Summary
Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2has unveiled the official patch notes for Update 4.1, which will fix some of the issues caused by the previous unpopular update. Released in September,Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2is a popular multiplayer co-op shooter, but its most recent update caused some balance issues that angered its fan base, and developer Saber Interactive has been quick to announce a solution.
DespiteWarhammer 40K: Space Marine 2receiving positive reviewssoon after its launch, the game has been criticized by its community due to what has been described as the “Nerf Patch.” The eagerly anticipated Update 4.0 was released last week, and it was criticized due to making the game considerably harder even on easier difficulties. This led toSpace Marine 2getting review bombed and a huge backlash from fans.
Now, Saber Interactive has revealed the official patch notes for Update 4.1, which will make the game easier and fix a few issues when it’s live on October 24. In the wake of the complaints aboutWarhammer 40K: Space Marine 2’s Patch 4.0, players will see significant changes, such as a reduced spawn rate of Extremis enemies to match pre-Patch 4.0 levels in most difficulties, and several weapons having their damage outputs increased in Operations mode. Other significant changes include the Player’s Armor being increased by 10% in Ruthless mode and friendly bots doing more damage to bosses. Also, a bug with roll distance will be solved with the upcoming patch.
Space Marine 2publisher Focus Home Interactive promised to fix the gameand did well on this promise. Hopefully, players will feel powerful again after the patch goes live. In the patch notes, Saber Interactive also explained why it introduced these changes in the first place. According to the devs, the game was getting “too easy,” as wins in the Ruthless difficulty hover around 80%, so the decision to increase the difficulty was aimed at balancing the game. However, it got in the way of the power fantasy of playingSpace Marine 2, which is why the devs went back on the controversial choice.
Despite these recent troubles,Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2is one of the most popular multiplayer games released in 2024. According to Saber Interactive, the title was the company’s fastest-selling game ever, asWarhammer 40K: Space Marine 2has reached 4.5 million playerssince the launch.
Gameplay and Balancing Tweaks - Operations mode
AI director and enemy spawns
DG: Here was our reasoning before Patch 4.0: When the game came out in September, the Ruthless difficulty win rate hovered around 60%. Weeks later, and with the changes introduced by Patch 3.0, we saw that the same win rate had jumped to over 80%, and we received a lot of feedback stating that the game had become too easy—even at its maximum difficulty (at the time).
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. Unfortunately, this had an impact on the easier difficulty levels as well.
For example, the win rate on the easiest difficulty dropped slightly after Patch 4.0, from 95% to 93%. This may not look like a lot, but numbers aren’t everything. Your feedback made it clear that the game had become more intense and stressful on lower difficulties, and this was never our intention. As I’ve personally emphasised in interviews, Space Marine 2 is all about the power fantasy, and Patch 4.0 negatively impacted it for many of you.
This is why we’re rolling back these changes. 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 to hopefully strike a balance between how hard the game was at launch and how “easy” it became with Patch 3.0.
Minimal, Average, and Substantial Difficulties:
Ruthless Difficulty:
Weapons (only in Operations mode)
DG: We’ve been wanting to address the Bolter family for a while, as they’ve been underperforming across all difficulty levels. This has been a frequent piece of feedback from many of you, and the data confirmed improvements were needed across the board. The percent Damage increase is based on which classes have access to which kind of weapon and how the Bolters compete with the other options available.
Difficulty
Ruthless: Player’s Armour is increased by 10%
DG: We are partially rolling back the change from the previous patch on Ruthless difficulty following your feedback. With Patch 4.1, we’re hoping to find the right compromise between how easy Ruthless difficulty felt after Patch 3.0 and how it felt after last week’s Patch 4.0.
The reason why it was reduced last week was that we noticed a very substantial bump in win rates on Ruthless after Patch 3.0, as Minoris enemies would no longer remove the entire Armour bar with their attacks, ranged AI Damage was nerfed across the board, and the ability to regenerate Armour by parrying normal Minoris attacks was added.
Additional note: Despite the last patch notes listing a decrease in Armour in Substantial difficulty, this change was mistakenly left out of our last update, hence why you won’t see it being reverted as part of this week’s patch.
Lethal: “Tight Formation” system is removed
DG: Before anything else, let us clarify our reasoning for the introduction of this mechanic. As we worked on adding a new difficulty tier, we needed to make sure this new challenge was meaningful and interesting. With “Tight Formation”, our objective was to add a new layer of challenge for our most skilled players by adding horizontal progression rather than just vertical progression (i.e., dealing more damage to ever stronger enemies). This game is about the power fantasy, and enemies that take dozens of melee hits break it. Thus the challenge needed to come from other sources.
This system was also designed as a first step towards the introduction of gameplay modifiers down the line, both negative and positive—something World War Z players will be familiar with—but your feedback showed that the proximity requirements felt too restrictive. Classes like Assault and Vanguard felt especially penalised as playing them effectively requires a certain freedom of movement.
As a result, we’re removing the system entirely and will continue to work on modifiers until they’re ready. We will continue to monitor your feedback after the deployment of Patch 4.1 to make sure Lethal difficulty feels as challenging and rewarding as it should.
AI
DG: A recurrent piece of feedback we’ve seen is that the AI allies can feel useless at times. We already improved allies’ behaviour in Patch 3.0, and we hope this additional buff will help solo players complete their Operations.
DG: Fighting Zoanthropes is often reported as a source of frustration. Alongside the changes to the AI Director, we’re taking away some of their shields’ effectiveness to alleviate some of that frustration.
General Fixes & Tech
DG: This was probably the most impactful and annoying consequence of Patch 4.0. While i-frames were the same, the distance difference made it much less effective versus ranged attacks. With this bug fixed, you should feel a great improvement in your fights against ranged enemies and bosses.
Our teams are constantly working on improvements to the game’s stability. This patch is no exception, so you should encounter fewer crashes.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II
WHERE TO PLAY
Your Craft is Death.Embody the superhuman skill and brutality of a Space Marine, the greatest of the Emperor’s warriors. Hold at bay the horrors of the galaxy in epic battles on far-flung planets with your deadly abilities and devastating weaponry. Uncover dark secrets to drive back the everlasting night and prove your ultimate loyalty to humanity.Crush the Tyranid swarms. Defend humanity.Purge the relentless Tyranid swarms as legendary Space Marine Titus in a spectacular new campaign. Play solo or with up to 2 friends in 3 player co-op.Enjoy intense, gory and fast-paced third-person action with hundreds of enemies on screen, from the creators of blockbuster co-op shooter World War Z.Defend the Imperium as your own Space Marine in an endlessly brutal and replayable PvE missions up to 3 players featuring 6 classes, unlocking new skills and cosmetics.Wage eternal war on your enemies in ferocious 6v6 PvP matches and bring glory to your faction!
