After a community effort that seemingly wiped out Helldivers 2’s Automaton enemy faction, the Automatons made a return soon after, which introduced a new mission type to the game. This new defense mission, Evacuate High-Value Assets, has generally proven to be a welcome addition to Helldivers 2 so far.

At the same time though, this mission only scratches the surface of what a proper defense mission could offer. Future updates for Helldivers 2 should consider giving this new defense mission another pass, potentially adding new features that could differentiate this mission from other mission types in the game.

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While Helldivers 2 continues to be extremely popular with its fans, there are more things it can do before making any huge changes.

Helldivers 2 Could Benefit from More Mission Variety

For the most part, players have been able to consistently keep Helldivers 2’s Galactic War at a stalemate, which has kept the fight focused on only a small handful of planets and mission types. Although players have been relatively successful in defeating the enemies of Super Earth, this has come at the cost of the mission variety in Helldivers 2 being relatively limited so far. So naturally, the game could benefit from introducing unique mission types to combat repetitiveness.

Yet while adding new mission types to Helldivers 2 is a generally win-win situation, adding missions that aren’t much different from the existing mission types doesn’t do much to address the game’s replayability. Such is the case with the new defense mission that was added to Helldivers 2, where it could benefit from having more in-depth mechanics to set it apart from existing missions.

The Case For a True Wave Defense Mission in Helldivers 2

In the current version of this defense mission, players get a short period of preparation before enemies begin to relentlessly attack two objectives that are located behind a series of barricaded doors. These mission parameters are the same across every difficulty in Helldivers 2, only the density and type of enemy spawns will change on different difficulties.

Two areas where this defense mission arguably has some room to grow are in the map’s layout and the map’s defenses. When it comes to the map for this mission, the current map layout is the same across every planet this mission is available on, which is a missed opportunity. Meanwhile, the built-in defenses on this map are rather minimal.

Bigger Maps with More Defenses

The standard map for this mission is quite small, as it only gives players four choke points to funnel enemies into, each with a barricaded door as a last line of defense. Considering how easy these doors are for enemies to break when playing on higher difficulties, having a larger map with more barricaded doors would give players more choices in where to put up a fight.

Aside from the barricaded doors, an HMG Emplacement turret will spawn in this mission.

Also, with these doors being some of the only natural defenses in this mission, adding map-specific traps for this mission could add an extra layer of gameplay. Players can technically bring a Sentry Stratagem loadout to this mission, but providing these traps and defenses as temporary Stratagems or built-in features in the mission could make the preparation phase more meaningful.

Endless Mission Types

Another way that Helldivers 2 could potentially set this mission apart from similar mission types is to give players the option of attempting an endless wave defense version of the mission, with rewards and difficulty scaled to however long players can last. This kind of game mode could be a game-changer that paves the way for more in-depth mission types.

Longer missions like this with higher stakes could also prove especially useful for players to liberate planets in Helldivers 2 in a pinch. Ultimately, there are plenty of ways that Helldivers 2 could double down on what this defense mission could be, and future updates should consider taking a shot at it.