Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 has endured a small review-bombing campaign on Steam following its early access launch.
Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2 has been the subject of a review-bombing campaign on Steam. While the effort initially managed to mess with the game’s overall user rating on Valve‘s storefront, Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2 has already largely recovered from it.
The sequel to Relic Entertainment’s 2011 third-person shooter is officially scheduled to hit the market on Monday, September 9. However, anyone who has pre-ordered one of the higher-tier editions of Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2 has been able to jump into the game since September 5.
Space Marine 2 Review-Bombed Over Epic Online Services and Privacy Concerns
And while Space Marine 2 was met with largely positive reviews from critics, its initial audience reception has been somewhat more polarizing. That’s reflected in the fact that the game debuted with “Mixed” user ratings on Steam, as hundreds of early adopters decided to review it negatively on Valve’s storefront due to its reliance on Epic Online Services and a rather exhaustive end-user license agreement (EULA) that raised some privacy concerns. On the subject of the former, some players have taken issue with the fact that Space Marine 2 installs Epic Online Services without informing them about it. The framework itself is used by the shooter for offering cross-platform multiplayer.
Game Rant’s review of Space Marine 2‘s EULA suggests it is comparable to those attached to most other contemporary Saber Interactive titles, including Teardown, SnowRunner, and Expeditions: A MudRunner Game. While all of these mandate players to agree to some degree of personal data collection by publisher Focus Entertainment, none of their clauses are anything out of the ordinary compared to what the average multiplayer game requires these days. The information that players agree to have collected comprises their demographic data and in-game statistics.
Space Marine 2 Steam Reviews Improved Following Early Access Launch
The shooter’s overall Steam rating improved to “Mostly Positive” as of September 7. The game currently sits at a 76% player recommendation rate on the platform, meaning it’s just four percentage points short of attaining the “Positive” review label. Looking at the contents of its latest negative user reviews, the backlash against the game’s EULA and stealth installation of Epic Online Services has largely died down, with most of the current player criticism being directed at some newly discovered Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 bugs.
Meanwhile, the game’s critical reception has been nothing short of stellar. This is reflected in its “Strong” OpenCritic rating, derived from an 89% reviewer recommendation rate and an aggregate score of 83.
