More successful than “The Last of Us” and “Horizon: Zero Dawn” – at least on Steam. “Helldivers 2” got off to a flying start when it launched on PC and became Sony’s most successful title to date.
At its peak, there were over 155,000 players in the game at the same time. And if you look at the social media reactions, the science fiction shooter is doing surprisingly well – despite massive technical problems.
That’s exactly why we can’t and don’t want to test the game in its current state. The questions, on the other hand, are much more interesting: What is behind the “Helldivers 2” hype and how does the loot shooter actually play currently?
What is Helldivers 2 actually?
“Helldivers 2” is an online shooter developed by Arrowhead Studios. The game requires a constant online connection and allows co-op missions with up to four players. Although the stakes can also be played in single player, they only reveal their full fascination in multiplayer.
The action game is set in a distant future in which humanity is attacked by terminids (giant beetles, also called “bugs”) on one side and by robots on the other. The influence of the cult action film “Starship Troopers” is particularly noticeable in the background story, the production and the enemy design.
As a Helldiver soldier you are supposed to protect the “above earth” and above all democracy from the enemy invaders. The humor comes across excellently and fits the setting at least as well.
Nevertheless, the game doesn’t dwell on its story for long. After the short tutorial you will land on board your battle cruiser. This serves as headquarters. From here you can use the war table to go to planets and complete missions there.
Important: “Helldivers 2” doesn’t take you by the hand. First point of criticism: After the introduction you are thrown into the grind and the galactic war without any guidance. So if you’re expecting a short campaign to “warm up” or something like that, you’re completely wrong here.
In the armory you equip your character and choose the weapons (primary and secondary weapons plus grenades) or the equipment. Important: In addition to your standard cannons, you can command tactical equipment. These include, for example, supply deliveries, orbital strikes, bonus weapons and aids such as minefields or automatic cannons.
These special actions, which are linked to cooldown times, are often the tipping point, especially in larger battles, and make mastering certain tasks noticeably easier.
How did the launch go?
On launch day, however, major problems became apparent: crashes during ongoing missions and, above all, matchmaking problems made it almost impossible to enjoy the online shooter. The so-called “quick game” didn’t work. This initially made “Helldivers 2” a solo experience for many buyers.
On Saturday, Arrowhead Studios released a first emergency patch – first on Steam, later also for the PlayStation version. This should reduce the frequency of crashes and improve matchmaking.
However, in the test on Saturday evening there were still massive problems – especially with matchmaking. The “quick game” continued to work very rarely and when it did, there were always connection breakdowns when approaching the planet. What worked much better, however, was establishing the connection directly via the war table on board the battle cruiser.
We were able to use this to access open matches directly and lo and behold: it worked better. Not really “I’m happy to pay 60 euros for that” better, but the co-op gameplay always worked. This made it possible for us to start and end missions with both two and three players.
At this point it should be said that this path remained rocky. During the test, which lasted several hours, there were a number of connection errors and also a complete crash of a running mission. And yes, if you have to restart the console after almost 20 minutes with an error message and all the items and experience points you have collected are gone, then that is absolutely annoying and frustrating.
On Monday morning the picture looked very similar: lots of crashes, lots of incorrect connections. Playing with friends also remained buggy. Here, too, “Helldivers 2” struggled with connection interruptions – sometimes when the connection was being established, sometimes when starting a new mission.
How good is Helldivers 2 despite technical problems?
On paper, “Helldivers 2” sounds like a pretty flat shooting spectacle with a high level of service: start, load the virtual gun, shoot bugs, have fun. That’s it in the lower levels of difficulty, but at the latest on “Medium” a tactical component also comes into play. Arrowhead Studios integrates a variety of smaller features that make life in “Helldivers 2” more difficult and complex in a good way.
When reloading, for example, you always throw away the entire magazine – and with it the bullets that remain there. So if you panic and reload after every shot, you will soon find yourself without ammunition. Status effects and injuries have a massive impact on mobility. A time limit and a limited number of reinforcement deliveries (i.e. bonus lives) also add pressure.
Friendly fire is the biggest enemy in co-op mode, which means you have to pay a lot of attention to your own position, especially when playing with strangers. “Helldivers 2” proves to be a challenging and demanding multiplayer battlefield under its “Starship Troopers” facade.
Terminids and robots also act fundamentally differently: The “bugs” attack in swarms, but are comparatively vulnerable. Although there are also big chunks here like green acid beasts and armored creatures, the number of opponents is smaller.
The robots, on the other hand, rely on advanced weapons and can also mine positions, for example. They are much more often heavily armored, so you either have to find weak points or use armor-piercing weapons. The aforementioned time pressure and limited resources always create exciting moments during the missions: Do I now search one of the danger zones for loot or do I head straight to the evacuation zone? If you go for it, you’ll end up with nothing in “Helldivers 2”.
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And so the gaming experience constantly meanders between joy of action, comedy and even a little survival horror. Arrowhead Studios stages its maps with a lot of love and creates great images and even more atmosphere through fog and changes of day and night.
The progression system currently leaves a big question mark. On the one hand, this is based on the fact that you can improve and individualize your Helldiver with the medals you collect through successful missions. In the in-game shop you gradually unlock more and more cannons and armor.
In addition, during ship management you can activate additional tactical equipment with collected Requisition Slips (the main currency) and unlock new ship modules with acquired samples. In this way you unlock passive expansions and, for example, strengthen certain tactical equipment or get more ammunition for certain weapons.
Future prospects and microtransactions
The big problem with “Helldivers 2” could be long-term motivation. Yes, there are lots of unlockable objects, but the intergalactic war against “bugs” and robots threatens to become repetitive in the long run. The grind starts early and the progression is comparatively slow. The game doesn’t throw new objects at you.
The maps turn out to be comparatively large and, in addition to the main objectives (such as destroying breeding grounds or factory facilities), also offer side tasks and points of interest. But is that enough in the long run or will grinding for medals and requisition slips eventually become too monotonous despite the very good co-op gameplay? You still have to wait and see about four days after the release!
A word about microtransactions: You can also use the premium currency Über-Credits to buy armor that affects the gameplay. However, it is difficult to speak of a “pay-to-win” mechanic in a co-op game. At the moment, these options have no influence on the course of the game, but the makers at Arrowhead Studios will have to be careful in the future that they don’t burn their fingers with these mechanics – for example if a versus option is added at some point.
Helldivers 2: First impression
Neither “Helldivers 2” nor Arrowhead Studios deserved such a catastrophic start. Because when the science fiction shooter runs properly, it creates unique moments full of tension and intensity, but also strange humor.
It would be wrong to dismiss the game as a flat “Starship Troopers” clone. Even if the mission objectives repeat themselves over time, it still has a fair amount of tactics and depth. From status effects to friendly fire to special maneuvers – all of this requires a high level of skill and calculation.
In combination with the almost satirical scenario, “Helldivers 2” has enormous potential. However, Arrowhead Studios first has to prove that it can provide long-term motivation with content and, above all, that it works properly. We can therefore only make a purchase recommendation to a very limited extent at this point, but we will keep you up to date with updates in the coming weeks.
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