Spider-Man 2 on PC, developed by Nixxes, was initially anticipated to be highly performant based on its revealed system requirements. However, the game has launched with a 'mixed' rating on Steam, primarily due to numerous technical issues reported by players. Currently, only 55% of the Steam reviews are positive, reflecting widespread dissatisfaction.
Players equipped with high-end hardware, such as the RTX 4090 and the latest Nvidia drivers (5.66.36), are experiencing frequent crashes. One user lamented, "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.
The severity of the issues has led some reviewers to advise potential buyers to wait for stabilization patches. One frustrated player stated, "Hold off on buying until they get a couple of stabilization patches out because holy hell. To say this is 'rough' is an understatement." They detailed numerous performance issues, including lighting failures in cutscenes, audio desync, freezing, stuttering, and overall poor performance, ultimately deciding to seek a refund.
A common problem highlighted by users is the frequent crashing of the game's graphics controller, even on high-end systems. One error message users encounter reads, "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 This can be caused by out of date drivers, using game settings higher than your GPU can handle, an overheating GPU, or an error with the game.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."
In addition to crashes, other reported issues include malfunctioning features like DLSS and ray tracing, long loading times, missing textures, and audio problems. Some players have also noted performance stuttering after extended play sessions, suspecting a potential memory leak as the culprit.
Nixxes has acknowledged these issues on the Steam forums, apologizing to affected users and directing them to the Nixxes Support website for troubleshooting guides. They encouraged users to submit logs and crash dumps to expedite problem resolution. Furthermore, Nixxes identified a specific bug during photo-op missions in Spider-Man 2, which can occur at low frame rates (below 20 FPS), and suggested lowering graphics settings or resolution as a temporary workaround.
