Helldivers 2 Review - Democracy Delivers

When the Swedish studio Arrowhead Game Studios announced a sequel to their amazing co-op top-down shooter Helldivers, I was ecstatic, as I can still recall fond memories of blasting aliens and dying comically due to my co-op partners’ friendly fire. What I loved about the first game was embedded into Helldivers 2’s DNA, as this is a fantastic shooter with a parodic personality, smart team play mechanics, and strong replayability making for an encouraging foundation for a live service title - that is, as long as the servers can hold up.

Helldivers 2 feels like you are living in a Starship Troopers-esque military recruitment ad at all times, as every audio line spews hilarious nonsense that brightens up the mood before, during, and after missions. Gameplay tooltips simply tell you “Don’t panic” and your Helldiver will occasionally maniacally laugh at all the burning bugs slowly dying to your flamethrower as you hold down the trigger. You may suddenly fly 10 feet vertically because you stepped on a planet’s active water geyser, or might accidentally crush fellow Helldivers by calling in a resupply drop pod right on top of them. The game throws funny banter about democracy and freedom, and the comedy continues so hilariously throughout the gameplay that I consider Helldivers 2 more of an action-comedy 90% of the time.

We’re always laughing at each other, screaming together as we run away from a wave of bugs, or cheering as we barely extract the whole group from a difficult mission. This game is all about fun. It’s a co-op experience that knows how to make team play wring a smile out of you, and it’s easy to get wrapped up in Helldivers 2’s gameplay loop.

The community-driven war effort needs you!

As of this writing, Super Earth is being threatened by the Terminid alien bug race on one side of the galaxy, and the robotic Automatons on the other. Players must liberate planets invaded by these threats to simply repel them from reaching Super Earth, the Helldivers’ home.

What’s interesting is the war effort is community-driven and happening in real-time, so it’s hard to see the progression from a narrative standpoint, as the first week of the game featured the Terminids, giving the community a major order to liberate two planets. Each mission completed by a team of players contributes to the planet’s liberation, and it’s a community effort from both PS5 and PC players as we liberated both planets with just a day to spare in the first week’s deadline. 

The effect? While we pushed the Terminids farther from Super Earth, the Automatons suddenly made a move, invading neighboring planets on the other side of the Galactic map. Our focus shifted to the Automatons with a special Defend mission that, as of this writing, we are behind in reaching the goal.

What will happen? I don’t know. That’s the interesting part of Helldivers 2’s narrative, as it gave me the impression that Arrowhead Game Studios have prepared two scenarios depending on whether the players can succeed in the given community objective. It’s an interesting concept that was also present in the first game, as it entices players to keep going for the overall big picture, and it makes me think that the types of missions available will be vastly different weeks from now. It’s hard to tell at this point, but I’m optimistic about what they have planned to keep things fresh.

Loop da loop

Helldivers 2 launches with a variety of mission objectives - missions can be as long as 30 minutes or as short as 5, with each designed to encourage team play and cooperation. Players interact with terminals to complete objectives and will have to input a sequence of button presses to complete them, or short puzzles where you’ll just have to hope that your team is covering you against foes as you complete the objective. It may sound simple on paper but the tension builds as you know an Automaton dropship just flew past your head as you try to complete a pipe-connecting mini-puzzle that reminded me of Bioshock’s hacking mechanic.

You’ll quickly get used to the gameplay loop, as the early hours will familiarize you with each objective. Thankfully, it doesn’t get old, because each mission feels vastly different depending on the biome of the planet you are in, the weather conditions, and the modifiers in place for each specific planet. You’ll then take into account the difficulty of the mission, which alters the frequency of the enemy spawns and their density for greater rewards. Incredibly, nine difficulties range from the most casual to the absolutely hardcore. 

It also helps that the gunplay feels satisfying through a variety of weapon types. Shotguns provide good crowd control and have real weight to them as you fire each shot, while we have armor-penetrating rifles that give you a rewarding thrill when penetrating an armored enemy 50 feet away.

You then have Strategems, a Helldiver’s lifeline. These warriors can call forth various forms of support from the Destroyer ship watching over you from orbit. Players can issue air support to clear a group of enemies in one fell swoop like a napalm airstrike, or call in an orbital laser that brings down a massive beam from your ship to eradicate any enemy nearby. You can call in your ship to drop special equipment such as ammo packs, special weapons like a flamethrower or railgun, or even call in reinforcements if a fellow Helldiver dies. Each of these Strategems has a unique button sequence that a player must press to arm the Strategem and then throw it where you’d like it to land. 

This is where the chaos and coordination escalates, as each player can bring four Strategems to a mission. Just imagine all of that firepower being dropped down, as it’s normal for one to be inaccurate at times and accidentally call in an airstrike on top of your team, or drop a gatling sentry on the wrong side, where it hits friendlies. Properly-placed airstrikes feel amazing when you see the death counter showing multiple kills, and poorly-placed ones provide fear and at times can be a funny story to share with others.

Strategems bring a unique element to the co-op shooter, since you’ll need to make quick decisions on how one should use one’s loadout. Should I save the Mortar Strategem for when we extract? Or should I do it now to lessen the pressure on my team? As you go from one objective to another, you are always questioning how to best use your resources to prevent being overwhelmed.

As you complete missions and level up, players will get resources that allow them to unlock more Strategems, weapons, and armor that provide unique traits and properties. You can also upgrade your Helldiver’s Destroyer ship to improve your Strategems with simple but essential upgrades, like a 10% decrease in all Orbital Strategems cooldowns, for example. Progression is straightforward, as you’re not grinding to get better gear, but rather widen your options to better suit specific missions. It can be a grind, as I’m 40 hours in and have not unlocked everything the game has to offer.

Those who want a challenge will also find it here, as progressing through the game’s many difficulties has delivered intense operations that only felt possible with proper coordination between players, and the knowledge of weaknesses of unique enemy types. As I slowly progressed through a higher difficulty with my group, I noticed my arsenal thinning, as there was a considerable gap between the best weapons and Strategems and the others. It felt limiting to those eager to conquer the most challenging missions, so a bit of tweaking from the developers is needed in order to provide more variety in the long run, or else you’ll see everyone running the same loadout at the top of the food chain.

A live service with great monetization? It’s possible

With Helldivers 2 being treated as a live service game, there’s an in-game store, premium currency, and a rewards progression system called Warbands, with one being free and the other requiring you to pay. The kicker? You can earn all of the premium rewards and cosmetics by simply playing.

At least for now. Helldivers 2’s premium currency can be earned in every mission you play in, as there’s a good chance you can pick up a reasonable amount of Super Credits from the many points of interest scattered around the mission map. Almost all missions had me picking up a good amount of Super Credits, so I found it easy to get enough credits to buy the premium Warband rewards track, which costs 1,000 ($9.99).

But here’s where it gets tricky - the premium Warband rewards track locks unique weapons and armor, as what’s inside contains cosmetics and actual gear. I progressed through the premium Warband and have noticed that it doesn’t overshadow or provide a massive boost in a player’s arsenal, as the gears on offer are alternate versions of weapons offered in the free Warband track. For example, the premium track offers an incendiary version of a shotgun you can get for free. 

Right now, it’s not an aggressive form of monetization, but one of the most consumer-friendly practices of the sort I've experienced in a live service game. The premium Warband is the only questionable offer, as the in-game store is currently filled with armor pieces, and perks are easily obtainable within other pieces of free gear. There are no gameplay boosts or outrageous prices for cosmetics – just items that are within reach by simply playing the game. This can change in time, but considering we’re in the first month after the game’s release, it’s not a problem in my eyes.

Democracy never looked this good

Helldivers 2 launched with a good lineup of planet biomes and unique terrain right off the bat that doesn’t feel rehashed or recycled after hours of play. Each environment provides tactical advantages, such as higher elevations, but they can also provide disadvantages, such as lush forests obscuring enemy locations, or waist-deep bodies of water or bushes that slow you down. Each location looks fantastic on both PC and PS5, with barely any performance issues or FPS drops even during the most intense and dense firefights. Explosions look mesmerizing, and the detailed damage to enemies from your team’s weaponry only fuels the satisfaction garnered from playing this shooter for hours on end.

The only standing issue that is preventing me and the rest of the community from enjoying this shooter is the network and server issues due to the game’s unexpected popularity at launch. This is tricky to judge - I consider this a temporary problem due to the game’s success, as word-of-mouth is slowly transforming Helldivers 2 into another early success story for 2024. The result unfortunately spells server capacity issues, matchmaking issues, frequent crashes, and connection issues. Since launch, I’ve experienced trouble finding any player to join my missions through the game’s matchmaking. It’s gotten better, but after a couple of weeks post-launch, it’s still an issue for a good portion of the player base. I have yet to experience a day without having any kind of issue.

I’ve also experienced disconnection issues when pairing up with friends for a few missions. Sudden disconnects occur randomly, which can be discouraging. I had one night where I’d consistently be booted out of a game and transported back to my ship after just a minute on the ground with my group. 

Fortunately, the connection and matchmaking issues are the only major issues I’ve experienced playing Helldivers 2. Arrowhead Games Studios have delivered an impressive sequel that elevates the concept they introduced back in 2015, and established a commendable foundation for a live service title. I can already see Helldivers 2 at the absolute top of people’s minds when asked, “Do you have any co-op shooters to recommend?”

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Verdict: 4 / 5 (Fantastic)

PROS

• Addicting gameplay loop that doesn’t become repetitive easily thanks to mission modifiers, and other elements

• So far a consumer-friendly monetization system that looks bad on paper but not so bad

• The ludicrous narrative is great and the funny/intense moments with other players feel endless

CONS

• Loadout options lessen as you go up in difficulties 

• Matchmaking issues, server issues, and connection issues hamper the game’s first month

• A struggle to enjoy alone

What I’ve Played 

• Spent over 40 hours on the game

• Reached level 25 and have unlocked almost all Strategems and is halfway through fully upgrading my ship

• Completed Suicide difficulty missions

*This review is based on a PS5 review copy provided by the game’s publisher

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