New Helldivers 2 update just shaved 131GB off its PC file size with a "slim version" beta, and I'm ecstatic — here's how to opt into the patch

Helldivers 2, Arrowhead Game Studios' beloved 2024 co-op shooter, has gotten raked over the coals in recent months due to some severe performance and technical issues on PC. The developers ultimately chose to delay new content to focus on fixes, and most critical problems were taken care of in the weeks that followed as a result.

However, one that continued to persist was its bloated file size, which had steadily grown from around 70GB at launch to a whopping 154GB — more than double the original storage requirement, and a serious detriment to our never-ending fight to keep space on our hard drives open. Thanks to a new update, however, that too has finally been taken care of.

On top of adding the new highly anticipated Python Commandos Warbond, the latest Helldivers 2 patch has shrunk the size of the 154GB co-op shooter down by an incredible 131GB, meaning that it only requires 23GB of space on your drive now. Percentage-wise, that's a full 85% shaved off, which is a better cut than just about everyone was expecting.

Notably, the PC version of Helldivers 2 has gone from being the largest edition by far to the smallest one, as both the Xbox Series X|S and PS5 versions of the title presently require about 35-40GB of storage.

Something important to highlight, however, is that this new "slim version" of Helldivers 2 isn't yet the default version. Arrowhead is publicly testing it first before making it the standard, so you have to opt into it yourself.

This can easily be done by right-clicking Helldivers 2 in your Steam Library, selecting Properties, clicking the Betas tab in the window that appears, and then selecting the "prod_slim" option from the Beta Participation dropdown. Once you do that, the "slim version" patch should download and install, shrinking the game.

You can also select "prod_legacy" to revert back to the bigger default version if you experience some game-breaking bugs and need to, but hopefully nothing like that happens for anyone. Oh, and Arrowhead notes in its new blog post that "There are no functional differences between the legacy and slim versions besides the installation size," so don't worry about losing your progression or anything like that.

Wondering how this was possible? It's because the developers have "de-duplicated" Helldivers 2's assets after duplicating them over time with each update, which was done to help give users of older, slower hard disk drives (HDDs) reasonable loading times that were decently close to what's achievable with speedy and modern solid-state drives (SSDs).

Arrowhead feared that not doing this would cause HDD loading times to spike by 10 times, but "These loading time projections were based on industry data," and not by testing done with Helldivers 2 itself. The studio found that in reality, "the change in the file size will result in minimal changes to load times — seconds at most."

A dream come true for PC Helldivers 2 players

Ultimately, this is a dream come true for PC players like me, and guarantees that several of my friends can keep Helldivers 2 installed and at-the-ready at all times. Previously, due to their limited hard drive space, the people I play with often had to uninstall the game to download new ones like Battlefield 6; now they won't have to, and can enjoy new content updates with me on day one.

It does seem strange to me that Arrowhead didn't perform tests with Helldivers 2 specifically before deciding to duplicate its assets for the sake of HDD users, especially since it estimated (and later found) that only about 11% of players — a small minority — were using one.

It's certainly unfortunate that many fans on PC have had to struggle with an unnecessarily bloated file size for months, now, but ultimately, I'm just glad that it's no longer a problem, and that one of the best PC games you can play is no longer tough to squeeze into your storage space.

Haven't signed up for the Galactic War to do your part yet? Helldivers 2 is available across Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PS5 for $39.99, though the PC version is on sale for $26.39 at Loaded, and the PS5 edition is going for $24.99 at GameStop. Sadly, there are no deals on the Xbox version right now.

Save 34%

Helldivers 2 (PC): was $39.99 now $26.39 at loaded.com

Helldivers 2 was one of 2024's biggest and most popular games, and now it's on Xbox too! Though typically $40, it's discounted significantly on both PC and PS5 at the moment. The Super Citizen Edition that gives you access to some exclusive extras is also discounted, making it an attractive alternative option.

PlayStation version: $24.99 at GameStop
Super Citizen Edition: Xbox | PC

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