‘Helldivers 2’ review: ‘Starship Troopers’-inspired shooter is one hell of a good time

NME

Helldivers 2, a multiplayer third-person shooter from Arrowhead Game Studios, is your chance to be part of something greater. It’s an opportunity to spread democracy beyond your home planet, squash gigantic bugs, and feel like a hero. Your life is on the line, but unlike your squishy mortal body, your loyalty to Super Earth is undying.

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As the futuristic setting of Helldivers 2, Super Earth is an exaggerated version of our planet where a ruling government uses patriotic fervor to hide a history of suppressing dissidents. As one of its many soldiers, players fight for the liberation of a galaxy overrun with alien bugs, murderous robots, and other enemies.

The main draw of Helldivers 2 is its chaotic multiplayer fun. The game is an extraction shooter where you’re tasked with completing an objective, then fending off waves of enemies until your rescue ship arrives. Even with a limited amount of tasks, like retrieving items or wiping out alien bug nests, the game has so many emergent moments that it’s impossible to determine how your mission will unfold.

Because of this, every moment is an emotional roller coaster. Playing with three other teammates, we managed to take down a Bile Giant – a towering insect that seemed like it would never die – with a rocket launcher. Feelings of relief and happiness were short-lived though, as its dismembered leg fell on top of a teammate, crushing them to death. Gruesome, yes, but also laugh-out-loud funny.

The game has friendly fire enabled at all times, which only fuels the hilarity when things go sideways. In one mission, we planned to wipe out a swarm of bugs with a carpet bomb – only to be shot in the arm while aiming it, which resulted in calling it down on ourselves. By the time we realised what was happening, it was far too late and the explosions sent us flying like ragdolls. The perpetrator profusely apologised, but it was too funny to take seriously.

Aside from the bugs, you can take on planets with Automatons, which are killer robots that look similar to those you see in Star Wars – yes, there’s a copy of an AT-ST waiting to tear your body apart with machine gun fire. Cyborgs wielding dual chainsaws never fail to send people screaming in the opposite direction, and while Helldivers 2 could have more enemy types, the action is just so wildly variable that you likely won’t care.

As you complete missions, you earn Medals which can be spent on new weapons, cosmetics, and emotes. These help keep things feeling fresh, and while there are microtransactions that can be bought with real-world currency, the free offerings were enough to offer organic progression. You’re just a disposable pawn in Helldivers 2’s space empire, so the different cosmetics add a personal touch while playing up the immersion.

Speaking of empires, Helldivers 2 heavily leans into satirising colonialism and fascism. Throughout the game, you’re bombarded with messages from your superiors about spreading democracy and freedom to other planets. While these lines are clearly meant as pure entertainment, Helldivers 2 also doesn’t really critique these themes on a deeper level.

In fact, there’s not much of a story at all. You’re constantly being thrown into deadly missions and dying, while look-a-like reinforcements respawn to replace you. You can interact with random documents you find on the planets you visit for some background lore, but many times that doesn’t feel like enough. The lack of plot ended up not being a major issue, but a more engaging plot and a few notable characters could’ve elevated the game even higher.

However, server issues spoiled some of the fun. Matchmaking failed frequently, and we were often unable to jump into a game. In one case, we finished a mission with a group of friends and successfully extracted from the planet, only for our game to drop connection on the flight home. This caused the server to not recognise any of the Medals earned, making the previous mission a complete waste of time. Even so, this one setback didn’t take away from the game’s long-term enjoyment

After about 20 hours of Helldivers 2, the experience is the most fun we’ve had with a live-service shooter in a very long time. If Arrowhead Game Studios can iron out the buggy servers and introduce more content over time, Helldivers 2 definitely has legs to carry an engaged audience for years to come. Until you shoot them off, of course.

Helldivers 2 is available to play on PS5 and PC. This review was played on PS5.

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