Helldivers 2's anti-cheat system is considered robust, though some players debate its effectiveness.
Helldivers 2's anti-cheat system is considered robust, though some players debate its effectiveness.
I considered purchasing the game but noticed some warning reviews on Steam. I explored the nProtect anti-cheat tool and found many discussions about its broad permissions. When installed, it grants root-level system access and stays active even when the game closes. I’m cautious about trusting companies that install persistent software for cheat prevention in PVEs, fearing it might introduce vulnerabilities or become a gateway for malware. Since Linus endorsed the title, I wanted to share my thoughts and see what others think about this issue.
When the game debuted and my friends were discussing it, I checked its price and noticed the anticheat features—so I decided not to purchase it.
nProtect has been around for a while and is generally regarded as safe, though it functions as a rootkit capable of tracking all system activities and may be exploited for harmful actions. This trend extends beyond nProtect, with many AntiCheat programs now operating at the kernel level. If you plan to engage in multiplayer gaming, adapt accordingly. Before launching a virtual machine, be aware that these anti-cheat solutions often verify whether your environment is a VM and treat it as a potential violation. For those concerned, setting up an alternative Windows instance on a different drive can help avoid playback or provide a safe fallback.
It stops working once you leave the game. It feels the same as with other anti-cheat tools such as EAC or BattleEye.
These anti-cheats are also quickly circumvented. Standard anti-cheat solutions are completely halted by the same methods you employ to bypass cheating in games. The boundary between detecting a cheated program and recording or streaming a game is thin, as both approaches interact with the game differently. Generally, we shouldn't rely on anti-cheat tools, since they would demand significantly more effort from the server and reduce our confidence in the client's input. The idea of "streaming games" for players claims to remove all cheating methods except macro keyboard use, but AI technology is challenging that notion. It’s acceptable to let AI play as long as it follows the same rules as human players—though AI isn’t trained on real player data, it learns from the game's memory. In any case, Helldivers 2 relies on the Autodesk Stingray engine, which hasn't been used in many games for six years. Unless they plan to change, they’ll likely be restricted in how they handle cheats.
From what I understand, the anti-cheat tool stops working once you close the game. I’m not sure how to explore the running system files further, but it disappears from the task manager when the game is closed.