Highlights

  • Helldivers 2 immerses players in a satirical galaxy, making every moment engaging from start to finish.
  • Orders create a sense of community with hardly any direct interaction between players, but such co-op interaction is playful via emotes.

Helldivers 2 is profoundly simplistic. At least right now, the hilarious sci-fi parody boasts only two enemy factions and a handful of mission objectives throughout various planets. Customization could be wonderful with transmogrification in Helldivers 2, but regardless its gear is less about stats and more about aesthetics anyhow. The sum of its parts is a terrific PvE experience that is always evolving, and yet where the game is most brilliantly effective is in its moment-to-moment immersion.

Helldivers 2 makes each second either suspenseful or dramatic in some way when players have landed on a planet’s surface and begin scrambling toward their goals. Missions typically allot 30 minutes in length and some expeditions truly can take that entire duration if players are attentive in scouring each inch of an environment—much less if they’re overwhelmed and battered around by enemy hordes at any given turn. Rather, from the moment players boot up Helldivers 2 to the moment they close it, they are wholly sustained in the game’s satirical galaxy and that goes a long way in making Helldivers 2 engaging at its core.

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Helldivers 2 Creates a Holistic Community Through Progression

Orders Keep Helldivers 2 Cooperative

Progression is outlined loosely via personal and major orders that create a sense of community without players ever having to go out of their way to interact with one another if they don’t wish to. Orders have time limits in which players must complete them, but while personal orders only pertain to the player’s progression, major orders involve all players in a wholehearted effort to cleanse the galaxy and win Helldivers 2’s Galactic War.

Personal orders are often as simple as achieving a number of kills with a certain supply stratagem weapon or a number of a particular enemy type killed, for instance, whereas major orders usually involve full control over a number of planets by the time that the order expires. Both award a specific amount of medals each, though personal orders’ medals are awarded instantly when players complete their order and return to a ship while major orders’ medals aren’t awarded until the timer expires.

There’s no active incentive to be explicitly volunteering on planets where major orders are concerned, though these planets are commonly where a lot of players will be spending their time as a result, and by responding to an SOS players are likely to be whisked there anyhow.

Some stratagems even require teamwork, which is obviously more oriented toward friends playing with one another so they can coordinate their actions accordingly. Thankfully, almost 100% of activities and mechanics in Helldivers 2 can be accomplished by communicating nonverbally with players through highly informative pings.

There’s also a type of door with valuable supplies inside that needs two players to unlock it as well, reinforcing the idea of sticking together and completing objectives as a well-oiled machine. Therefore, it can always feel as if players are helping each other contribute to the spread of democracy and liberty since teamwork is naturally encouraged in gameplay with Reinforcements and other collaborative stratagems available in Helldivers 2.

Helldivers 2’s Lack of Menus Sells Its Immersion

Helldivers 2 Refuses to Take Players Out of the Action

Helldivers 2 is arguably most successful because it never ceases to let up on its immersion, whether players are boots-down in an inhospitable landscape or safe aboard their personalized ship. As soon as players enter the game they see their character arrive onboard as well, stepping uneasily out of cryostasis and being met each time by two warm crew members.

From there, players who opted for Super Citizen DLC content can decide to enjoy a mini-game of Stratagem Hero before seeing if there are any stratagems or ship mods they’d like to purchase with hard-earned XP and resources. Players can also stop to customize their gear and weapon loadout before eventually making their way to a holotable to select which planet and mission type they wish to embark on or simply respond to an SOS.

But gameplay doesn’t cut away from the player there, either; instead, players step into the footholds of one of four Hellpods before selecting their stratagem loadout, which is vital depending on what mission and enemy type players are confronting. A loading screen then ensues when the mission begins, but players are treated the whole time to an epic fanfare score as they watch their Hellpod—and the Hellpods of their teammates—descend into that distinct planet’s beautiful atmosphere.

Gameplay in Helldivers 2 is Full of Its Own Lovely Immersion

Gameplay resumes with Hellpods landing imminently on the planet’s surface and the lid ejects dramatically to release the Helldiver into play. Extracting is a similarly immersive process in Helldivers 2, where players get to watch the shuttle flee from the planet and take players back to the host’s ship, and leaves not even a single moment where players are taken out of the action. Especially when players are together aboard someone’s ship there are always moments of respite where they can relax and enjoy one another’s company:

  • Stratagem Hero can make for a fun, competitive distraction, and is playable on any ship whose host has access to the DLC.
  • There is also a wealth of interactive emotes that players can trigger between themselves, such as a casual salute, hug, or ‘explosive’ handshake.
  • Returning after extraction always displays each Helldiver with their equipped victory pose, even if players failed to successfully extract and are standing off to the side while the survivors arrive triumphantly.

Additionally, inputting a stratagem code, inspecting the mini-map, and examining order objectives don't force a static menu on players and behave like in-game displays the player is looking at. This may not be unique to Helldivers 2 as a design ethic, but without interpolative menus or long periods of inaction it’s magnificent to see how immersive Helldivers 2 is at any moment and it’s no wonder why players have embraced its humorous solidarity efforts and civic duty with fervor.