Helldivers 2, an online multi-player co-op shooter, is the newest smash hit on the scene that finally answers players’ calls for fair monetary practices and consistent new content. After playing for dozens of hours, I’m here to tell you everything you need to know about it.
Developed as a sequel to Arrowhead Game Studios’ 2015 top-down shooter and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Helldivers 2 is a live service game currently exclusive to the PlayStation 5 and the PC platform Steam, where it has continued to grow in popularity over time.
The playable character is known as a Helldiver, a nameless patriotic soldier given mere minutes of training before being sent out to fight in an intergalactic war who will be replaced with a new recruit the moment they fall in battle.
Players are matched up with three other players to complete missions in procedurally generated alien environments that contribute to the community’s larger goals, such as a planet’s liberation or defense. The game focuses on a community-driven campaign against, as of early April 2024, two enemy factions: the Terminids and the Automatons. The Terminids are alien bugs heavily inspired by the 1997 cult-classic film Starship Troopers. Meanwhile, the Automatons are creations of one of the former game’s factions, the Cyborgs, whose designs are reminiscent of various Terminator models from their namesake franchise.
The game has an over-the-top satirical theme to poke fun at authoritarianism and patriotism through “Super-Earth,” a future Earth that has united together and ensured its control to a “managed democracy,” where votes are cast automatically for its citizens without them even needing to touch a ballot.
Of course, this is obviously a totalitarian regime veiled as a democracy through propaganda, but it allows the game’s community to make satirical comments in line with the game’s fervent and patriotic population, as well as for the developers to poke fun at real-world themes like the military-industrial complex, nationalist propaganda, and militarism.
The story of the game even hints that the Terminids were intentionally released by the government because their bodies decompose into a fictional resource (element 710) that allows faster-than-light travel and serves as a metaphor and palindrome for oil, the source of many conflicts in our real world. In a similar vein, the Automatons aren’t initially hostile to humans but were vilified by Super Earth for being unthinking socialist machines and for revealing the truth of their government to some Super Earth citizens.
The game also wears its inspiration from other sci-fi media on its sleeve, with similar armor designs to Star Wars’ stormtroopers and Halo’s ODSTs. Terminids are similar to Warhammer 40,000’s Tyranids in both name and design. The biggest inspiration behind the gameplay loop itself is the 1959 Starship Troopers novel and 1997 movie. In it, the futuristic soldiers are described as being dropped to planets from orbit before completing missions and lighting beacons for pickup from gunships, which is nearly identical to Helldiver’s gameplay loop.
As for more particulars about the game, we should discuss its technical performance. While there are a lot of bugs in the game, thankfully most of them are enemies rather than technical glitches, and most of the game-breaking ones that prevent you from playing have been patched within a reasonable amount of time after launch. One of the greatest problems at launch was that the game was too successful and didn’t have the server capacity to handle continuously growing demand for a few weeks. While you’re still quite likely to encounter wonky animations or be flung across the map by an explosion, these bugs usually add to the experience and give you something to laugh at with friends. They’re also a great source of clips and funny moments to be shared online, with players referring to the famous programming maxim “It’s not a bug, it’s a feature.”
This even leads me to one of the greatest points of the game, its cinematic gameplay. Through the use of a physics engine that had its support discontinued during development and was heavily modified by the developers, the game is great for capturing awesome unrepeatable moments that can be shared online, allowing its unexpected boom and continued growth after launch.
One of the advantages of the game running as a live service is that there are near-infinite possibilities for future content to retain players through gradual releases. Recently, the developers have released new content like stratagems, two more permanent “battle passes” with new weapons and cosmetics to earn as well as new enemies for both factions. The developers have even kept players engaged by increased teasing of new enemies through the former game’s third faction: the Illuminates. This allows the community to build hype and keep each other engaged in the game’s evolving conflict, with the possibility of the developers sourcing content ideas from the community, ensuring that there will be a dedicated player base for years to come.
On the other hand, the community and the game’s themes have their downsides, with some instances of players taking the roleplay too far with teamkilling and toxic behavior over “meta” builds. This is an unfortunate reality of any online game that grows large enough, but the developers have so far done a good job of balancing the game to keep both the weapons and community of different kinds of players fair and united.
Finally, this leads to my overall take on the game. Helldivers 2 offers players a refreshing live service experience that doesn’t nickel-and-dime players while still providing a fun co-op experience with possibly the best potential for future content and support.
Along with the backing of Sony, the game is a safe bet for players wanting to get the most out of $40 while still providing an exhilarating experience to enjoy with friends. I very strongly recommend Helldivers 2 for PlayStation and PC players and hope that the over 100,000 Xbox players petitioning for a port get their wish to experience the game alongside the rest of the community.
