Helldivers 2

Helldivers 2 is a cooperative third-person shooter developed by Arrowhead Game Studios and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It launched on February 8, 2024, for PlayStation 5 and Windows. Although it follows the 2015 game Helldivers, the sequel replaces its overhead viewpoint with a camera behind each soldier. Players fight for Super Earth, whose broadcasts frame its wars as a defense of “managed democracy.” The joke is visible throughout the game: triumphant recruitment messages and patriotic speeches accompany missions in which individual soldiers are remarkably expendable. Up to four players can join a squad, descend onto a hostile planet, and attempt to complete objectives before extraction.

Those objectives vary by mission. A squad might destroy enemy facilities, launch an intercontinental ballistic missile, or recover data, then call for a shuttle and survive until it arrives. Players choose equipment before deployment and can summon support during a mission through “stratagems,” activated by entering directional commands. These include ammunition drops, sentry turrets, orbital bombardments, and attacks from Eagle aircraft. A fallen teammate can also be replaced by calling down a reinforcement. Friendly fire is always a threat: an explosive intended for an enemy can kill squadmates, while an imprecisely placed supply pod can crush a soldier. Successful missions therefore require communication as well as firepower.

At launch, the principal enemies were Terminids, insect-like creatures, and Automatons, a force of armed machines. They demand different tactics: Terminids frequently close the distance in large numbers, while Automatons attack with gunfire and heavy weapons. The Illuminate, an alien faction from the original Helldivers, entered the sequel in the December 2024 “Omens of Tyranny” update. Fighting takes place across a shared Galactic War map. Players select contested planets, and their completed operations contribute to collective liberation or defense efforts. Super Earth’s shifting war fronts give individual missions a place within a campaign played by the wider community.

The game’s launch was also marked by a dispute over account requirements. In May 2024, Sony announced that Windows players would need to link a PlayStation Network account to keep playing. After a backlash, including concerns from players in regions where PlayStation Network was unavailable, Sony said it would not proceed with the requirement. Helldivers 2 remains distinctive for the tension between its cooperative systems and its fiction: players are encouraged to coordinate carefully, yet each reinforcement arrives as another unnamed recruit in an apparently endless war. Even an extraction only saves the soldiers who reach the shuttle, not those left behind on the planet.