Doom Eternal's latest update should have been a relatively low-key affair, a new progression system here, a few tweaks there. It's made itself notorious for one reason, the addition of Denuvo Anti-Cheat, and players aren't too happy about it.

To be clear, Denuvo Anti-Cheat is not the same as the usual DRM version of Denuvo that gamers have come to know and hate; instead, it's a separate anti-cheating software that, as you'd expect, stops players from cheating in online multiplayer.

It installs a kernel-mode driver onto players' systems, something Valorant has also come under fire for doing, but in this case, it's only active while the game is running. According to the creators of Denuvo, Irdeto, it does not collect any personal information or scan system files. What it does do, however, is collect information on the "interaction" of Doom Eternal and Windows 10, and sends this telemetry back to the developers.

Kernel-mode drivers are controversial because they live at a layer of the operating system that isn't protected by typical user/administrator privileges - as such, any security flaws, if exploited, could cause severe damage to players' operations.

Doom Eternal has been suffering a stream of negative reviews since the update, in a direct backlash to the addition. Players have also taken to Reddit to claim that the change has caused performance issues and crashes, although we've yet to verify this.