Helldivers 2's PC storage requirement has been reduced from 154GB to 23GB, an 85% decrease. Beyond the reduced storage burden, the game environment has seen significant improvements, including faster loading times and reduced frame drops, drawing widespread praise from users.

The news was shared via an official Helldivers 2 Steam announcement on the 3rd. The developers stated, "Through recent data optimization, we have removed redundant data, successfully reducing the game's size from over 150GB to 23GB." They added, "We previously hesitated to remove this duplicate data due to concerns about increased loading times for HDD users, but tests confirmed that the difference is negligible."

This update was carried out in collaboration with Nixxes Software, a studio under Sony. Acquired by Sony in 2021, the Dutch developer has been responsible for PC ports of various Sony exclusive titles, including the Tomb Raider reboot trilogy, the Marvel's Spider-Man series, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and the Horizon series.

The lightweight version can be experienced immediately by accessing the Steam properties menu and changing the beta participation setting to 'Prod_slim-01.005.000-slim'. The developers explained, "If no major issues are found after the beta test, it will be adopted as the official version in the near future."

Users who have tried the lightweight version have shared positive feedback. Comments include, "The storage burden has been greatly reduced," "Stuttering has decreased and loading speeds have improved," "A truly 'God-tier' patch," and "I worship Nixxes from today." Some users also noted, "While some mods may cause crashes with the lightweight version, there is no reason not to use it."