Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Community Rallies Against ‘Gatekeepers’ Who Say Players Who Get the Lethal Difficulty Helmet Reward Now the Game Is Easier Again ‘Don’t Deserve It’

ign.com:

With the release of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Update 4.1, the community is rallying against “gatekeepers” who have called on developer Saber Interactive to retire a reward given only to those who complete all PvE missions on the hardest difficulty.

Update 4.1, out now, follows hot on the heels of last week’s controversial Update 4.0, widely criticized by Space Marine 2 fans for making the game significantly harder. The backlash to Update 4.0 even spread to Space Marine 2’s Steam page, where disgruntled players review-bombed the game.

Update 4.0 added the Lethal difficulty to Space Marine 2’s PvE Operations mode, and with it exclusive rewards. One of these rewards, the Survivor’s Helm, is highly coveted by the community because all PvE missions must be completed on Lethal to unlock it.

Before today's release of Update 4.1, Lethal difficulty was not only brutally hard, but unfairly so. It included the universally hated 'Tight Formation' system, which forced players to stick close together in an almost impossible fashion. Update 4.1 has stripped this mechanic out from Lethal mode entirely, with developer Saber admitting its mistake.

The rollback has caused some players who own the Survivor’s Helm to not only “act superior” online because they obtained it when Space Marine 2 was at its hardest, but to demand Saber now retire it or prevent it from displaying on characters who obtain it post 4.1. Some have even asked for yet another reward exclusive to those who completed a Lethal Operation on 4.0.

The Space Marine 2 community accused one player who said those who get the helmet post-4.1 “don’t deserve it” of “gatekeeping.” “As someone who already has the helmet, who cares if people know?” said redditor veqtro. “I know I got it before the patch and that's all that matters. I'm proud of myself and I don't need others to be proud of me. Everyone deserves the chance to earn it.”

“It's literally just a helmet in a game,” added Bantabury97. “You can be proud of your