Space Marine 2 Players Hit Back At Survivor Helm Gatekeepers After Update 4.1

The Adeptus Astartes is all about brotherhood. Yes, there was the whole Horus Heresy thing, but let’s ignore that for now. When Warhammer 400,000: Space Marine 2 launched, it brought everyone from die-hard fans to the 40K-curious together, causing a surge in popularity for the franchise and its deep lore.

Unfortunately, the faith of players was derailed a bit after the 4.0 update, as it nerfed a number of weapons, and made the Lethal difficulty almost impossible, thanks to all the Zoanthropes, among other things. After the outcry, Saber Interactive stepped in to revert some of the changes, much to the community’s relief.

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However, a small portion of the players who earned the Survivor Helm by beating the Operations on Lethal difficulty felt like the armour piece was their divine right. They suggested that it be retired after the 4.1 patch, as they beat the Lethal difficulty when it was at its hardest, and anyone who earned it after the patch shouldn’t get to show it off. The vast majority of the community didn’t stand for this kind of gatekeeping.

For a game that sort of puts space racists at the forefront, the Warhammer community is very supportive towards newbies – I have experienced this myself while playing with others, and also when I once visited a 40K store out of curiosity. So, it isn’t surprising that the player base has shut down those who felt like they were superior to others just because they beat a game pre-nerf.

After Saber’s announcement of Patch 4.1, the Space Marine subreddit featured a number of posts appreciating the developers and asking others to rescind their negative Steam reviews. They also poked fun at some comments that were trying to gatekeep the Survivor Helm, saying that no one cares if you beat a video game on a harder difficulty setting than everyone else.

It’s great to see that the community is so inclusive, and calls out those who try and gatekeep – even if it’s just for a scratched up helmet. Similar instances have occured when FromSoftware nerfed the Promised Consort Radahn bossfight in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. But it seems the Warhammer community will not tolerate such heresy.

The 4.1 update has buffed a number of weapons and reduced the spawn rates of Extremis enemies. Along with that, Saber has announced a public test server in order to better serve the community.