Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 is a 2024 cooperative third-person shooter game developed by Arrowhead Game Studios and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The game is the direct sequel to Helldivers, a 2015 top-down shooter. It was released for PlayStation 5 and Windows on 8 February 2024. It received positive reviews from critics and sold over 8 million units within the first two months of its release.
Gameplay
Unlike Helldivers, which is a top-down shooter, Helldivers 2 is a third-person shooter. A core gameplay feature carried over from the first game is the use of 'stratagems' such as cluster bombs, sentry guns, shield generators and supply pods containing limited-use special weaponry. Friendly fire is always on. The game's armor system is inspired by real firearms fired against armored targets. While Helldivers featured shared-screen co-op, Helldivers 2 does not. The game features cooperative multiplayer with up to four players, but does not include a dedicated single-player campaign. It also provides optional cross-play between PlayStation 5 and Windows. In the initial days of release, gameplay involved staff at the studio observing players and influencing gameplay in real time. The game features a battle pass that never expires. Players can earn various types of in-game currency during gameplay; "war-bond medals" and "requisition slips" are awarded for completing missions and game objectives, while "super credits" are found during missions or purchased via microtransactions. As players gain experience and progress in level, they unlock different weapons and Stratagems to use during missions. Players can participate in Defense missions to defend against an ongoing enemy invasion or Liberation mission to retake enemy-occupied planets. By completing missions, players also contribute to the collective "liberation" of planets, a percentage displayed on the Galactic Map. The location of the mission can also affect gameplay; for example, a planet may feature environmental conditions like firestorms or earthquakes, which can damage or incapicitate players respectively.
Plot
Helldivers 2 is set a century after the triumph of "Super Earth", a self-described managed democracy, over the Cyborgs, Terminids, and The Illuminate during the events of the first game. It is discovered that, upon death, the Terminids produce a unique and highly valuable resource known as E-710. Farms are established on human-colonized worlds, but containment is eventually breached, releasing the bugs and causing chaos and destruction. Simultaneously, a new threat emerges in the form of the Automatons, a mechanical army intent on destroying humanity. The game begins with a recruitment video for the Helldivers, who are elite shock troops dropped from orbit to reclaim the colonized lands. Environmental storytelling is prevalent throughout the game, with various logs, notes, and propaganda messages available for players to find during gameplay.
Reception
Helldivers 2 received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. Upon release, the game experienced a large influx of players, leading to widespread server and login issues for the first two weeks of release. By the third week of release, the player cap was increased to "a whopping 700,000 concurrent users" according to Wesley Yin-Poole of IGN. Aaron Bayne of Push Square described the game as "a riotous affair, offering up best-in-class gunplay" and a "truly epic and often cinematic experience, mixed in with one of the best co-op gameplay romps currently available." However, he criticized the game for the server issues and crashes that players experienced after release. Helldivers 2 has been compared to the 1997 science fiction action film Starship Troopers; both are a satirical comedy featuring a militaristic regime fighting against a race of large insectoids.
Trailer
Tutorial
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