Despite the valiant best efforts of countless of Lady Liberty’s finest over the course of several months, the unthinkable has happened: the Illuminate have reached Super Earth itself in Helldivers 2, and are now deploying to the surface of the heart of Managed Democracy itself with a gargantuan invasion fleet. Though forward defensive holds from the Helldivers managed to weaken the fleet’s strength by 21.5%, the remainder of its forces are now flooding into Super Earth’s fortified Mega Cities, with Eagleopolis its first primary target.
Indeed, the Battle for Super Earth has well and truly begun, officially kicking off alongside this morning’s Heart of Democracy update that introduced missions that take place entirely within Mega City walls. I dove a few times late last night before falling into bed and then again this afternoon to check them out, and hoo boy: they are something else.
What immediately struck me the second I stepped out of my hellpod on my initial deployment was how utterly massive Mega Cities are, with their mazes of roads and alleys and colossal neon-covered skyscrapers dwarfing the smaller urban environments we’re used to. It was hard not to simply ogle and marvel at the sight, inspecting every little carefully placed detail — though, hauntingly ominous fog and a skybox full of Super Destroyers and Illuminate motherships duking it out quickly reminded me that this was a warzone.
What struck me next were the sounds of battle raging a block over, despite the fact that I hadn’t dropped an SOS beacon yet for matchmade reinforcements. Curious, I sprinted over, and found myself watching a large squad of SEAF marines gun down a horde of Voteless zombies to protect civilians. They cheered at the sight of a Helldiver, and I responded with a salute — and to my delight, they returned it in unison. They even began following me around like stray ducklings when I gave the “Follow Me” command.
Troopers and armed citizens can be found dynamically like this all over the map, and their presence gives you a noteworthy edge compared to normal missions where you and your squad are on your own. But make no mistake: these levels are no cakewalk, and I’ve noticed the Illuminate tends to deploy more forces than usual in them to try and overwhelm your NPC allies.
The squids have also introduced a new gunship to the fray called Leviathans — huge and extremely tough-armored aircraft that immediately bring MCU Chitauri Leviathans of the same name from The Avengers and the Battle of New York to mind. These vessels loom over the battlefield, smashing through buildings and raining hellfire down upon you and any other humans they see with heavy plasma launchers. Just one took every Recoilless Rifle rocket I had to bring down, and it crashed onto a mass of both SEAF soldiers and Voteless before exploding in violent spectacle.
Leviathans, the other new Illuminate units introduced recently with the Galactic Emergency patch, SEAF fireteams, and crowds of panicked civilians sprinting around have all made the battles I’ve endured in the streets of Eagleopolis the most chaotic I’ve experienced in my ~500 hours of service on the frontlines. And so far, they’ve been a blast, especially at max Super Helldive difficulty where threading the needle and navigating the insanity requires constant on-the-fly thinking and co-op teamwork. I’ve never been more engaged in Helldivers 2 than I’ve been in this fight.
The icing on the cake for me, though, are the two new objective types added in these missions. The first — in a comical display of Helldivers 2’s satire of military fascism — sees you bring out an orbital defense cannon that’s hidden underneath a children’s playground, working together as a team to aim and fire it at an Illuminate mothership while simultaneously making sure it doesn’t get overrun by legions of the aliens. You can also shoot it at anything else you want to destroy, too, including enemy Leviathans and dropships.
The second is a unique blitz-style tug of war that tasks you with blowing up Illuminate ships attempting to land and take over a sector of the city. Bring your best anti-armor stratagems and obliterate anything that flies down as fast as you can.
Overall, these levels are oppressive, tense, and full to bursting with opportunities for hectic and brutal urban warfare against an overwhelming alien force. The Halo fan in me can’t help but be reminded of 2009’s Halo 3: ODST — an incredibly memorable spinoff that traded Master Chief’s supersoldier perspective for one of regular marines desperately trying to mount a defense against invading Covenant troops.
Here, Helldivers 2 has captured the chaotic vibes of that game and ballooned their scale, resulting in some of the wildest, most dynamic and chaotic sci-fi shooter gameplay in the industry. And don’t tell my Democracy Officer I said this, but I’ll be sad to see these operations go once the squid invasion is (hopefully) thwarted.
Helldivers 2 stands tall as one of the best PC games and best PS5 games to play if you’re into co-op shooters, intense sci-fi action, goofy physics antics, and goofy satirical writing. It’s typically $40, though you can often get it for less if you shop around for discounts. Right now, the best one is CDKeys’ sale that shaves over $12 off the price, allowing you to get the bombastic title for just under $28.
