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

The much-anticipated release of Spider-Man 2 on PC, developed by Nixxes, was expected to be surprisingly performant based on its system requirements. However, the game has launched to a 'mixed' user review rating on Steam, with numerous players reporting significant technical issues. Currently, only 55% of the reviews are positive, highlighting widespread concerns among the gaming community.

Players with high-end GPUs, such as the RTX 4090, have expressed frustration over frequent crashes despite running the latest Nvidia drivers (5.66.36). One user stated, "Despite having a high-end GPU and running the latest Nvidia drivers (5.66.36), the game frequently crashes." Another user found the game to be "completely unplayable," crashing to the desktop every five minutes and subsequently requesting a refund.

The severity of the issues has led some reviewers to advise caution. One user noted, "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 problem seems to be the frequent crashing of the game's graphics controller, even among users with higher-end PCs. An error message reported by a user 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 This can be caused by out of date drivers, using game settings higher than your GPU can handle, an overheating GPU, or an error with the game.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 reported issues include malfunctions with features like DLSS and ray tracing, long loading times, missing textures, and audio problems. Some players have noted performance stuttering after several hours of gameplay, which often leads to a hard crash. There is speculation among the community that a memory leak might be causing these issues.

In response, Nixxes has addressed the reported crashes on the Steam forums, suggesting, "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 has acknowledged other bugs, specifically those occurring during photo-op missions in Spider-Man 2. They advised, "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."