The day has finally arrived – Delta Force is out on Steam for all to play. Yes, it’s technically in open beta, but with no end date in sight and an enormous wealth of content, this is basically an early access launch. The FPS is fighting its battle on two fronts with a large-scale multiplayer experience and an Escape From Tarkov-rivaling extraction mode, and when you combine that with it being free, it’s unsurprising to see it doing huge launch day numbers on Steam. What is surprising, though, is its user review rating, which is being massively dragged down by a barrage of players complaining about its anti-cheat.
Let’s start with the positives first – Delta Force has enjoyed one of the biggest launches of the year for new FPS games. At the time of writing, it’s only been out for a matter of hours, but it’s already hit a ceiling with its peak concurrent player count 102,167. Once the weekend arrives, there’s a good chance it’ll break its own record.
As a free PC game, players seem really thrilled with the amount of content on offer, the quality of the gunplay, and the look and feel of the maps. While free-to-play multiplayer titles can sometimes launch in a fairly basic state with a limited amount of maps, modes, and weapons, there’s no danger of that here. To see why we’ve been so hyped for it, check out Aaron’s excellent Delta Force preview.
However, as mentioned, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Given its popularity, Delta Force is suffering from a surprisingly low Steam user score, and it’s mostly down to one main culprit. Swathes of players are leaving negative reviews due to the game’s anti-cheat. It’s not because it’s ineffective and Delta Force is ravaged by cheaters, but rather because it’s a kernel-level anti-cheat software that installs itself onto your PC when you download the game and doesn’t automatically uninstall when you delete it.
The system, known as Anti-Cheat Expert, is widely used by a variety of other Tencent PC and mobile games – Delta Force is published by Timi Studio Group, a subsidiary of Tencent. While it plays an important role in Delta Force’s commitment to catching all cheaters within 24 hours, a lot of players are worried about privacy issues.
Developer Team Jade has responded to some of these negative Steam reviews assuring players that Anti-Cheat Expert will not compromise their privacy. “We want to clarify that our anti-cheat tool only runs while the game is active,” it says in one response. “We are aware of false alerts from certain security tools indicating that ACE is running when it is not, and we are actively working with said party to address this issue.”
“Rest assured, our anti-cheating tool is developed with the sole purpose of combating cheating,” it says in another. “Built with reliability and privacy at its core, the anti-cheat tool is designed to ensure a fair, fun, and secure gaming environment for players worldwide. They are not intended to access or misuse player information, nor are they associated with any political agendas.”
The distrust in Delta Force’s anti-cheat means that its Steam rating is sitting on a disappointing ‘mixed’ score of 55%.
If you are planning to dive into Delta Force, or you’re already battling it out, we’ve got plenty of guides to help you out, such as our recommendations for the best Delta Force settings and this explainer on all the Delta Force operators.
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