Democracy is great, but are you willing to fight for it? Millions of players are on the frontlines now.
After seven years, developers Arrowhead Studios, along with its publisher, Sony, have released “Helldivers 2” on Feb 8. “Helldivers 2” is a community-based third-person PVE shooter that parodies sources such as Starship Troopers.
Together as a team of four, Helldivers (the playable characters) are tasked with fighting one of two enemies in a number of various missions. Whether you fight the massive bug enemies named Terminids for the precious Element 710, or the “undemocratic” robot Automatons, each mission has an entirely different set of goals.
Using an arsenal of weapons and “stratagems,” which are an assortment of airstrikes, orbital strikes, and heavier weapons, you are tasked with crushing the opposing two enemy factions to uphold “managed democracy” for Super Earth. Missions range from terminating illegal broadcasts, exterminating Terminid bug nests, taking out Automaton manufacturing centers, and planting flags in the name of democracy. At the end of every mission, you call in a drop ship and extract from the planet.
All story and events are decided almost entirely by the action the community takes. The game gives “Major Orders,” and players either band together as a community and reap the reward, or fail to meet the requirements and face penalties. For example, the community was given a choice: free one of two planets, and receive one of two rewards. Which planet was not saved first would be lost, meaning the community decides themselves what content they receive in game, and what happens in the world of Helldivers 2.
According to an interview with Bloomberg, TD Cowen analyst Doug Creutz estimates that more than eight million copies of the game have been sold. And according to Steam Charts, the game has reached a peak player count of over 400,000 players. It has a large community, but due to the nature of the game, it has been observed to be a community that works effortlessly together to tackle goals.
On May 3, the ability of the Helldivers community to take action was put on display. Sony, announced it would be discontinuing service for the game in 69 countries and forcing users to make a third-party account to continue playing.
The community, understandably upset by this, immediately mobilized. In under 24 hours, Helldivers players left over 100,000 negative reviews, and many players refunded their game.
Within three days, the review rating went from overwhelmingly positive to overwhelmingly negative. This rapid community organization worked, after three days Sony announced that they would be reverting their decision. Said users immediately reverted their negative reviews, and the game, five days later, is sitting at a mostly positive review score.
Getting into the actual gameplay, I enjoy this game immensely. It does a lot right; the missions have enough variance that the gameplay loop never gets repetitive, there’s a wide enough arsenal that I never feel I’m short on options, and you can earn nearly everything in game for free.
Even more importantly, Helldivers deviates from the recent industry standard of abusing fear of missing out to force players to spend money. The game uses a battle pass for unlocking in-game content, as many other games do, but there’s a silver lining. Unlike other games, each battle pass that is released stays available permanently; you will never miss content, and can play the game at your own pace without the fear of running short on time to unlock everything in a battle pass.
Another amazing note about this game, as mentioned earlier, is the overwhelmingly positive sense of comradery in every mission. You truly feel like you are part of a massive war effort, every mission feels like you and the community fighting a real, active enemy.
One major issue with the game, however, is the massive amount of bugs that plague the game. While rare, when you do encounter a bug it’s unable to ignore, and sometimes game breaking. Falling through the ground, losing access to an entire variant of weapon because it only works for the host, getting stuck in sub menus, and more. Fortunately, the game is enjoyable enough that the infrequent bugs that do rear their head are worth ignoring.
I believe this game to be worth the purchase, as not only is it one of the top-selling games of 2024, but also much cheaper than industry standards. Whereas most other games of this quality will cost an initial $70 purchase and additional money for DLCs, Helldivers only costs a one-time purchase $39.99. You can purchase the battlepasses with money as well, but that is entirely optional as you can earn them without paying.
