Helldivers 2 studio warns mods may break as it switches to new anti-cheat, and the negative reviews are dropping on Steam like Hellbombs

Heads up, Helldivers: Arrowhead Game Studios is moving Helldivers 2 from GameGuard to Easy Anti-Cheat today, and that means some mods—including those that don't have any impact on gameplay—may stop working.

Helldivers 2 doesn't have official modding support, but there are plenty of them out there—most either cosmetic or audio replacements. Arrowhead said in a Steam update that while it hasn't previously taken a position on mods beyond warning that it can't guarantee their safety or usability, it's seen a recent uptick in cheat mods and it can't let that stand.

"We know mods are part of the DNA of PC gaming and gaming communities as a whole," the studio wrote. "In general, we appreciate the creativity behind cosmetic and non-gameplay mods, which players can enjoy without negatively impacting those who play alongside them.

"Where we need to improve is how we protect players against modifications that create unfair advantages or negatively impact others, which goes beyond software manipulation to tamper with our game."

Thus, two changes are being made:

• Additional security measures to crack down on recent cheat mods
• Moving from GameGuard to Easy Anti-Cheat on October 20 (that's today) "with additional security tools in place to enhance its effectiveness and improve game integrity protection."

Arrowhead said it's moving to Easy Anti-Cheat because GameGuard "wasn't as effective as it could have been," while EAC is more of an industry standard that should better protect the game. Unfortunately (although also appropriately, given the Helldivers context), there could be some collateral damage in the form of cosmetic mods, some of which may be caught up in the anti-cheat dragnet.

Because mod use in Helldivers 2 "is done at your own discretion," Arrowhead has no advice for what will or won't work, but it invited players to reach out to its support channel on Zendesk if they run into problems they believe are being caused by EAC. The only real fix, though, is to wait for mod makers to update their work.

As you might have anticipated, the move to EAC and its potential impact on mods has not gone over well with the Helldivers community: Since the announcement went up earlier today, more than 1,500 replies have been posted to the Steam discussion thread, and the traditional bombing of the reviews is also underway: 846 negative user reviews have been posted today alone, compared to just 146 positive.