Helldivers 2: Reimagining Democracy In The Space Age
Matias Waschbusch
Sports Editor
The new breakthrough indie game “Helldivers 2” has revived the live-gaming industry with a fresh take on the multiplayer genre using a Starship Troopers-esque satire of the American Military Industrial complex. Suffering from success, the game launched with constantly filled servers and a buggy interface due to the overwhelming number of players. In recent times the cap has been fixed, with no recent server bottlenecks or wait times to get into the game. Players fight across the galaxy, fighting either the “emotionless, hateful socialists” that are the Automatons or the “mindless” Terminids, whose precious element 710 fuels the galaxy. Each individual mission one player completes contributes to the liberation of a planet of their choosing, which, bundled with every player’s contribution, creates a constantly changing war map that keeps players coming back.
Players drop in squads of four after completing a five-minute training course and spread “managed democracy.” It is “gloriously over the top” as players get access to planet-flattening resources; Orbital lasers, 500kg bombs, carpet bombing runs: this game has it all. Every planet has new threats, from fire tornadoes to blizzards that block reinforcements, making each push into enemy territory palpable as your support spreads thinner and thinner. Players get major orders from “high command” with incentives to focus hundreds of thousands of players on retaking a specific sector with a harsh time limit. As the intergalactic war continues in real-time, enemies are developing new weapons such as tanks and Star Wars-like AT-ATs or mutating into swarms of flying bugs, all things you must take down with your four-player team. The satire never takes away from the fun of the game as players drop in and complete a variety of goals, hugging fellow Helldivers while they terminate an illegal broadcast or launch an ICBM. If one is up to the challenge, they can go on increasingly difficult missions, gaining planets such as Malevolent Creek the title of “Space Vietnam” as swarms of enemies and threats big enough to make one call for sweet liberty to save them.
This fresh new satire launched by an indie studio at just $40 is taking the gaming market by storm and has a bright future ahead, with the Automatons making an “unprecedented” return to the galaxy, the Terminids kept in check by the Termicide that is absolutely not mutating them, along with whispers of returns of the Illuminate.