Helldivers II is a Multiplayer Miracle

This review has been approved by the Ministry of Truth.

I have never been quiet on my personal feelings towards live-service games. Can you blame me? How often can one stomach half-baked garbage before they decide to visit another restaurant?

The core idea isn’t necessarily a bad one. Continuously updating a game post-launch with new content sounds like a dream come true! Unfortunately, most live-services, such as the recent ‘Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’ and ‘Skull & Bones’, forget to do the important part first: make the game actually fun to play. Why would anyone want to keep playing a game where you just do repetitive chores and get repeatedly strong armed towards the in-game store? What should be a dream has long since become a nightmare.

But there are those who would keep the dream pure. Those who would make a game that respects both your time and your money. Most importantly: there are still those who want to make a fun game first, and a live-service second.

I am, of course, referring to Arrowhead Studios recent smash hit: Helldivers II.

The premise is simple. The great democratic empire of Super Earth is under attack! On one side of the galaxy, the Terminid swarm infests planet after planet. On the other, the socialist Automatons threaten to destroy our way of life, claiming our government is ‘evil,’ and ‘lying to us.’ These foes must be fought, and you, a fresh recruit to the Helldivers, will be the weapon we need to spread democracy and liberty throughout the stars!

It’s Starship Troopers meets Terminator and Warhammer 40K. The satiric reasonable levels of patriotism give the game this dark yet upbeat humor, sort of like Fallout’s cheery post apocalypse. So much so that it’s more fun just to play along. Loading screens will ask you to wait ‘democratically’, items in the store are given in-universe reviews, some of which are censored for ‘treason,’ even the in-game hints are written like propaganda! This game has so much personality, I love it!

Plot wise, it’s pretty much what you, your friends, and the community make it. There are no lengthy cutscenes or exposition drops or even characters or plot development. It’s just a silly game about patriotically shooting bugs and robots with orbital nukes.

Or, depending on your friends: a silly game about patriotically shooting each other with orbital nukes.

Combat in Helldivers II is simple yet fun. You and your squad drop down onto a planet with a set list of objectives. Destroy enemy bases/nests, silence un-democratic broadcasts, launch nukes, repair bases, steal intel, etc. To do so, you must fight through hordes of enemies and complete little tasks, like lining up radar towers or putting in passwords. It may sound easy, but when you’ve got one hundred bugs trying to crawl up your ass simultaneously, it’s anything but.

Speaking of: there’s a ton of variety between enemies. The Automatons have legions of laser-shooting bots, chainsaw-handed chargers, tanks, and more. The Terminids have bugs of all shapes and sizes, from invisible attackers to armored chargers to massive insect titans. None of these guys are tough to kill alone. Problem is: they are never alone.

Equally dangerous is the environment itself. Each planet you can drop onto has a unique biome and challenge within it to overcome. Snowy planets reduce your movement, some planets have ion storms that disable your stratagems, desert planets can have thick sand storms to obscure vision, so on and so forth. The land you stand on is every bit as dangerous as the enemies you shoot at.

There are nine difficulty settings for the missions. These range from game journalist mode all the way up to getting clubbed in the head repeatedly. The higher the difficulty, the more numerous and powerful the enemy hordes become. Clearing high-difficulty missions is highly rewarding, but the consequences for failure are just as great.

The shooting mechanics are unique to any game I’ve ever played. In games like Call of Duty or Halo, the bullets go where you look. Not in Helldivers II, they don’t! You have two aiming reticles; one for where you’re looking, another for where the barrel of your gun is actually pointing. Getting these two to line up is key to maximizing the accuracy of your shots. It’s unique and makes the gunplay feel satisfying!

You’re also encouraged to use up every bullet in your magazine before reloading, as any shots remaining when you do will be lost. If you’re in the habit of reloading to max out your ammo count between rounds, get ready to break that real quick. Unless you want to be overwhelmed by bugs or bots.

Most of the maps are covered in bonus objectives and collectibles. These range from samples to study and improve your ship, premium currency, vaults with extra resources and weapons, to optional objectives and side missions. What’s cool is that these optional objectives don’t just give extra cash and experience; most of them have a clear beneficial bonus for you to use throughout the rest of the mission! For example, if you get a missile bombardment system running and load it, you get five additional high power bombs to unleash upon the enemies of democracy!

All of this combines to make each mission of Helldivers II entirely unique from the others. You and your teammates are constantly making decisions. Do you risk it all to maximize your resource gain, or do you cut your losses and get the hell out of dodge? It’s entirely up to you.

But a real Helldiver never gives in. Because to do so is to lessen Super Earth’s position in the galactic war.

See, Helldivers II has a game master behind the scenes in control of the war. Through his direction, the enemies of liberty and freedom are given a degree of autonomy in the fighting. If the player base loses too many battles, we may lose worlds to the enemy, and they push further into Super Earth’s territory. Conversely, if the community continues to win, the enemy gets pushed back and we can push further into their territory! The war feels real, changing each day!

This idea gives this game the perfect structure for the live-service model. New updates aren’t just content drops, they’re a new development in the war! Arrowhead actually took the live-service model and built it around not squeezing money out of the players, but interacting with them, rewarding them for their efforts and punishing them for their failures!

On the subject of money: Helldivers II has the most player-friendly microtransactions I’ve seen in years! No bullshit conversion rates that make you pay for more than you want, no limited-time battle passes forcing you to grind forever, none of that! You don’t even need to pay for premium currency if you don’t want to; you earn plenty of it just by playing the game! You can play the game at your own pace and spend money only if you yourself want to.

Did I mention that this game only costs $40 USD? Half the price of a triple-A game with microtransactions that are actually micro. In 2024. Remarkable.

I will say this: playing the game solo is a mixed bag. Lobbying with random players online isn’t all that bad. However, I’ve had multiple connection issues when attempting to join another lobby. There’s also an issue with cross-play as of the writing of this article, so it’s difficult for PC and Playstation players to group up. This game is at its best with friends, but getting everyone together at all can be tricky.

All the trouble is most definitely worth it. Helldivers II is a god damn miracle! Full of personality, charm, and fun, with pro-consumer business practices behind the scenes, it’s a delight! If you want something fun to play, or a good game to wash the taste of trash out of your mouth, few modern releases are better!

Now, before we wrap up, I have to tell you all something: this article was not a review. It was a call to arms! Join the Helldivers now and fight for Super Earth! We have the ships, we have the weapons, now all we need is you! Join the fight today if you aren’t a yellow-bellied coward!