Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2’s patch 4.1 will roll back a series of controversial changes introduced by its meaty predecessor, developer Saber Interactive has confirmed.
Game Director Dmitriy Grigorenko took to the Focus Together forums to explain the studio’s reasoning behind the nerfs and tweaks that set the community ablaze, resulting in plenty of feedback alongside a review bombing campaign on Space Marine 2’s Steam page.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Patch 4.1
Slated to release today, October 24, 2024, Space Marine 2’s patch 4.1 rolls back the recent changes made to the AI director the spawn rates of Extremis enemies in Operations mode.
This essentially means that on Minimal, Average, and Substantial difficulties they should match pre-patch 4.0 levels. At the same time, their spawn rate on Ruthless difficulty is also being “significantly reduced.”
According to Grigorenko, internal data and player feedback suggested that, patch 3.0 made the game too easy, but admits that 4.0 had unintended effects on lower difficulties.
“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,” he wrote.
The Bolter weapon family is also set to receive buffs across the board in Operations mode, as it was underperforming when compared to its peers. Here are the exact percentages.
- 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%
Player armor on Ruthless difficulty saw a 20% reduction and Space Marine 2’s patch 4.1 will increase it by 10% in an attempt 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.”
Furthermore, the Tight Formation system, which granted defensive boons to players who remained in close proximity to each other will be removed altogether.
“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,” Grigorenko notes.
“Classes like Assault and Vanguard felt especially penalised as playing them effectively requires a certain freedom of movement.”
Work on modifiers will, however, continue “until they’re ready.”
Solo players should also have an easier time completing Operations, since bots now deal 30% more damage to bosses. In addition, the shield swap cooldown for Zoanthrope pairs is increased by 10%.
Lastly, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2’s patch 4.1 fixes bugs that reduced roll distance and blocked the unlocking of Lethal difficulty rewards decals. Various unnamed crash fixes and stability improvements are also part of the update.
“The key takeaway for me, personally, is that I forgot that once the game comes out, it’s no longer a dev’s game. It’s yours first and foremost,” Grigorenko wrote before announcing that Space Marine 2’s public test servers are in the works and could go live by early 2025.
They would allow players to test the changes planned for major balancing updates and provide feedback before they go live, hopefully allowing the developer to avoid receiving backlash similar to that generated by patch 4.0.
| Patch Name | Changelog | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| Patch 4.1 | Official Forums | 24th October |
| Patch 4.0 | Official Forums | 17th October |
| Patch 3.0 | Official Forums | 26th September |
| Hotfix 2.1 | Steam | 11th September |
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