Spider-Man 2 Faces Mixed Steam Reviews Due to PC Performance Issues

The much-anticipated PC release of Spider-Man 2, developed by Nixxes, was expected to be a smooth experience based on its system requirements. However, the game has launched to a 'mixed' rating on Steam, with 55% of user reviews being positive. Many players have reported significant technical issues, with complaints ranging from frequent crashes to various performance problems.

One user with an RTX 4090 GPU, running the latest Nvidia drivers (5.66.36), shared their frustration: "Despite having a high-end GPU and running the latest Nvidia drivers, the game frequently crashes." Another player found the game "completely unplayable on PC," reporting crashes every five minutes and subsequently requesting a refund.

A reviewer advised, "Hold off on buying until they get a couple of stabilization patches out because holy hell. To say this is 'rough' is an understatement. Lighting doesn't load in some cutscenes, those same scenes run at seconds-per-frame, audio desync issues up the wazoo, freezing, stuttering, and just about every other performance issue I can think of. I'm gonna get a refund for now because frankly, there's other stuff I could use $70 for right now."

The primary issue appears to be frequent crashes of the game’s graphics controller, even on high-end PCs. A common error message reported by players states: "A problem has occurred with your display driver. This can be caused by out of date drivers, using game settings higher than your GPU can handle, an overheating GPU, or an error with the game. Please try updating your graphics drivers, or lowering your in-game settings."

Other users have reported that features like DLSS and ray tracing are malfunctioning, alongside long loading times, missing textures, and audio issues. Some players have also noted that performance stutters after several hours of gameplay, leading to hard crashes, with suspicions of a memory leak being the culprit.

In response to the reported issues, Nixxes has addressed concerns on the Steam forums, stating: "Sorry to hear you are experiencing issues. Please refer to the troubleshooting guides on the Nixxes Support website and contact us if the problem persists. Make sure to include your logs and crash dumps as outlined on the support website, so we can troubleshoot as quickly as possible."

Additionally, Nixxes acknowledged a specific bug during photo-op missions in Spider-Man 2, advising players: "We are aware of a bug that can occur if your framerate is very low during this scene (below 20 FPS). As a workaround, try lowering your graphics settings and or resolution to pass this point."