Helldivers 2: The Conquest for Freedom
Ever wanted to throw massive explosions at mutated giant bugs, alien squids, and socialist clankers? Then Helldivers 2 might be the perfect game for you. Your mission is to deliver the glory of managed democracy from planet-to-planet, armed with extensive arsenal at your expense. The game features many enjoyable mechanics, accompanied by a very positive game community.
Why Helldivers 2? Well, Helldivers 2 is a Player vs. Entity Co-op objective based game. Everyone is fighting together against enemies with programmed pathfinding and objectives of their own. Friendly fire, explosions, and collaboration are the lifeblood of the game, with 146,761 concurrent players on average (according to SteamDB’s Helldivers 2 page), and consistent live updates. Helldivers 2 continues to be one of the most loved and enjoyed games out there recently, reaching a new peak of 390,000 concurrent players shortly after the release to the Xbox game console. Finding developers like Arrowhead is rare too. With a love for the game, community, and the dedication necessary, Helldivers 2 consistently ranks among the top games since its release. Along with constant updates, each mission is specially made to portray a good replay value. Most players enjoy their experience with a group of friends, battling swarms of entities while attempting to reach certain objectives to “spread managed democracy across the galaxy”. However, this ideal of managed democracy is a means for galactic domination in disguise, kicking off the Second Galactic War.
Gameplay of the Helldivers vs. Automatons.
The story of Helldivers 2 is entertaining to go through as well. In the game, you play as an expendable soldier, and citizen of Super Earth, forcefully spreading their beliefs in managed democracy to those who would ever dare to reject it. Super Earth, however, is run by a secret socialist government, with ideals like that of Big Brother in world-renowned novel 1984 by George Orwell. What makes the story of Helldivers 2 special, is the fact that Super Earth is the greater evil in the end. Humanity, however, makes up the biggest faction within the story, and has been so overly brainwashed, that they are incapable of recognizing the sinister works of Super Earth. The Helldivers themselves are a brainwashed branch of Super Earth military designed to overwhelm other factions by sheer number and firepower. Each Helldiver is given 5 minutes of basic training, then froze to be stored in the case the Helldiver in charge is Killed In Action. Every player death in the game is canon to the lore and instantaneously replaced by another one of the frozen Helldivers. Though framed to be evil in the citizens of Super Earth’s eyes, the enemies are innocent people and creatures affected by Super Earth’s tyrannical rule. The Automatons are simply sentient Artificial Intelligence birthed by humanity, wishing to live on their own without any relation to Super Earth. The Illuminate are an ancient alien species who once reached out in pursuit of peace, before being attacked by Super Earth, who held eyes only for their advanced technology. The Terminids, however, are mutated bugs placed on various planets by Super Earth, to farm their decomposing corpses for Element 710, which clearly spells oil upside down.
A squad of helldivers standing before the Illuminate.
Helldivers 2 is a continuously improving game. On a monthly basis, Arrowhead advances game mechanics, player comfort, and allows players to make decisions on future updates. Despite being a substantially different game than the original, many veteran players from the original Helldivers turned to the sequel to enjoy the new features. Helldivers 2, produced by Arrowhead Game Studios, should be one of the top 10 games on your Wishlist this year. It was released in February 2024 and has already broken various records on multiple game store platforms.
