Helldivers 2 has a "Mixed" user rating on Steam owing to server and game crashes, instability, a limited amount of content and also the nProtect GameGuard anti-cheat that is causing issues for players both in terms of performance and for how invasive they find it.

These issues don’t seem to pertain to the PlayStation 5 version, however - other than the limited content available.

When the game is working properly, though, people are having a blast, and Steam user Gamu gives a very well-rounded take on the game, saying: "Overall I'd give the game about a 7/10. I think the game will be a major hit or major miss for most people, largely depending on if your hardware agrees with the game or not.

"The gameplay itself is extremely fun and challenging depending on your difficulty, with quite a lot of replayability with friends."

For those worried about the "Mixed" rating, Steam user ABM assuages fears, and tells us that the "game is fun and improves upon the first game".

But they do note that Helldivers 2 had a "shaky launch with some crashes". They don’t think it was enough to impact the game's receptions, however, and it in no way "justifies the review bombing people are doing".

Hero, also on Steam, wasn’t quite so taken by Helldivers 2, saying: "Playing this game will make you realise how content sparse it is, and how good game design gives way to sleazy progression systems, that waste your time and incentivise you to grind or spend money."

Hero advises player to give Helldivers 2 a "pass until they add more content".

GameCentral for Metro dubbed their review in progress "Starship Poopers", giving the reader an early indication of their thoughts on the game.

It's not all bad, however, with GameCentral saying "it’s undoubtedly fun", but they are worried about its long-term success by concluding "the biggest question for Helldivers 2 is its longevity and variety" due to its live-service nature, something that history hasn’t been particularly kind to as of late.

In their final preview, IGN’s Travis Northup thoroughly enjoyed their time with the game, but echoed Hero’s sentiments about the lack of content: "If there’s anything that concerned me about my time with Helldivers 2, it’s that after three hours I felt like I’d played a whole lot of the content available in the game."

Northup finishes on a much more positive note though, and says, "Even if content is light initially, what I played of it was more than enough to get me excited about laughing with friends as we blast our way through killer robots," finishing with the resounding recommendation of, "I can’t wait to play more."

With all that said, does any of the above tickle your fancy, or have you already taken Helldivers 2 for a whirl and have your own opinions? If you do, share them with us on X (@RadioTimesGames).

Read more on Helldivers 2: Helldivers 2 release date | Helldivers 2 player count | Helldivers 2 server status | Helldivers 2 mechs | Helldivers 2 enemies | Helldivers 2 stratagems | Helldivers 2 difficulty levels | Helldivers 2 trophies | Helldivers 2 ‘Rickroll’ Steam Deck players | Helldivers 2 solo guide | Helldivers 2 crossplay | Helldivers console exclusivity explained | Is Helldivers 2 on PS4? Alternatives explained | Helldivers 2 roadmap

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