Space Marine 2 devs have revealed a new update that will reverse some questionable balance changes. Newly announced public test servers look to avoid similar hiccups in the future.
At launch, Space Marine 2 was all a Warhammer 40K fan could ask for in a video game adaptation of the franchise they love. Unless you’re a Xenos player.
The game is packed with references for veterans of the hobbies that encompass that franchise but its stellar visual presentation and nostalgic action gameplay certainly enticed newcomers. For these reasons, Space Marine 2 quickly became the most-played Warhammer 40K videogame of all time.
Following the game’s launch, however, balancing changes introduced in patches for the game’s PVE multiplayer offerings soured the experience for players. The team at Saber Interactive has announced a new patch for Space Marine 2 that not only undoes the damage, but adds buffs to salve the wounds.
Space Marine 2’s 4.1 update fixes the game’s difficulty
Space Marine 2’s 4.0 patch was, to put it judiciously, not well received by players. A series of changes to even out the game’s difficulty hit particularly hard and resulted in a review bombing campaign from fans of the game.
While this didn’t alter Space Marine 2’s ‘Mostly Positive’ rating on Steam, it did prompt action from the team at Saber Interactive. Amongst the patch notes for the incoming 4.1 update, Game Director Dmitriy Grigorenko personally addressed the backlash from players and outlined the studio’s plans to reduce future friction.
“With Patch 4.0, our aim was to tweak enemy spawns to increase the overall number of enemies rather than reverting to buffing their Health,” Grigorenko elaborated. “Unfortunately, this had an impact on the easier difficulty levels as well.”
“As I’ve personally emphasized in interviews, Space Marine 2 is all about the power fantasy, and Patch 4.0 negatively impacted it for many of you,” he continued. To address the issues brought about by patch 4.0, the latest update will walk the changes back somewhat.
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“Extremis enemies’ spawn rates in Minimal, Average, and Substantial difficulties will revert back to their pre-Patch 4.0 levels and will be significantly reduced in Ruthless difficulty,” he explained. Space Marine 2’s 4.1 patch isn’t just about fixing issues from the previous update.
Bolters finally get some love in Space Marine 2
The iconic Bolter weapons that are synonymous with the titular Space Marine faction have been a sore point for players engaging in the PVE Operations mode since launch. Grigorenko himself admitted that the family of weapons has been “underperforming across all difficulty levels”.
To address this common complaint from players, Space Marine 2 patch 4.1 will introduce the following buffs:
- Auto Bolt Rifle -> Damage increased by 20%
- Bolt Rifle -> Damage increased by 10%
- Heavy Bolt Rifle -> Damage increased by 15%
- Stalker Bolt Rifle -> Damage increased by 10%
- Marksman Bolt Carbine -> Damage increased by 10%
- Instigator Bolt Carbine -> Damage increased by 10%
- Bolt Sniper Rifle -> Damage increased by 12.5%
- Bolt Carbine -> Damage increased by 15%
- Occulus Bolt Carbine -> Damage increased by 15%
- Heavy Bolter -> Damage increased by 5%
Hopefully, these changes will help make the weapons more viable and increase the power fantasy of playing as a 9ft tall, genetically enhanced supersoldier.
Lastly, Grigorenko announced that the team at Saber was working on the implementation of features that allow more player-focused testing for future changes.
“Moving forward, we’d like to harness this energy by establishing Public Test Servers,” he revealed. “They would let you try out major balancing updates and make your voices heard before they are pushed onto public branches.”
The development studio has already revealed extensive plans for the long-term support of Space Marine 2. Based on the details discussed in patch 4.1, it looks like Saber Interactive is taking that support seriously.
