- Windows 11 24H2 is very bad news for the action role-playing game Path of Exile 2
- Bugs cause the game to stall and eventually require the PC to be restarted
- Assassin’s Creed Origin Buyers Also Up in Arms Over 24H2 Issues, Review Game Bombing on Steam
Windows 11 24H2 has had more problems on the gaming front, suggesting that 2025 may not be all that different from last year for PC gamers who installed the latest update for Microsoft’s operating system.
Anyway, at least in the early stages of this new year, as there are already reports of major problems with Windows 11 24H2 and a new game, problems compounded by separate development in the form of review bombing from Microsoft and Ubisoft on Steam . .
We’ll come back to the reviews later, as the main concern here is the new bug that has plagued Path of Exile 2, and boy, is it nasty, basically crashing the PC entirely according to some reports.
Windows Latest noted this and outlined several complaints on Microsoft’s Feedback Center (and Valve’s Steam forums), noting that loading a new area in Path of Exile 2 essentially makes the game unresponsive on Windows 11 24H2 and requires a reboot to fix things. .
Others say that the action RPG freezes on the loading screen and then requires the PC to be restarted to get the system up and running again.
There are also multiple complaints on Reddit, like this one: “I’ve seen a few posts about performance issues, more specifically when the game crashes on a loading screen and the PC becomes unresponsive and requires a reboot.
“I had no problems with the game until I updated Windows 11 from version 23H2 to 24H2. “Apparently it’s a widespread issue with the latest version of W11 and causes this in other games as well.”
Or even this report, or there is another one here; It seems to be a fairly widespread problem, as the previous comment points out.
Microsoft is apparently investigating this bug, because as Windows Latest noted, a post in the Feedback Center was flagged with a “we’re investigating this” panel.
Analysis: Road to ruin for Windows 11’s gaming reputation?
What can you do if this affects you? One option for Path of Exile 2 players is to roll back to Windows 11 23H2 and abandon 24H2, although that’s not exactly ideal (since reverting your system to a previous installation is a big step).
Instead of going that route, another possible solution, as recommended in the Reddit threads above, is to disable the ‘multithreading engine’ in the game options, which apparently resolves the issue entirely. It does create another problem though, as leaving multithreading out of the mix will seriously slow down your processor’s performance, so Path of Exile 2 is likely to be a lot jitterier, but that said, it will (hopefully) be stable ( hat). tip to Jims-Garage on Reddit for this tip). And that might be preferable to rolling back your PC, as a temporary hack while Microsoft invents a fix (again, hopefully).
The other possible trick is achieved through the Windows 11 Task Manager, where you can right-click Path of Exile 2 (while it is running) and select ‘Set Affinity’ and then disable CPU 4 (a tip for Embinyu on Reddit for this one). With any luck, one of these CPU-related fixes might work without destroying the flow of the game so much that it becomes unplayable.
At this point, gamers are clearly losing faith in Windows 11 24H2. Too many bugs have cropped up in specific games or just general issues plaguing PC players (including random crashes) and gremlins in the works with various bits of hardware. It all adds up to a bad taste in the mouth, especially for Assassin’s Creed players, and also for other Ubisoft games that have been hit hard by bugs with 24H2.
This brings us back to the review blitz on Steam we mentioned earlier, which is happening to Assassin’s Creed Origins (as noted by Windows Latest). This is because Ubisoft gave it a huge discount (90% off) in the recent Steam sale, attracting a group of new buyers, but without realizing that 24H2 does not play well with the game.
So, while if you have Origins installed, your PC will not be able to update to 24H2 due to the presence of the aforementioned errors, if the situation is the other way around (you already have 24H2, but not Origins), you will be out of luck. You will be able to purchase and install the game, and only then you will discover that it is a disaster in 24H2.
Unsurprisingly, Steam players in this boat feel like they should have been warned about the major gremlins in the works with Origins and 24H2 before their purchase, and that’s completely understandable. As one reviewer put it: “Steam says I played for 1.5 hours, but thanks to Windows, the screen got stuck for 1.5 hours starting the game!”
Assassin’s Creed Origins has an all-time review rating of “very positive” on Steam, but recent reviews have fallen to “mixed” thanks to an influx of negative comments from 24H2 players.
Is there a risk that this bad feeling will start to boil over and destroy Windows 11’s reputation as a gaming platform? I think at this point, we’re at least getting closer to that being a reality, and that Microsoft should really consider beefing up efforts to fix the issues PC gamers are encountering with the latest update.
