The world needs you. Sweet Liberty is under assault, and it’s up to you, a regular citizen, to become super. This is what being a Helldiver is all about, and Helldivers 2 drafts you — an unprepared stormtrooper ordered from the second-hand knockoff market — for glorious battle to stop the invading bot and bug menace. Arrowhead Game Studios uncorks a vial of hilarity, friendship, and brothers-in-arms for a third-person extraction shooter chock-full of political satire. Helldivers 2 is the buddy shooter we didn’t know we wanted. But the talented team of nerds at Arrowhead Game Studios showed us it’s the one we NEEDED.
Helldivers 2 is all about the action. While Super Earth is the invading force — think 1997’s Starship Troopers political climate — you are sworn in as a Helldiver to defend democracy. A soldier hellbent on defeating the enemy force and returning with the spoils of war. The main objective of Helldivers 2 is to liberate the galaxy from pretty much anything that is not human (bugs and bots), no matter the cost.
The way the stage is set for Helldivers 2 — complete with a Galaxy Map that has ‘Super-Earth’ as the center of the Galaxy -shows that humans in this universe are, by nature, narcissistic and need to control everything. If a Helldiver is lost, another Helldiver hilariously dressed just like you will take your place as reinforcements, like your life never mattered in the grand scheme of things. We, my comrades, are the enemy force.
Super Earth is recruiting you with propaganda; it feels threatened, and it’s up to you (and other Helldivers) to stop the encroaching forces of evil. A forced tutorial lays out exactly how the game will treat you, and it’s a fun reminder that Helldivers 2 doesn’t take itself too seriously. This is where a Helldiver finds their true purpose; you’re a lowly, disposable piece of equipment sent as a means to an end for democracy. A trained weapon, armed to show the local planets the strength of human ideals with firepower and… more firepower. Super Earth has forgotten the meaning of the word diplomacy.
“Helldivers 2 is the buddy shooter we didn’t know we wanted, but it’s the one we NEEDED.”
After landing on a hostile planet, you are given the bare essentials a Helldiver needs to defend democracy. An assault rifle called the Liberator (a clever nod to the original Helldivers), a sidearm, basic grenades, Stims (for healing) and basic Stratagems (more on that later), everything a defender of democracy needs to spread the gospel. This equipment isn’t permanent; as you progress through Helldivers 2, you’ll be able to unlock new equipment, new stratagems and new loot for your Democratic Prophet.
There’s not much to explain about the core gameplay loop: you drop in, defeat enemies, complete objectives, and extract your goods before Super Earth leaves you behind, and somehow the progression feels tied to the player’s skill. As I got better at invading, I was able to equip more advanced gear that made it easier to spread the good word. But Arrowhead Studio’s attention to detail makes the whole journey worthwhile.
A group of two teammates and I planned to touch down on a map that needed Raid bug spray, and we were only too keen to oblige. After settling on load-outs, we decided on where we would land for the mission. Players who are not the leader get to choose where on the map they would like to vote to land (even landing is laced with democracy), but the leader can just go ahead and choose wherever they like at the behest of teammates.
Helldivers 2 focuses on the experience first and foremost, and this feels like the Game Master system (think Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Mastery) is giggling behind a dinner napkin as they have us fight with each other even before the mission starts.
After landing, we decided it would be best to head west. The radar at the top of the screen is my best friend in Helldivers 2, it always shows a lot of detail of the surrounding area, and using the mini-map to mark targets makes navigation easier. The original Helldivers (a top-down affair) had players pausing when they opened a map, highlighting the primitive technology of older wartime and cloth maps.
Helldivers 2 equips players with an NFL quarterback wristband, as if Helldivers were calling plays rather than planning carnage; better still, you can move with the wristband on like a person glued to their smartphone while walking. Helldivers 2 feels like the title is an inside joke and only the players are in on it.
This mission tasked our rag-tag group with delivering a hard drive to a separate console on the other side of the battlefield. The hard drive forces the character to use their sidearm or a one-handed weapon while holding it, effectively neutering one of our three characters due to our poor preparation. Preparation is key in Helldivers 2, and we didn’t read the manual.
The load-out screen (that we initially sped through) shows what everyone is bringing to the fight and what restrictions or buffs the Game Master system allows us. The Game Master system is deployed to make every mission unique, and this is how (aside from the truly insane battlefield antics) ‘one more mission’ can turn into a nighttime marathon session for democracy. While players can level up and earn new stratagems, the Game Master can let you use them earlier on to devastate enemies. This improves the gameplay loop tenfold. With the randomized chaotic elements and incredible attention to detail in game design, Helldivers 2 is impossible to put down.
“Helldivers 2 is FUN.”
Shooting a heavy machine gun is clunky unless you are stationary or crouching, but this is by design. Like the reload mechanics in Arizona Sunshine II, gun aim, and clunkiness are what being a Helldiver is all about. Your bullets can also decimate fellow teammates if you aren’t careful — friendly fire is also a core game mechanic — and I believe I was a bigger threat to democracy than the bugs we were fighting against were.
Air strikes, turrets, explosions, and the locals are all out to kill you while you attempt to be a Jehovah’s Witness to democracy. Except the bugs respond with violence. Stratagems are deployed under duress; a Helldiver must input several precise directional inputs to activate one. They are Helldivers 2’s bread and butter. Anyone familiar with having a four-star wanted rating in any Grand Theft Auto title and is intent on using cheats will feel right at home here.
After delivering the hard drive, as we were extracting, a teammate got trapped under the dropship that comes to free you from the enemy forces. Even Super Earth is trying to rid the galaxy of Helldivers. We laughed back to our Destroyer ship basking in the glory of what was accomplished on the planet, as a stat screen shows how many kills each teammate gets, which can double as a glory bragging screen. Especially the ‘accidentals’ stat, which goes up one for each teammate you ‘accidentally’ kill in action.
The Destroyer — which can be named from a list of incredibly freedom-based terminology — acts as the hub of Helldivers 2. This is where loadouts can be changed, weapons can be purchased with earned medals, etc. It’s a base of operations that doubles as a democratic limousine. With all of the systems in play here, and with a firm grasp on how the game is played, I jumped back in.
This time my two teammates and I were well versed in democratic subjugation. At one point, we invaded a Medium Bug nest, and like Gears of War, to maim nests and stop them from spawning bugs, you need to hit a jump shot with your grenade in the hole to cave in the nest.
My two teammates huddled with machine gun fire higher up on scattered building structures to take out bugs in the way while I ran through the nest like a madman, throwing grenades in the holes to seal the nest for good as blood-pumping action music blared in my headset. For a moment, I was the embodiment of democracy.
Helldivers 2 is filled to the rim with these obtuse gameplay strategies, and it is at its strongest when you play in co-op to utilize these strategies to great effect. After bombing the nest (somehow successfully), our team was filled with elation. Democracy was defended, and we saluted each other to savour the job-well-done taste still in our mouths. It was either that or the shrapnel from a buddy’s grenade. Who knows? Helldivers 2 is FUN.
Helldivers 2 is what happens when a game is developed by a passionate team of nerds that want to be a hero in an action film, or at least pretend to be while assaulting a base of enemies and becoming dead piles on the surface of a hostile planet. Arrowhead Game Studios set out to develop a game that doubles as a fun gameplay experience, and they knocked it out of the park.
The few complaints — such as the lack of reliable transportation — are squashed by Arrowhead’s insistence that they will keep fueling the community and title with updates. There’s a trailer that even features walking robotic vehicles (which ices my complaint about travel options), but other complaints are far from game-breaking. Helldivers 2 is just a fun time, and when conditions are right, anyone will defend Arrowhead’s brand of democracy.
