No fun allowed: Helldivers 2 devs instruct players to avoid crash-inducing snowball fights

Winter break is over.

A Helldiver about to throw a Snowball at an Automaton patrol.
Screenshot by Dot Esports

It’s a bit convenient and a tad suspicious that one of the few recreational activities in Helldivers 2 is broken to the point that it crashes the whole game. Almost like the higher-ups want to discourage us from losing focus.

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In the early hours of March 28, the community managers for Helldivers 2 told players on Discord that they should avoid “picking up and throwing snowballs” since doing so crashes the game. For those looking for proof, you have to travel to a snow planet like Vandalon IV to experience it yourself.

The "Make Snowball" prompt in the snow in Helldivers 2.
How am I supposed to resist? Screenshot by Dot Esports

On the planet’s surface, you can pick up snowballs from any heavily snowy area, which is indicated by your slowed movement speed. Stare at the snow long enough, and the “Make Snowball” prompt should appear. A thrown snowball should temporarily stun an enemy for a few seconds if you hit them. This feature has been around for a few weeks, but it’s now causing crashes.

Outside of squishing bugs and blasting bots, which we all agree is fun, there are very few recreational activities for Helldivers 2 players outside of throwing snowballs and playing Strategem Hero on their cruiser ship. And now we’re being advised to not play with one of them? Sounds suspicious, especially considering they tried to distract us with two new Strategems in the Quasar cannon and the Heavy Machine Gun.

For real, though, Helldivers 2 recently had to discourage its players from another set of items causing crashes. Just a week ago, arc weapons were causing more game crashes after a recent patch, and that issue was finally resolved only a couple of days ago.

Crashes be damned, I’m not going to miss the opportunity to pelt an Automaton in the face with a snowball. But if the mission is above all else, then perhaps you should avoid them for the time being.

Author
Image of Scott Robertson
Scott Robertson
VALORANT lead staff writer, also covering CS:GO, FPS games, other titles, and the wider esports industry. Watching and writing esports since 2014. Previously wrote for Dexerto, Upcomer, Splyce, and somehow MySpace. Jack of all games, master of none.