Helldivers 2 will use a rootkit anti-cheat, nProtect GameGuard
Helldivers 2 will use a rootkit anti-cheat, nProtect GameGuard
50/50 chance this breaks Deck and linux support, especially since the commenters' inquiries about it have gone unanswered.
Bogles my mind why a PvE game needs an anti-cheat at all - let alone something as invasive as a rootkit.
Source is the dev's post on, unfortunately, reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/19dp2qw/helldivers_2_nprotect_gameguard_anticheat/
Went to buy my son and I copies (we've been waiting for this release) and was gob-smacked to see this. After reading about the monetization we're out.
There are too many quality indie titles to play in lieu of having to bend the knee in this way.
If you're looking for an indie alternative, Roboquest seems like a good recent shooter for two players. It's on both Steam and GOG. Gunfire Reborn also seems fun.
These aren't indies, but there's also Deep Rock Galactic, L4D2, and of course the original Helldivers.
You are appreciated.
Same here, even asked the developer if the Steam Deck is supported but they couldn't tell me.
Refunded it for now, might check back next sale if it works and the microtransactions are acceptable.
It's not a top-down shooter, but Deep Rock Galactic is an excellent PvE shooter, and the devs care deeply about the community and quality of the game.
What's the monetization scheme? I've looked around briefly and didn't see anything definitive.
Ugh, god damn.
Right? I just switched to Linux full time. I was excited for this game, now it may as well not exist for me.
Depending on the hosting of things by the game, anti cheat can make sense. Payday 2, for example, is almost entirely peer to peer in games, and cheats allow you to be quite mean in game, even if you're not the host.
But I can't help but think PvE anti cheat is more about locking people out of skins/events/dlc/things than actually being to prevent cheating. Else you could just have a button that invalidated the gains of the cheated match.
But I can’t help but think PvE anti cheat is more about locking people out of skins/events/dlc/things than actually being to prevent cheating. Else you could just have a button that invalidated the gains of the cheated match.
Absolutely, the original sin of computers is that the concept of scarcity is totally foreign to the way computers work and it is nauseating how much work is put into trying introduce scarcity into software and games.
The developer lays out their reasons:
HELLDIVERS 2 is a co-op/PvE game, why do we even need Anti-Cheat?
That's a great question, and there's two related but separate points to it:
First, we want everyone to have a great time playing HELLDIVERS 2, with friends, ex-friends or randoms. What we've seen in some of our and others' games is that rampant cheating tends to have a very negative effect on players openness to playing, especially with randoms.
There's an anecdote from HELLDIVERS 1 I'd like to share:
When we released HELLDIVERS 1 on PC there was effectively no anti-cheat implemented. Additionally HELLDIVERS 1 uses a peer-to-peer networking model, and that means, from a security perspective, each game client will blindly trust each other.
Shortly after release we noticed there was a cheat going around which granted 9999 research samples. Unfortunately any non-cheaters in the same mission would also be granted 9999 research samples. These non-cheating players now had their entire progression ruined through no fault of their own.
We were able to deal with a lot of these early issues without using a third party solution, but it took a lot of work, and most of it was done reactively.
Incidentally HELLDIVERS 2 also uses a peer-to-peer networking model, but this time around we're trying to be more proactive and make sure everyone can play the intended experience.
Second is the Galactic War. There's this huge metagame going in the cloud which all players (and game clients) participate in. Even though we have other countermeasures in place, a cracked game client could make it easier to disrupt the Galactic War, which would sour everyone’s experience
I think those are reasonable explanations for anti cheat having a place in their game. I've been hit with that example scenario before in other games and it just ruins the fun entirely for a lot of progression-driven players, like me.
What I haven't seen a good answer for is the reason for this AC solution specifically. It seems like they could have gone for something much more popular and compatible than what they did. If it was for cost reasons, I think that's a short sighted decision. Regardless, it has me thinking twice about a game I was fairly certain about trying, so that's disappointing.
I'm also a progression-driven player yet I'm suspicious of a game that introduces anti-cheats alongside microtransactions. When microtransactions are involved, the pace of progression tends to be affected to incentive people to pay, and at that point I'd rather play in a hacked server that has a more reasonable progression.
If it was just about letting the player maintain the pace of progression however is most satisfying, I'm sure there are better ways to do that client-side. But these days game companies are all too happy to equivocate "company controlled" with "fair" or "fun", and it's curious that in this framing nothing is unfair as long as they get money.
each game client will blindly trust each other.
In my spare time I work on some networked applications, and so have had to look into security and all that. The one thing they tell you is to NEVER FUCKING TRUST ANYTHING AT THE OTHER END OF A NETWORK CONNECTION. No, anticheat rootkits doesn't allow you to ignore this, and it's massively irresponsible to rely on anticheat as your main way of ensuring security.
If someone gets past rootkit anticheat on a "normal" game where it is being used as a replacement for proper server side anticheat, it's no big deal. Just have a reporting system in place, and ban them. The worst you'll get is people on Reddit complaining about "rampant cheating" or whatever.
If someone gets past rootkit anticheat on a game where it is used as a replacement for network security fundamentals, you're suddenly going to have to find a way to explain to all your customers (and possibly lawyers) that due to your negligence, other people have had full access to their computers.
This is one of the worst ones too, I remember being used by several asian MMOs on the late 2000s that were full of hackers and bots.
Kernel level ac is a joke https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwzIq04vd0M
:(
I loved the first one and both magickas enough that I'd buy it first day otherwise. I'just have to play one of 700 other games in my library for a few years until they decide it's not worth it anymore.
The rationale provided (game integrity) is hollow and a red-herring. They hope that it will drive more sales, period.
I'm very emotionless about things like this. I'm just not going to give them my money. It's not like I don't have 70 un-played games in my Steam library and another 400 free from Epic, waiting to be started.